Ok, how many bands do you know that hail from Israel, have Jewish and Palestinian members in their ranks and play a mix of Death and Doom Metal with a healthy dose of oriental melodies? Not many? Probably because Orphaned Land are one of the very few bands that do that and do it very well indeed. Originality abounds here.
Thankfully this originality does not result in a bland record with its origin being its only catch point. The guys play a very technically proficient brand of metal with truly interesting compositions. The atonal oriental melodies fit in seamlessly with the rest of the songs and never give the feeling that they were added as a gimmick. They come across as very true and purposeful. The opening track ‘Sahara’s Storm’ starts out in a very oriental atmosphere only to evolve into a moderately aggressive death metal sound with some spoken word parts. Actually this and the next track ‘Blessed Be Thy Hate’ seem to draw some influence from ‘Turn Loose The Swans’ era My Dying Bride and giving it their own distinct twist.
The highlight of the record to me though is the brilliant ‘Aldior Al Mukadisa’. This song starts out in Arabic ends in Hebrew and even includes live-coverage from a synagogue and welds all of this together with a simple lead-guitar. Not only is this a musically creative piece but has a lot of added value especially in the view of the recent unfortunate events in the Middle East we hear of on the news almost daily. If this quintet managed to put this together maybe there is hope for a resolution of the mess going on in their home country. The band further presents their creativity and proficiency during ‘Orphaned Land, The Storm Still Rages Inside’, they play with many tempo-changes, spoken, clean, Death Metal- and female vocals and confront us with a complexity only matched by the likes of Opeth.
If you like me are always hungry for new sounds and musical experiences you should give this record a definite try. It never ceases to amaze me how many great and undiscovered gems come out from countries we don’t usually associate with the Heavy-Metal scene. Partly due to the fact that they are not burdened by a history of illustrious predecessors they often provide us with very refreshing and original sounds. Orphaned Land are an almost exemplary band in this respect.
note: 8/10
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