Norwegian progressive metal outfit GREEN CARNATION recently released two parts of their trilogy, “A Dark Poem.” We chatted with vocalist Kjetil Nordhus and guitarist Stein Roger Sordal at Ankea Festival, partially about Norwegian and family history, partially about “A Dark Poem.”
Thank you so much for taking the time. You just played your show, so how are you guys doing?
Kjetil: Well, it was a great experience, to be honest, to do the show. We haven’t been extremely active live the last couple of years because we have recorded and we are releasing three new albums in one year. So it’s like we were talking about it after the show, that it’s like 100 rehearsals in one evening to do a show in front of many people, like here. But Finland has always been good for us. I’m not sure why, but it’s always been like that, and it was like that today as well.
Is it better than how you are received in Norway?
Kjetil: I think there is a special connection in Finland, and I’m not sure exactly why, but we just seem to connect well with the Finnish people. So that’s very nice.
Yeah, I guess because you’re from Norway, it’s quite an extreme metal country, and you’re a bit less extreme maybe. How has that been like for you as a band in general to be part of that scene?
Stein: I think extreme metal is, you know, Norwegian extreme metal is quite famous all around the world. We are more into prog, old school, maybe heavier stuff. So it’s kind of not that big in the genre as black metal and stuff like that. But here, outside of Norway, we seem to get a little bit more attention than we do in Norway. Obviously, there are more people outside of Norway than in Norway. I guess that’s also part of the reason.
Wait, how many people are there in Norway?
Kjetil: Oh, we checked yesterday, didn’t we?
Stein: Five and a half million.
Is it like, because here I feel like half of the population is a metalhead. Is that the same in Norway?
Kjetil: It is a little bit like that. You can see the maps where bands are from as well. There’s a lot in the Nordic countries.
Well, you mentioned you’re a prog band. I feel like half of the time when I talk to a prog band, they don’t really seem to think that they’re prog. But do you think you’re within the progressive sphere somehow?
Stein: Older progressive kind of stuff, not new progressive stuff like you hear. Young people, we are quite old now. So we are part of more of the generation from the ’70s when it comes to the prog part. And kind of like the doomy part or the heavier part is also maybe rooted from the ’70s. Black Sabbath and stuff like that. But our crowd is kind of like our age and older.
I can see my dad also vibing to your music, to be honest.
Kjetil: I checked Instagram after the show today, and there was some guy calling, I think it was me, a granddad metal messiah, wasn’t it? Something like that.
Stein: That’s nice.
Yeah, I mean, in my dad’s case, he introduced me to YES and WISHBONE ASH when I was like nine years old. So I like your music as well. But would you say that if you were to explain GREEN CARNATION somewhere, it is kind of a mix of PINK FLOYD and BLACK SABBATH in a way?
Kjetil: Yeah, I don’t think you’re too far away from it there. Maybe with some slightly more modern influences as well. But I think you have PINK FLOYD and BLACK SABBATH, and you have maybe like 60–70% of our core.
Stein: Yeah, absolutely. I think that’s a good one. Yeah.
Do you still, because I know a lot of musicians don’t really have the energy to listen to music outside of their own band. But do you guys do that still?
Stein: You do.
Kjetil: I listen a lot to new music, and I find it really interesting in all genres. And I find it really inspiring, especially when you hear people who are doing stuff differently than people have done before. I try to figure out what they are actually doing. I think maybe the thing that goes with all the bands that do something very different is that they just do what they feel like. And that’s a big inspiration for us as well, I think. Although we sound like we do. And on the trilogy that we’re releasing right now, we agreed before writing the trilogy that we weren’t going to take any compromises musically, lyrically, or with anything in the project. And I think that’s why we sound like we do. I don’t think there are too many other bands that sound quite like us, GREEN CARNATION. Because the band is always the sum of all the members. And we are too.
Stein: I don’t listen to music at all.
It’s so strange when musicians say that. I just cannot imagine a world without music myself somehow. But I guess if you’re…
Stein: You know, I’ve been listening really, really hard to music for maybe 45 years.
Kjetil: But you’re working with music all the time, either playing music yourself or arranging concerts and events with music.
Stein: It’s a lot of music in my life anyway. But when I want to relax, I put on some podcasts or something.
What podcasts do you listen to?
Stein: Right now I’m listening to kind of like… What’s it called? Executions in Norway in the 17th and 18th centuries.
Okay, so some historical…
Stein: Yeah, so it’s kind of like executions with all the details. It’s all written down in church books and stuff like that, and courts and stuff like that. So it’s genuine. But it’s nice to hear about Norway back in the time and the history that comes with it.
Kjetil: Of course, he’s extra interested in this because one of his forefathers was the last guy in our part of Norway who was beheaded in Norway.
Really?
Stein: Yeah, because he stabbed his pregnant… He made a girl pregnant, and then he didn’t want to wed her. So he killed her. And then he ran to Sweden and was there for a few months, and then he came back to Norway, and then he was executed.
Kjetil: And they beheaded him and put his head on a stick. Not too far away from where we’ve written all three new albums.
That’s crazy. It’s like Game of Thrones.
Stein: But that’s what they did and put the head on a stick and the body on a wheel.
The body on a wheel?
Stein: Yeah, they stretched the body on a wheel, and it was supposed to be there until it fell down.
Wait, this was before the 17th century?
Stein: No, no, no. From 1650 until the 1840s. And it was supposed to be kind of like to scare other people from committing crimes. This was kind of like, of course, for murder and stuff like that, but also for incest. In the last episode, there was a guy who was having sex with a cow. It was real. And he was beheaded. Back then, you were basically sent to death.
Stein: So that’s what he uses his spare time on.
But you say that guy was related to you. How did you find out about that?
Kjetil: It’s the same surname.
Stein: Yeah, it’s the same surname. And it’s the same place where my family grew up. So he was kind of working with the animals in the stable. He was a part of…
That’s crazy. Do you have any fun family stories you can share?
Stein: It’s not too far from my family.
Kjetil: No, no, we’re from the same…
Are you related?
Kjetil: Originally from the same area in our part of the country. It’s a valley, maybe two and a half hours from where we grew up. So actually, when we wrote the trilogy, we went up there to the valley during COVID and everything. And up to his house in the valley, which is maybe just a couple of kilometers from where the guy was beheaded, actually. So although that story isn’t in our new trilogy, there’s a lot of inspiration for us going back in the family history and everything. Yeah, I have a forefather who was also beheaded, but that’s way before that. He was a pirate, and he was caught in the Netherlands, and he was beheaded.
Was he a pirate or like a Viking?
Kjetil: No, it was after the Vikings. He was in the 15th century. At least that’s what I grew up learning about. My earliest forefather was beheaded in the Netherlands because of piracy.
Stein: This is a crazy story.
I don’t know if you usually tell them during interviews.
Kjetil: No, never done it. You have an exclusive.
Stein: You asked what I listen to right now. That’s what I’m listening to.
To me, it’s crazy that you’re… I don’t know anything about my forefathers except for World War II and stuff like that. Before that, I don’t know much because I’m from Belgium. It’s a big country, so it could be anybody. But is it like that with everybody in Norway?
Stein: It’s all pretty much documented in church books. It’s easy to find relatives. Now everybody’s using MyHeritage and stuff like that. It’s pretty easy to go way back. I found, without doing anything, just from a book I bought, I could find my great-great-great-grandfather from 1640. Of course, before that you have to go to books. But that’s quite a long time ago.
Kjetil: They were all crazy.
Yeah, it’s the time when they were putting people on wheels and stuff like that.
Stein: Yeah, exactly. It was harsh. The Little Ice Age, they call it. It was because of a volcano. The crops for a few years were really bad. There was hunger, and then people went mad, and stuff happened. They had moonshine. They made their own booze and stuff like that. They were drinking all the time and killing each other because they were desperate. I think it’s quite fascinating. I think we live a pretty good life now compared to what they did.
Kjetil: It’s not that bad, no.
It’s quite fascinating to hear about Norwegian history in that sense as well. Where you grew up is sort of where you learn the history from. Me, as an expat living in Finland, I don’t know much about its history either. Yeah, pretty cool. Is that also an inspiration for your music?
Kjetil: I think deep down it is, actually. Although it’s not something that we have been talking too much about. But we are aware that we’re from the same area in Norway. I’m sure that our forefathers have actually met. I’m quite sure. Because it’s just a few kilometers between my forefathers and his forefathers. I’m sure they probably had a great time in the 1800s or something.
How did you discover that connection? Or is that where you still live?
Kjetil: It’s quite close to where we live now. We spent a lot of time there growing up before getting to know each other when we were kids. I think it’s the best place on the entire planet.
Stein: Yeah, absolutely.
Kjetil: It’s like you drive up through a valley and then you drive through a tunnel. And when you get through the tunnel, then you’re there. And then my shoulders just go like… And my blood pressure probably goes to a better level as well.
Stein: It’s like postcard scenery when you come to… It’s called Setesdal. Imagine you’re in Hollywood watching movies from Norway. This is kind of like, this can’t be real. It’s like that. But it’s real. And it’s beautiful.
Kjetil: And it’s fairly close to where we live. So we go there. Well, you have a house there. So you go there as often as you can just to relax and write music and stuff like that. It’s just amazing. Because we’re far away from the world, basically. It’s only a few people living up there. Because younger people move to the cities, like I suppose they do everywhere.
Kjetil: If you want education, you have to move out. And many jobs, of course. If you want a specific job, it’s probably a good thing to move away. But then you have people moving back and people moving there for the first time to experience the heritage and the folk culture, the music, the folk dance, and everything. And so I think it’s actually boiling a little bit up there right now.
Stein: It’s got a great tradition for folk music. With Hardingfele.
What is that instrument? Is it like a nyckelharpa or something?
Stein: It’s a fiddle with under strings, open under strings. So it’s kind of like eight strings instead of four strings. And it sounds very…
Very Nordic, probably.
Stein: It sounds very Nordic.
Is there some folklore there? Like legends or something that you have?
Both: Absolutely.
Do you have an interesting one you could share?
Stein: There’s trolls everywhere in Norway, as everybody knows.
Kjetil: My grandfather used to tell me when we went there as a kid, he’s from there. And he explained to me about where the underground people lived. And I still remember, I’m sure, after 40 years, the exact stones, whether they came up from under that stone and everything. To be honest, I do actually think he believed in it.
Stein: It was like… When I grew up, my grandmother grew up with the story that if you were out late, there was this woman living in the forest. Not a witch, but she was kind of like a little bit scary woman. And if you didn’t come home before darkness, she would actually come and take you into the forest. And that was really scary when you were 8 years old and stuff like that. And she was really serious about it. And I learned later that my father was told the same thing. And she was told the same. So that’s from generations, just to get the children home before dark. And it was really terrifying. And she was called Karli Håbak.
Kjetil: Yeah. Oh my God. You didn’t want to see her.
Stein: You didn’t want to see Karli Håbak?
Would you ever write a song about her?
Kjetil: No, no, no. Maybe we should. Maybe we should.
We’re 16 minutes in and we haven’t really talked about your new album. I’m sorry about that. But yeah, it’s part two, “Sanguis.“ Considering all you’ve told, all these stories, it seems like an appropriate title as well.
Kjetil: Yeah, it’s the second part of a trilogy. The first part was more like commenting on issues outside of us in the world. Of course, some personal stuff absolutely as well. But the second part, “Sanguis,” is even more introspective. And we sing about, oh, he writes lyrics, and I sing them. Very personal stuff. And of course, when releasing three albums in one year, you don’t want the albums to be exactly the same when it comes to energy and everything. So we thought after the first album, which was a lot of energy, we wanted to take a step back on the second album. Although there are a lot of different songs on that album as well. But that’s the kind of very personal, extremely personal album, I guess.
Is there anything you can spoil already about the third part without spoiling the experience, I guess?
Kjetil: We have announced that on the 12th of September, we’re going to do all three albums in our hometown in one evening. The entire trilogy. And we’ve also said that there is going to be a full symphony orchestra on stage at that concert. And if you heard the first two albums, you would have heard that there’s not a full symphony orchestra on any of the first two albums. I cannot say more than that.
Stein: You understand something. There is something there.
Kjetil: So we do think that the third album is going to close the trilogy. It’s going to be much easier to understand that these pieces of music belong together, which is not too easy to figure out from listening to the first and second albums. But I do think the third album will close it as a trilogy.
Well, looking forward to that. Are you planning to do more shows? Not with a symphonic orchestra, but is it the goal to play the whole album live on a tour, for instance, at some point?
Stein: We thought, actually, ideally, we would look at ’27, put some songs from each album, and make a set out of that. That would be the logical thing to do, and to build up a set from all the albums. I think that’s what we’re going to focus on. But if there’s one of us here and there, we are Green Carnation. We do crazy stuff sometimes. And if there is a stage and there’s a place and a time that we can do that again. But we’re going to put on a best of show for ’27 and ’28. That’s the logical thing to do.
Well, you know, Katatonia is playing their album here. So maybe in two years, you can do the same here.
Kjetil: Yeah, absolutely.
I’ll send over the suggestion.
Kjetil: Yeah. And of course, we’re going to rehearse absolutely everything for the concert in September. It’s possible for us to do it without breaking our necks, hopefully. So that’s possible as well.
Well, I guess that’s pretty much it for my questions and our time. Do you have any last thoughts you want to share with your fans?
Kjetil: Just that we’re enjoying ourselves a lot in Finland, as usual. It’s the first time since 2022, I think.
Stein: Yeah. And this is the first time this festival has been arranged. I think that’s really, really good. I mean, everything is. I can tell that these people have done this before because it’s really, really good, and everything is very smooth.
Kjetil: Yeah, absolutely.
Stein: Yeah. So thumbs up.
Kjetil: We’re having a good time.
Interview by Laureline Tilkin
