Orphaned Land
The Never Ending Way Of ORwarriOR

THE REVIEW

Orphaned Land

"The Never Ending Way of Or-Warrior"

Century Media - 2010

Genre: Oriental-Metal

Orphaned Land is not a very prolific band, having produced only four albums in eighteen years; the previous "Mabool" in the now distant 2004 was a masterpiece that achieved unanimous acclaim and made them known to a wider Western audience. However, they did not ride the wave of success; on the contrary, they eclipsed themselves, running the risk of being almost forgotten.

They are only now returning to the scene, but they are doing so in style, with a work I would define as "monumental".

Metal? Death? Doom? Prog? Folk?... beyond schematics, theirs is inspired and visceral Music, thoughtful and committed, spiritual and captivating.

The intentions of this Israeli band are highly ambitious: to break down the wall of hatred and misunderstanding that prevents the people of their troubled land from living in peace, by setting to music the quest for a common spirituality, because the God of the Jews, the Muslims, and the Christians is ultimately the same God.

They have already achieved a small miracle: among their fans, there are also many Arabs, and their concerts attract metalheads of both ethnicities who share the same aspirations for peace.

Once again, Orphaned Land presents a concept album dense with stylistic content, instrumental and vocal variations, electric distortions, and sweet acoustic lullabies, which require a minimum of open-mindedness to be fully appreciated; leaving aside the pop vulgarity that will never approach these shores, even among those more accustomed to these sounds, there will be the pre-constituted denigrators, the purists of metal who dislike contaminations, those who cannot stand "burps into the microphone", up to those who claim the Scandinavian/Satanic exclusivity of extreme metal, for whom a spiritual/Middle Eastern death is practically an heresy!

So, set aside the prejudices and embark on this journey of almost eighty minutes in which you will feel the roars of a stormy sea, the warm wind of the desert, the silence of a starry night, the songs of the ancient nomadic shepherds... The exciting path of a man, "The Or-Warrior", in search of the Light, that is, of his own Faith.

Making an analysis of the individual tracks would make little sense, just as extracting individual sentences from a complex discourse would not clarify its content and depth. "The Neverending Way of Or-Warrior" must be listened to in its entirety, I would dare to say in "religious" silence; it is a very fine liqueur to be savored slowly to appreciate all the nuances of its flavor... after all, it took them six years to distill it!

The work has been crafted with meticulous care, starting with the art work, characterized by extremely elaborate tribal graphics.

Then there are a good six hundred hours in the recording studio, the violins of the classical orchestra of Nazareth, the many acoustic ethnic instruments, strings, wind, percussion, played masterfully and perfectly integrated into the metallic fabric; the powerful growling of Kobhi Farhi, who naturally transitions to clean singing, in the manner of Mikael Akerfeldt of Opeth; even the beautiful voice of the Yemeni singer Shlomit Levi finds more space than in the past.

Guaranteeing it all, a perfect mix by their friend and fan Steve Wilson, leader of Porcupine Tree, who also plays the keyboards.

Forgive the excessive enthusiasm; probably my opinion is not quite objective because the position of passionate and enthusiastic supporter does not allow me to notice the flaws in this work... too long? Perhaps, but even if it had lasted another 80 minutes at these levels, I would not have complained! Lacks immediacy, being so dense and full of rhythm changes? Certainly, but I am convinced that precisely for this reason, it will sound fresh for a long time in your players.

YoS 

Milan, February 3, 2010