Orphaned Land
Mabool

THE REVIEW

"Thus, every living creature that was on the face of the ground was wiped out, from man to livestock, to reptiles, and to the birds of the heavens; they were wiped out from the earth, and only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ark. The waters dominated the earth for one hundred fifty days." Genesis 7:23-24.

Mabool is a concept album about the great flood, about the lion, the eagle, and the serpent that metaphorically represent the three monotheistic religions which, in continuous conflict with each other, will suffer the terrible wrath of the Lord that will culminate in the great flood.

From the very first notes, the album offers a clear and unmistakable artistic and production maturity of the Israeli musicians.

The foundation of this monumental work (... because it is fitting to call it a work) is heavy metal straddling between the classical and prog, but it develops throughout its duration stylistic solutions that vary between Middle Eastern folk, classical, doom, and death metal, without any fear of getting dirty or losing its essence with genres that seemingly have nothing to do with one another.

And yet here is the marvel, the black pearl that you would never expect when opening the shell.

Use of alternative instruments (oud, saz, bouzouki, qanun, violins, about ten percussion and more), inserts of children's choir and Middle Eastern cultural chants, guitars and keyboards that, in their almost perfect amalgam, owe nothing to masters like Dream Theater or Opeth, and the voice of singer Kobi Farhi at times exuding putrescence in an acidic growl that is terrifying and in other parts of the album so powerful and clean it rises to tones of sumptuous and majestic epicness. The lyrics sung in a Babel of languages including Latin, English, Arabic, and Yemeni add a touch of antiquity and mystery.

Birth Of The Tree - The Unification is an opening track that leaves you bewildered, terrified, and fascinated. Its extremely complex structure and the ingredients mentioned above make it, in my opinion, a sort of banner and flag of the band.

The second track, as well as the single and video (no less!), "Ocean Land (The Revelation)" mirrors already simpler instrumental lines, yet remains at incredibly high levels for compositional freshness and sound blend between the West and the East.

There’s no stop in this crucible of strong emotions and exquisite musical techniques, and "Halo Dies (The Wrath of God)" and "A Call to Awake (The Quest)" conclude the first part of real sonic authority, then give way to an acoustic interlude ("Building the Ark")—poetic and refined—with a male and female vocal duet that sends an intense shiver up your spine from the first to the last vertebra.

Particularly folk-influenced and traditional "Norra el norra" develops on an extremely angry riff, giving way to tribal rhythms surrounded by a classical grand piano towards the song's end, which should be counted as one of the most fascinating interpretations in metal history.

The album concludes with the title track "Mabool (The Flood)", "The Storm Still Rages Inside" and "Rainbow - The Resurrection", three songs that could seamlessly be considered as a single 20-minute suite, a worthy final chapter that concludes with a startling perfection leaving us a bit surprised and a bit confused.

There are no other words except to tell you to make this album full of pathos and pristine class yours, put it on your CD player and listen in awe, just as if the great flood with its power of water was engulfing and leaving you under cubic meters of water.

The storm still rages...