2010-03-03
Only a few weeks ago a new year, which opens the 2
nd decade of the 21
st century, has begun. When you reach a certain age, gather memories & different experiences from your life's path, you sometimes find yourself looking back, trying to figure whether time really passed so quickly. Counting the years, the past may looks distant, but on the other hand, there are still a few fresh memories that make things seem very recent. This is how I feel about Orphaned Land.
I remember their first shows as a young band in the early 90's of the previous century… even at that time, the band created a lot of interest in the local metal scene due to the fact they created a new sub-genre of metal. They presented something different from the doom/death metal, which was prominent in the metal clubs at that time.
Orphaned Land created doom/death metal infused with Middle Eastern music, both Hebrew and Arab music influences mixed with heavy metal riffing.
1993 marked the release of their demo cassette, where they have presented themselves as "The first oriental death metal". A few months later, they already released their debut album, "Sahara", which got worldwide distribution via their label at that time -
Holy Records. "Sahara" got very good responses from metal fans around the world.
About 2 years later the second album was out, and soon after – the band became inactive. 2001 marked the band's return, starting to work on their next release – 2004's "Mabool". "Mabool", a concept album based on the Biblical story of the flood, got very good reviews in the metal media. The band got more and more shows worldwide, including 2 months tour supporting
Paradise Lost, performing at the most successful metal events - including the German annual
Wacken Open Air festival at the summer of 2006.
About a month ago, the band released their fourth studio album - "
The Never Ending Way of ORwarriOR". Starting from the amazing cover artwork you can get an idea just how much work was put into the album; Calligraphy art was the chosen medium, and the band's logo got a touch of it too. Like "Mabool", this album is also a concept album, telling a story about a protagonist (warrior of light, in this case) trying to see the light.
The album is broken into three different parts. Most of the songs in the album are either 2-3 minutes of 7-8 minutes and opener "Sapari" (originally written in the 17
th century by Sa'adiya Ben-Amram) is where Orphaned Land really succeeds in their own unique way to provoke interest in ancient texts. Using heavy guitars, the vocals of Kobi Farhi alongside Shlomit Levy's (which does the female vocals) they bring a new life to an old text - an amazing interpretation.
The songs in the album do not have a strict line; they are rather showing different musical lines. Follower "From Broken Vessels" begins with keyboards, continues with lead guitars which have that distinctive Orphaned Land sound to 'em and overall the song is over 7 minutes of great music. Orphaned Land have created a very interesting album indeed and don't fail even in the sequel to "Disciples Of The Sacred Oath" (the first part was part of the recordings of the 1996 album - "El Norra Alila" and didn't make the cut but was included in the reissued version of the album in 2006).
During this last month, I've had numerous listening sessions and each time I discovered more and more aspects, that are sometimes missed at first.
For example, the album has a variety of musical instruments and some guest musicians, including the Arab Orchestra of Nazareth.
At first, "
The Never Ending Way of ORwarriOR" may seem to be more relaxed from its predecessors, but there are still plenty of heavy parts so in my opinion this is a necessity for the band's fans and can be interesting even to open-minded non-metal fans.
It is very noticeable that
Orphaned Land have dedicated a lot of time, resources and thought to the final product, including the production and mix (done by Steven Wilson of Porcupine Tree). I have no doubt that the album will reap more and more good reviews and will be one of 2010's most remarkable ones.
This is a must-have!
Gal Gur-Arie
