It’s rare for me to be left speechless over an album. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a feeling that I’m used to and certainly has been felt due to a few other releases this year.
As I was listening to A Dark Poem Part I: The Shores of Melancholia, I started to wonder why I never listened to Green Carnation before… this album is amazing. I don’t want to be premature (I mean, the year is almost over, yeah, no shit) but this might be AOTY material. I can feel confident in saying that; now anyway. That may change over the course of the rest of the year. But for now… this is the shit.
Keeping in mind that I listened to this record on continuous repeat, the songs washed over me like a rain storm lashing a verdant forest into a frenzy. Opening with the power of Black fucking Sabbath is “As Silence Took You” the lyrics carry significant emotion, and at the mid-track point, this fat assed riff just comes stomping in like it owns the place, with the rising keys behind it all… Jesus fucking Christ, this is how you open an album.
But that’s not it, that’s only seven minutes and eleven seconds of this 42:43-minute-long epic. There’s the huge Amorphis vibe throughout “In Your Paradise” and it’s just a jaw-dropping Nordic rock anthem; big and beautiful like a massive troll swinging trees at random shit.
So much great production went into A Dark Poem Part I: The Shores of Melancholia. Recorded at DUB Studios in Norway, this is epic in every sense of the word. “Me My Enemy” starts off deceptively mellow, sort of Opeth-ish, but then the chorus kicks in and it’s hitting you right in the feels. This is awesome. Pure bloody awesomeness.
“The Slave That You Are” is by far my favorite track on this crazy beast. It features Grutle Kjellson (Enslaved) on guest vocals, and it rips headlong into the blasting right away. Slowing down briefly before it erupts again into a flurry of blasts.
“The Shores of Melancholia” is another epic, ships on the horizon of a churning sea type of song. Soaring, triumphant; reaching the blackest heavens and beyond. It’s followed by the closing track “Too Close to the Flame” has this troll-sized chorus that makes me think of Einherjer and Enslaved, I fucking swear, Season of Mist is a label on fire lately, pumping out some killer releases this year.
It ends, and then you hit play again or just have it on repeat like this guy. A Dark Poem Part I: The Shores of Melancholia is a wonderful album experience. I highly recommend this for you lovers of Enslaved, Einherjer, and early Ulver (think Bergtatt and Nattens madrigal – Aatte hymne til ulven I manden era). A magical album of Norwegian power. So what are you waiting for? Go get it!
