John Zorn, Koby Israelite
Orobas, Book Of Angels Vol. 4

"Orobas is a powerful Great Prince of Hell, with twenty legions of demons under his command. It is believed that he gives truthful answers when asked about events from the past, present, future, and the creation of the world; he can also confer public and clerical offices, and the favor of friends and foes. Orobas is faithful to the one who summons him, and does not allow any spirit to tempt him, and never betrays anyone. He is depicted as a horse that transforms into a man at the request of the summoner. The name comes from the Latin "orobias", which is a type of incense."

This is what you can find on Wikipedia, if you want to know more and try your hand at summoning, consult the "Goetia" by S.L. MacGregor Mathers (1904), or the "Pseudomonarchia daemonum" by Johann Wier (1583) or the "Dictionnaire Infernal" by Collin de Plancy (1863). Otherwise, be content with the album like yours truly.

Fourth volume of the second series "Masada", each chapter of which seems dedicated to a dark archangel (there have already been "Astaroth", "Azazel", and "Malphas", the latter reviewed by Sfascia). Zorn has composed a lot of new Masada pieces, assigning each one a title taken from the world of demonology, perhaps to demonstrate, if there was still any need, powers of such nature. Everyone knows that bluesmen have sold their souls to the devil at a crossroads, so why not draw from tradition once again?

In each volume of the series, the arrangement part is entrusted to a different musician or group from the large number of brilliant musicians revolving around him. This time it's Koby Israelite's turn, a sparkling multi-instrumentalist born in Tel Aviv. The peculiar thing about this album is that Koby practically plays all the instruments of the orchestra, except for, I believe, the trumpet, using successive overdubs. In this way, he has almost total control over the arrangement, possibly at the expense of the mutual interaction process typical of a small orchestra, where bassist, percussionist, and soloist influence each other in real time. The result, however, is impressive indeed. Because Koby really knows a lot about music. First of all, the instruments: Bouzouki, Flute, Guitar, Percussions, Accordion, Bass (Electric), Drums, Keyboards, Voice, Indian Banjo.

And of genres too, from traditional Jewish music to classical (he studied at a conservatory), to heavy metal, punk, Gypsy, passing through funk. Saying crazy is an understatement. It overall quite resembles the sound of the "Naked City" ensemble, but indeed with the difference that the Hebraic-ethnic twist, and in this case even gypsy, is much more pronounced.
And while in "Naked City" the music had a block structure, changing genre within the span of a few seconds, here we are faced with something more homogeneous and less experimental if you will. In my opinion, truly original and highly enjoyable, like the other volumes of the "Book of Angels" series, which I believe are among the most interesting recent releases on Tzadik.