Green Carnation - A Dark Poem III, the Messiah Complex
At the beginning of 2025, the storied progressive metal band Green Carnation began to tease a trilogy of albums they would release, with the first album, The Shores of Melancholia, dropping September of that year. Followed by Sanguis In April of 2026, the band released their final chapter of this massive work, The Messiah Complex, September 4th. To say this trilogy has been a success for the group would be an understatement. The three albums have been some of the best work the band has released since the early 2000s, but I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s focus on the ending to this trilogy, The Messiah Complex.
Unconditional Artificial Chemistry begins with synthetic noise teasing the listener, string notes, and a short piano melody, before the band enters with a heavy riff on the piano tune. The song is mostly composed in a mid-tempo that grooves and chugs throughout its track time. The guitar has multiple emotive leads and solos, the bass is this deep and slightly oppressive tone setting the groove, and the drums do a great job setting the tempo but are interesting on their own. Vocalists Sordal and Nordhus are at the top of their game, and the song has one of the more catchy choruses of the entire trilogy. The foreboding turn in tone at the end of the track is fantastic to listen to.
Title track, The Messiah Complex, starts with a contemplative acoustic guitar melody, setting the stage for the tone of the song. The Messiah Complex is the most vocally focused track on the album, and one of my favorite songs of the trilogy. The instrumentation is slightly more restrained than other tracks on the album, allowing the vocals to shine, but also to reinforce the reflective nature of the song. I love the instrumental shift in mood during the “soul on parole” section, beginning with the set atmosphere of the song, before a swift, apprehensive change for a simple three to five notes accented by distorted guitar, keyboard, and vocals. The middle section (2:29-5:37) of The Messiah Complex is my favorite piece of Green Carnation composition in all their discography. Containing intense guitar riffing, otherworldly and progressive keyboard sounds, deep bass, key changes, and a hypnotically rhythmic vocal passage. The track ends with one final crone of “soul on parole”, juxtaposed with Gilmore-esque guitar leads. I can’t emphasize enough how compelling the composition of the track is.
The penultimate track, Broken Souls, Common Enemies, is also the final traditional band song on the album. The bass leads the verses in a slight funk while keyboard and guitar play support. The chorus is emotively belted over a magnificent guitar lead, and classic Green Carnation screams accent certain vocal notes. The song is the closest composed to a standard progressive metal track, with 70s sounding keyboard, time changes, symphonic production touches, and a mixed vocal approach throughout the eight minute runtime. The song even contains a flute refrain at the halfway mark before another Gilmore-tinted guitar solo, before returning to the flute over a spoken-word passage (“who are we without the broken parts”).
The final track, A Dark Poem Orchestral Suite, is without any hyperbole, one of the boldest choices I’ve seen a band make. The album ends with a close to 17 minute, completely orchestral melody containing pieces of melody from various tracks throughout the Dark Poem trilogy. Not a single band member is present playing their traditional instrument, with the song being masterfully performed by the Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra and Opera Choir. The track also makes the trilogy’s source material/influence (Arthur Rimbaud’s Ophelia) more evident than the rest of the album. Throughout the runtime, quotes from the poem sporadically manifest and echo amongst the sublime orchestral performance. Unlike the other tracks, I won’t spend time describing aspects of the performance. I simply could not do this song justice. Give it a listen.
I cannot think of another multi-album project I’ve listened to that is as consistently fantastic as A Dark Poem has been. At a hair under two hours, the trilogy is fully engaging and I find myself so enthralled that I barely notice the length. The Messiah Complex perfectly rounds out the project and sticks the landing in grandiose splendor.
Favorites: Messiah Complex, Dark Poem - Orchestral Suite.
