It’s no secret that right now my favorite band in the world is Orphaned Land. And if it was a secret, I guess it’s not really a secret anymore. Orphaned Land does what no other band alive does and they do it so very, very well. Mabool was fantastic, but 2010′s The Never Ending Way of OR’WarriOR was my record of the year and is really my standard for what a modern progressive metal record should be like. The mix and production from Steven Wilson was excellent, the song writing was tremendous and it’s one of the very few records over about 45 or 50 minutes that I can even handle these days. So I was super pumped when I got a promo copy of the band’s DVD The Road to OR-Shalem. I’m not a huge fan of DVDs, as I’ve said in the past, but this one is definitely worth your time—both as fans and non-fans. 

One thing that has happened recently in DVD trends in metal is that instead of doing a monster box like Amon Amarth did, bands have been going home to their home crowds and filming there. So we got Amorphis in Finland last year and Sonata Arctica there this year. And that’s great! But this is different. Having Orphaned Land play a club show in Tel Aviv makes this DVD truly special. First, because the band can interact in Hebrew, but also because the fans are just so fucking die hard and the feeling is immense. While the direction of the DVD is pretty good but bordering a bit on frantic (so many fast cuts—it’s like Steve Harris edited it himself), part of what makes this DVD so cool is just the crowd that’s so in love with this band.

Depending on how long you’ve been a fan of the band, the setlist might be a bit of a bummer, on the other hand. In the main, edited concert DVD there’s only a handful of songs older than Mabool, and most of that appears to have been pushed to the bonus material (and one of them is performed by Steven Wilson—and the rendition is a letdown)—which could be seen as a bit of a shame. As I’d have preferred that they just played ORwarriOR from start to finish and then done the songs from Mabool as the encore, I wasn’t too upset by it. And the band was in such good form that it was less about what they were playing and more about just watching them play—which is a blast.

Seeing the band’s personality live is part of the fun of this because I’ve never seen them live. There were a few things that stood out for me. First, Yossi Sassi Sa’aron, the lead guitar player, has to be the happiest man alive. It’s kind of a weird thing, but watching him play, you get this feeling that he just can’t think of anything else in the entire world that he’d rather be doing and it’s a bit infectious, even if it’s a tad silly. This is not to say that Kobi (vocalist), Uri (bass) and Matti (rhythm guitar) aren’t awesome to watch, but Yossi kind of steals the show for me (followed closely by drummer Matan who is a true showman, given that he’s behind a kit). In any case, the band plays with great precision and passion that coupled the way that the crowd reacted.

DVDs are often made by their extras, however, and I really thought that The Road to OR-Shalem was made by the documentary and the extra songs that weren’t included. Yehuda Poliker‘s tracks with the band were very cool, and Matan’s drum solo was actually really entertaining. But the documentary was probably the most interesting. First, seeing the old footage from back when these guys were just pups (they were so little!) was definitely cool. But also, hearing them express their influences and how they came to the point where Orphaned Land went from being something pretty alright and fairly interesting to being something really amazingly unique and cool (the difference, in my opinion, between El Norra Alila and Mabool). Hearing, too, their views on religion and politics (something that was expressed in my interview with Kobi as well) was interesting. And getting to hear it expressed by all the members of the band and their Arab Muslim fans was definitely cool because it is what makes this band not only awesome but transcendent.

The Road to OR-Shalem is something that every Orphaned Land fan should probably own. It’s a really great production with a fantastic setlist, cool surprises and catches the best band in metal in 2011 at the height of their career. In a globalized world, Orphaned Land is spearheading a movement of smart, interesting metal with a very different feel from it’s Northern peers and that’s what makes it so damned special. This DVD encompasses and embodies that. It’s a very cool package, and I rarely say that about DVDs or live albums.

Related posts:

1. Orphaned Land – The Never Ending Way of ORwarriOR Review
2. Orphaned Land Post a New Track on Myspace and get Confirmed for Wacken!
3. Two Weeks Late.. but better than never..

Dibbukim is the band that I have been waiting for. Ever since I first hear the Orphaned Land song “Norra El Norra,” I’ve been thinking to myself “Where the hell is the first Klezmer-metal band?” There are two reasons for this: the first is that I love Klezmer. It is a fantastic style of music, entertaining and beautiful, as well as being ripe for blending into heavy metal. The second reason that I’ve always wanted to call a band “Hebrewcore.” And now I can. That’s right, Dibbukim is the world’s first “Hebrewcore” band. Mind you, there’s no -core at all, and they sing in Yiddish, not Hebrew but let’s not kid ourselves. It’s SO much more fun to say “Hebrewcore” than “Klezmer Metal” or “Klezmer Influenced Folk Metal.” Give into the joy of it. Though, it’s not really accurate at all… So. I guess…. Klezmercore! That alliterates! OK, Dibbukim is the world’s first “Klezmercore” band.

So given my enthusiasm, I’m assuming everyone is asking themselves how the hell this record is only receiving a 2 out of 5. Yeah, I was wondering the same fucking thing. I was so excited to get this album and as I put it in and thought to myself “How the hell do you even say Az a Foygl un a Goylem Tantsn” (I’m guessing that this is like “As a bird and a golem dance,” but I don’t actually have a clue or a Yiddish translator [Update: I’m almost right!), I was met with a wave of excellence in the intro song “Shpil di Fidl Shpil” (Is this “Play the fiddle, play?”) and my heart was in my throat. And then it happened, vocalist Ida Olniansky came in and the crushing depression set in.

The idea of this band and the music is fantastic, but Ida needs to be tuned or a new vocalist needs to be found. I do not wish to be harsh, but she is singing off the entire time. The harmonies are literally painful (and I mean that as in I cringe and feel pain) in some places, particularly in “Hinter dem Tol,” but pretty much anywhere she does harmonies (“Der Rodmakher” or yeah, anywhere) they’re bad. They’re off. They don’t sound good. And I’m not sure how anyone let that pass, unless I am misunderstanding the concept of “harmonies” in klezmer music (which I’m pretty sure I don’t). And it just crushes my heart.

Why the sadness? Because the music here is awesome. It’s genuinely creative use of folk melodies and song structures and klezmer music is genuinely fun. It’s just such amazing music that kind of lifts your heart in your chest because much of it is basically dance music. Then mix that into traditional heavy metal structures, with Iron Maidenesque double leads and great guitar work (like on “Czardas” and “Khaloimes”) and what you’re listening to is brilliant. And when the vocals aren’t a hindrance, like on “Papirosn” this record is a 5/5. I mean, it is really excellently written and performed. The musicianship (especially the guitar work) is competent and well done, the composition is tremendously smart and the skill is obvious here. Male vocalist Niklas Olniansky does his job well and the recording is well done, even if the mix is a tad loud.

So here’s thing thing: I suggest you check it out if it sounds interesting to you. I want to encourage a) independent musicians to keep making music b) unique and creative individuals who are not following a well-worn path to keep doing that and c) klezmercore (because hell yes!). And if you can handle the vocals or you don’t hear what I’m hearing for some reason then you will be super pleased. But I recommend caution, because despite everything else that should make this one of the best records of the year, Az a Foygl un a Goylem Tantsn proves once again that vocals really do make or break records.

Related posts:

1. Battlelore – Doombound Review
2. Orphaned Land – The Never Ending Way of ORwarriOR Review
3. Yggdrasil – Irrbloss Review

Israel is a weird scene. Actually, a lot like the South African scene that we’ve done quite a few reviews of here on Angry Metal Guy, it feels like the Israeli scene is another one of those scenes that lacks a cohesive sound. Having produced Orphaned Land and Winterhorde as well as the much darker Salem, the bands and music doesn’t seem to have coalesced around a specific regionalized ‘sound.’ Sonne Adam shows that this is definitely the case, as they produce dark, atmospheric doom and old school death metal. To be frank, I’m fucking astounded that this record is coming out on Century Media at all. There is nothing even remotely commercial about Sonne Adam. Though, I guess the same is true of label mates Triptykon.

What do I mean by that? Well, Transformation, similar to Triptykon‘s Eparistera Daimones, is deathy or grindy doom. This record is crunchy, old school death metal with drums and rapsy vocals that sound like they were recorded in a metal nuclear fall out shelter or something. Everything is just laced with tinny reverb and the guitars have a thick, ugly tone. I’m not sure what these guys are tuned to, but if this isn’t 7 strings downtuned, then they’ve done a fantastic job of making everything as thick and sticky as possible here.

And the tracks contained within aren’t immediately catchy, but they burrow in under your skin like some kind of alien insect and get into your system and once you’ve let that happen, it’s hard to stop listening. “We Who Worship the Black” starts off the record on such a note, with a riff that screams Morbid Angel circa Covenant and is quickly followed up by “I Sing His Words,” another track of pure fucking evil that pummels away at the listener with thick, heavy drums that sound acoustic (but the bass drums might be replaced) a wandering melody that is remarkably sticky in spite of its presentation.

Despite the doomy approach, however, they don’t write long songs. The final track “Apocalypse” is the longest at 5:57 and it also sports possibly one of the coolest riffs on the whole record before falling into characteristic trem picking that is reminiscent of early Norwegian black metal bands. However, shortly after they jump back into the old school death metal riffing. But the whole record is like this; remarkably old school, at the same time feeling almost like ‘blackened’ death metal, laced with blasting and trem picking and lyrics that reek of evil. And it’s hard, despite there being similarities to bands here and there, to make strong comparisons without feeling like it does Sonne Adam a disfavor.

All of that said, this stuff is hard for me at times. I have to be in a very specific moment to really get into this, and while I can appreciate that this is well done I’m not really sure that it’s going to stick with me for too long or end up on my end of year list or anything. So, let’s say this. If what you’re into is atmospheric, doomy death metal then Transformation is for you. These guys will get under the skin of fans of drone and crust, as well because the music is evil, it’s crusty and it’s raw. Like I said, that this is even on Century Media just blows me away because these guys can’t have a high profit margin, but good on them for signing something really heavy and that feels extreme. Sonne Adam will appeal to fans of Hooded Menace, Triptykon, old Morbid Angel or well anything atmospheric, riffy, and slow.

Related posts:

1. Acid Witch – Stoned Review
2. Arch Enemy – Khaos Legions Review
3. Deicide – To Hell With God Review

Middle-eastern tinged metal has become a slight trend. Since Nile really took off with the sound and influences, slowly but surely the metal scene has followed with. Behemoth played the Nile card and won big with it and Melechesh has grown to great popularity, releasing great records left and right. However, that bands from the middle-eastern or north African region are actually put out records influenced by their own culture, that’s pretty new. Sure, Orphaned Land has been around a long time, but they didn’t really catch the popular metal imagination until 2006. Myrath still hasn’t caught on and now we have Raven Woods of Turkish extraction.

And, let me say this, Raven Woods wasn’t impressive at first. I listened to this record and said “Holy crap! Behemoth!” But fortunately for bands (but not for lazy reviewers) we have standards over here at Angry Metal Guy, and that meant that I couldn’t just write a review after one listen. Because, while the record starts out a bit slow and monotone—the first three tracks really do just sound like Behemoth songs to me—the record gets better and better as it develops. Starting with “Torture Palace” Raven Woods starts successfully blending the traditional middle-eastern sounds, modes and instrumentations in with their face melting death metal riffs and the effect is haunting.

Tracks like the aforementioned “Torture Palace” and “Upheaven-Subterranean” are excellent examples of this blending, as well as the awesome tech-lite riffing on “The Grey Cold Shade,” which features not only excellent riffing but an all out death vocal assault, with vocalist Kaan really shining (if that’s the right word) and showing off his intensity. Another thing about these guys, is that while they have a bit of that Behemoth and Melechesh sound to them, they have a more melodeath approach at times, with excellent harmonized guitars and techy riffs that really get stuck in your brain after a few listens and feature the more traditional vibe while still being heavy. This, combined with excellent guitar solos and the mix of traditional instruments creates a unique and enjoyable blending of sounds that really convinced me that there was more to this band.

Unfortunately, the production on this record is very much ‘modern’ and feels like too much. It’s loud (duh), and the drums are very triggered and/or replaced and it kinda draws back from the sound, which because of its traditional tinge, should maybe be more acoustic and/or folksy. To be honest, it also helps contribute to the feeling that these guys just sound like Behemoth—which says something about how dated Behemoth‘s records are going to sound in a few years, doesn’t it. When you hear that thick guitar tone with those triggered, blasty drums it gives off an immediate feeling. But fortunately, with a careful listening, the music speaks for itself, and it overcomes these draw backs to produce a really convincing second two-thirds of the album.

Rating this record is really hard for me. I think that from track 5-11 are awesome; really great metal, but the slow start doesn’t deserve a higher score than a 3.5, and I don’t want to exaggerate anything. But at the same time, I want to strongly recommend this for fans of modern death metal and folk-influenced music and Middle-Eastern flavors. I think that this band has some amazing potential if they can differentiate themselves from the pack a little bit sound-wise. The music is beautiful, it’s subtle and it’s well-written at the same time as being brutal and heavy. I wish these guys the best of luck and hope to see them out on tour, because this music would be excellent live.

Related posts:

1. Svartsot – Maledictus Eris Review
2. Three – Revisions Review
3. Scar Symmetry – The Unseen Empire Review

Well, either way, now that I’ve given your children nightmares that they will never get over, I’d like to say THANKS. Thanks to everyone for reading this blog of mine (and Steel Druhm’s—who gets a special thanks for writing for this blog of mine). Thanks for responding to posts, for donating to the website to help keep it afloat and thanks for your patience when I can be a little bit inconsistent due to having a life and not doing this for a living (and thanks to Mr. Steel Druhm especially, but also Lord Doom and the others who have helped pick up the slack). It’s really cool that you do that. That you get an RSS feed of reviews that we write. That you debate and that you feel as passionately about metal as we do even if we don’t all agree. That’s awesome.

Also, a big WTF to Southern Lord and Profound Lore for not sending me promos despite repeated requests. What’s an Angry Metal Guy gotta do to get some love from y’all? I’m not going to download your shit illegally to review it, but I’d like to review it! So send me promo already for fuck’s sake!

Lastly, I want to say a word first about the fact that 2010 saw the loss of two of my personal heroes: Ronnie James Dio and Peter Steele. Let’s not forget both of these metal icons who gave in their own very unique ways to the fabric of the thing that we all love. Metal will definitely not be the same with them gone.

In honor of 2010 being a pretty good year (aside from the untimely deaths), I’ve got to present my top 10. And more importantly I have to declare the Record o’ the Year!

#1: Orphaned Land // The Never Ending Way of ORwarriOR — I can tell you that I was skeptical about this record. I really, really was. The name turned me off, plus it had been 5 years since Mabool was released and I wasn’t sure that they could grip me like they had the first time around. Oh how horribly wrong I was! The Never Ending Way of ORwarriOR is the best record that came out in 2010 hands down. I’ve heard all sorts of different critiques of it, but I don’t understand any of them. Every note on here is perfectly placed, the instrumentation is perfection and the mix is astounding. The level of creativity, bound up with the message and the political “movement” this represents means for me that this record deserves to be the best record of the year. I strongly recommend you read my review, read the interview I did with Kobi Farhi and purchase the record. It is a testament to this amazing band and to the global nature of heavy metal in 2010.

#2: Rhapsody of Fire // The Frozen Tears of Angels — Oh man. Rhapsody of Fire is back in a big way. While the EP they released later in the year could never live up to this record, The Frozen Tears of Angels blows everything the band has done since Power of the Dragonflame out of the water. The record is a pure neoclassical guitar orgasm, with the orchestrations making it back to interesting again and a high energy attack! This is everything Rhapsody of Fire is supposed to be and hopefully it is everything they will be long into the future. It’s possible that this record may also set a standard so high that anything they ever release again will never live up to it. But I suspect that this energy that they’ve got after being stranded for a few years due to a stupid lawsuit has more fantastic cheese in store for us! Bring on the cheese (OF FIRE!)!!

#3: Sigh // Scenes from Hell — You know what I don’t fathom? How this record has missed people’s lists and hasn’t even been mentioned near the top of these discussions that I’ve held on Facebook or Twitter! I cannot fathom how this record is being overlooked. It is easily the coolest orchestral black metal record to be released in years. People have complained about the production—but those people are stupid. What’s so cool about this record is how incredibly claustrophobic it sounds at the same time as having some mind-blowing tracks including “L’art de Mourir” and “The Summer Funeral”. I have come back to this record repeatedly throughout the year and I have continued to be impressed with the consistency and sophistication of this record. I cannot wait for more if they keep heading down this path. Hangman’s Hymn, eat your heart out!

#4: Finntroll // Nifelvind — Oh, you didn’t see this one coming, did you? The metal scene has been rather quiet about the new Finntroll since it came out, but not this Angry Metal Guy. Nope, this Angry Metal Guy has been listening to a shit ton of Finntroll just wishing that they’d tour Sweden (seriously, dudes! Do Finnish bands have a fucking Swedish boycott or something?). This record officially is the best Finntroll record in my book—it doesn’t shame Nattfödd, but it definitely makes their other stuff just not look nearly as good as I thought it was. It’s everything I was hoping it would be and, frankly, it was more. Plus, the band’s new image is totally wicked. Like they’ve been reading Changeling books or something. No matter what the causes are, these guys still rule in my book, even if they’re not in vogue anymore.

#5: Barren Earth // Curse of the Red River — OK, so since my favorite bands in the world are pretty much Opeth and Amorphis it should come as no surprise that this record makes my top 10. It’s funny because I haven’t really had the chance to come back to too many records this year, and this one is no exception. But when looking at my list of the stuff that I genuinely loved from this year, these guys immediately came back to me. Breaking it out again, there’s no doubt in my mind that my review was totally correct. Barren Earth‘s Curse of the Red River is a truly enjoyable CD that will live on in my playlist. Sure, it feels like Amorphis! Yeah, it’s a super group! But who cares? It’s awesome and worthy of your consideration when thinking about the best records of the year.

#6: Solefald // Norrøn Livskunst — I did just write this review, so the blurb probably won’t be as long because there should be no need to remind you of how amazing this album is. There may be a moment or two of non-perfection, but it’s pretty few and far between and what’s left is one of the most addictive records I heard this year. The beauty of this album is that it surprised the hell out of me! I was honestly expecting that Enslaved would be the Norwegian band that made this list (or Borknagar), but instead it ended up being Solefald who I have been pretty lukewarm on in the past. But this album just nails it home. How do you argue with this approach? It is truly a magnificent record and one of the best progressive offerings of the year.

#7: Demiurg // Slakthus Gamleby — It’s been a weird year for me and death metal. I have yet to find that technical death metal record that drives me to angry glee like I did last year (really it was two tech death records that made up 2/3 of my top three in 2009). No, indeed, this year the death metal records that I’ve liked have been of a decidedly more old school approach—and Demiurg has a nice blend of doom in it as well. This whole record is a masterpiece, in my opinion. I know that fans of the old school death metal Rogga Johansson projects were particularly critical of this album, but I think that it’s a well-constructed record that is worth every cent you would pay for it. The touch of Swanö, the vocal arrangements of Warby and the unique approach really made this record a shoo-in for my top 10 list. And 7 seems too low. Gah.

#8: Blind Guardian // At the Edge of Time — Sometimes, it’s hard to admit when you’re wrong. In some cases, it’s even harder when the people who are saying that you’re wrong are douchebags on the Internet who are convinced that “objectivity” means “agreeing with me.” But in this case, I have to admit that I was wrong. This record has drawn me back again and again and it has grown on me. I still think that it has some weak tracks, but the more and more I listen to it the less and less I care. The well done parts are really well done and the parts I didn’t like at all have started to grow. To be honest this one surprised me because it grew like a power metal record has rarely done for me. Power metal has long been binary choices in my opinion; but with Blind Guardian it turned out to be a much different experience. And I’m glad I kept giving this record a chance.

#9: Iron Thrones // The Wretched Sun — I thought about whether or not I should include this one because these guys aren’t signed, but in a way that should make me put this record even higher on this list. These guys aren’t fucking signed! It blows my brains! Away! Anyway, this record fucking rules and that you don’t own it yet makes me question your metal cred. The tracks are tight, heavy and these guys blend the best of a lot of different worlds to make a really fantastic and solid record. If you’re disappointed that In Mourning isn’t on this list, then you should go out there and find this record. Because it will blow your brains away, too!

#10: Torture Division // Evighetens Dårar — #10 is always the hardest to choose, isn’t it? I mean, there’s a ton of records that could go in this spot. And I weighed at least 4 different records that I felt could have gone here. I know that technically Evighetens Dårar is a compilation because it’s made up of three demos (Evighetens Dårar I-III), but those demos put together into a long play format are stunning, excellent death metal that I have listened to quite a bit since I got it. Really, this record has gotten under my skin. I know that there are some non-believers out there who aren’t convinced by this one and think their first demo set was better—but I don’t think they’re listening to the same record that I am, because Evighetens Dårar is awesome.

#(ish): Fejd // Eifur — I’ve been beating around what I should do with it and I really couldn’t decide. This list was finalized before I even took a listen to it—having just gotten swamped down in the day-to-day of being an Angry Metal Guy. What a miss I made. I really whiffed on that one and for that I apologize. If you’re a fan of folk metal you owe it to yourself to check this record out. It isn’t what you’re used to and that’s what makes it the best. This band is sophisticated, interesting, intelligent and fun. The melodies are amazing, the production is perfect for the material and the talent of these musicians should impress the hell out of you. I can’t recommend highly enough that you give these guys a chance. It has been a long time since I’ve heard a folk metal band that really nails it home like these guys do. And unless you already listen to Hedningarna you probably haven’t heard anything quite like this before.

It goes without saying that by its very nature a Top 10 leaves out great records. Because I don’t want to do that, I’m also going to include some honorable mentions that could have made the list and maybe even should have made the list. Though, if they didn’t, then you’re probably wrong. Also, you lack objectivity.

Honorable Mentions:
Rage // Strings to a Web — This one was weighed for number 10. I had a hell of a time not including it on that list because this record is just loaded with fantastic riffs, great choruses and blistering solos. It is probably the most traditional power metal that I’ve liked in years and I highly recommend it to everyone. It is a fantastic album and you should own it already. Why don’t you?
Grand Magus // Hammer of the North — I weighed this one for #10 as well, and man, that was a tough decision. Grand Magus is just an awesome band doing traditional metal in a way that is super convincing, incredibly enjoyable and very addictive. This record fucking rules and you are definitely encouraged to go and check it out.
Winterhorde // Underwatermoon — Oh man. This record rocked my world. I definitely feel bad about leaving this one off the Top 10(ish).
Watain // Lawless Darkness — Having already lost my metal cred for not making this #1, I probably shouldn’t include this. If you don’t know already, you probably shouldn’t, as they say.
Deathspell Omega // Paracletus — This record is an aural mindfuck. I haven’t had time to let it sink in long enough to make sure it belongs on this list. But it is definitely something that I will be listening to a lot in the coming year. Best black metal record of the year?
Pain of Salvation // Road Salt One — I’m not going to make any friends by including this only on the honorable mentions list because I had given it a 5/5 early this year. I still think it deserves to be towards the top of my list, but in the end other bands just pushed it out for various reasons. This doesn’t stand up quite as well as it did when I first got it, but I still love almost all the tracks and think that it is a triumph for the boys from Eskilstuna.
Istapp // Blekinge — Penalized for being a compilation, but still a pretty wicked record. This isn’t exactly in the same league as bands like Watain or Deathspell Omega or Arckanum when it comes to being black metal, but it’s an incredibly entertaining record.
Vex // Thanatopsis — This record cannot come highly recommended enough for me. This band has been sorely overlooked because they’re just on a tiny label from the US, but it is an album that you should own.

Biggest Disappointments:
Ihsahn // After — This record never sat well with me. It had moments, but I ultimately gave it a higher score than it deserved. After angL which I thought was pure genius this record was just a massive letdown. I suspect that future Ihsahn records will be better now that he’s gotten that out of his system. Or at least I hope so.
Enslaved // Axioma Ethica Odini — I know, this record was made record of the month and got 4/5. And it’s true, that it’s a good record that fits well into Enslaved‘s discography. This record tops other people’s lists for good reason, I guess. But it was just not at all what I had expected and/or wanted and my expectations were so incredibly high that I just couldn’t handle ‘run-of-the-mill’ when it showed up.

What Am I Looking Forward to in 2011?
Oh man!! There’s a new Rhapsody of Fire coming as well as a new Symphony X! Opeth announced a new record and it sounds like a new Amorphis records is in the works (if I remember correctly) and that would be pretty amazing as well and early on we’ll be getting the newest Vintersorg record. That’s definitely reason for celebration! And what about the new Shining record that should be on its way soon? And Indie Recordings just announced that Einherjer will be releasing their first record since 2004 in the spring! 2011 could be a fucking amazing year assuming that all my favorite bands don’t shit out on me. But the best part will be all the new shit I get to hear. Fuck yeah.

Related posts:

1. Angry Metal Guy’s Top 15(ish) of the 2000s
2. Steel Druhm’s Top 10(ish) of 2010
3. Angry Metal Guy’s Top 10(ish) of 2011

While the metal world has gone agog for Egyptian metal, and actually I’ve seen these guys linked up with Nile and Aeternam in other places, Melechesh is a unique band in that they are ultimately Sumerian metal. What’s the difference you say? Well, melodically not much. However, Sumeria is a totally fascinating historical place which was where modern day Iraq is (which is technically Mesopotamia—Sumeria was a grouping of city-states—this also includes the Israel and Palestine region). It is considered by most Biblical scholars to be the place where the “tribes of Israel” and the other natives of the region must have come from and it is south of or in the Fertile Crescent, which for anyone who knows their history is where agriculture is supposed to have come from. Some of the oldest texts in the world that we’ve ever found are Sumerian (written in Cuneiform) and the culture was highly advanced in math (inventing the abacus) and writing.

“I don’t read Angry Metal Guy for a history lesson!” I hear you saying. Well go fuck yourself, ’cause the intersection of history and heavy metal is pretty common these days. Everyone writes about history, ’cause it’s fascinating and more than anything else: it’s brutal. Like all old world societies, Sumerians are supposed to have been brutal. With brutal gods and brutal legends (not brütal legends), this is the stuff of nerd metal run galore. Indeed, Melechesh are on their third “major” label full length—the last being from 2006 Emissaries which was on Osmose—and first for Nuclear Blast. And it’s a doozy.

The Epigenesis, is of course, going to differentiate itself from the band’s earlier material to some extent, but fans of the band shouldn’t be disappointed. For one thing, the record is quite a bit longer than the previous album and this can be seen as a drawback. That is to say, I see this as a drawback. Where Emissaries, and their earlier records, were very much in your face, with a lot of blasting and rawness, The Epigenesis is really not as raw as the earlier material. Not only has the amount of general black metal blasting diminished, but the addition of two full-length instrumentals which aren’t even remotely metal tracks really slows down the flow of the album This isn’t to say that it’s BAD necessarily, but it lacks the intensity of earlier works—which is a shame.

That said, of course, it’s hard to fight The Epignesis, which is still loaded with amazing tracks. From the opening of “Ghouls of Ninevah” I was pretty much hooked on this record. The riffs are well constructed, and while never leaving the “middle-eastern sounding mode” (whatever the fuck it’s called), this doesn’t lead to boredom. In fact, because of the fact that the song writing is good enough, I found it to be a lot less repetitive than some of the other “middle-eastern sounding bands” (see: Nile). All through the record, from the melodic pieces to the really intense rhythmic pulsating in the track “Illumination: The Face of Shamash”, the tracks impress.

On top of that, the production on this album has a better sound than on any of the band’s previous works. Sphynx suffered from poor production and while Emissaries was a lot better, the production here is quite good—particularly in the drums, though not sounding as natural as they do on Djinn. Aside from the obvious and never-ending complaint that whoever is responsible for the mastering needs to turn everything the fuck down because I can’t listen to this record in my monitors due to peaking, the sound is much more natural than on previous record.

So do I suggest you go out and buy this album tomorrow? You bet I do. The Epigenesis may not be quite as good as Emissaries or Djinn, but it’s very much in the same ballpark as the previous records and it’s a solid output from an obviously talented band. I think the only suggestion I would give to the band is that maybe they could think of mixing the Sumerian musicscapes more artfully into the record à la Orphaned Land. I understand that as black metal guys from Israel Melechesh probably doesn’t want to be compared with Orphaned Land, but they have done a really fantastic job of blending those soundscapes into their music in a way that makes it a cohesive whole. It would add another dimension to this already incredibly winning formula and I’d love to see it the next time around—but until then I’ll enjoy The Epigenesis very much.

Related posts:

1. 1349 – Demonoir Review
2. Ragnarok – Collectors of the King Review
3. Watain – Lawless Darkness Review

It isn’t often these days that I review something that I found on my own. In fact, given that the amount of time that we here at Angry Metal Guy for reviews has gone down immensely compared to the huge numbers of promos we receive, it’s probably irresponsible for me to do so. But this Angry Metal Guy is always worried that we’re still not getting every CD of golden worth and highest quality. Once again this fear has been vindicated—but fortunately for you guys, I still love metal enough that I actually go looking for shit that we haven’t received here. And because of that, I stumbled upon Winterhorde a melodic or orchestral black metal band from… Israel? Yeah, turns out, even Israel which lacks for snowy winters has black metal guys who think that snow is the ultimate eviiiil. But don’t let the silly name fool you, because Winterhorde is not just your average melodic black metal band and Underwatermoon, while excitingly ESL in name, is anything but lackluster.

To be honest, it’s tough to know where to start with describing this album. So, I think I’ll start with the genre of symphonic black metal as a general thing. First, I think we can all accept that it’s basically been dying for a while. The big bands in the genre have long been considered beyond the pale when considering who’s “true” and who’s not (that’s right Dimmu Borgir and Cradle of Filth have long since become passé, and with good reason), and the bands that have come out that have really carried the genre forward into an interesting area have actually been blending more death metal into it (Behemoth, Septic Flesh, Gloria Morti). But where does that leave the genre as a whole? Pretty much on the ground bleeding internally from malnourishment—let’s say that it didn’t get enough of its daily metals intake (oo, so witty am I!) and became malnourished and is dying. As a rule, reviews of orchestrated black metal on this website have been monolithic: this sound is basically done.

Winterhorde says “No way, Angry José Guy, we’ve still got something interesting to say about this.” And Underwatermoon is the result of this. Beautiful layered progressive influences, clean vocals and melodic structures reminiscent of the band’s preeminent landsmen Orphaned Land (specifically in the acoustic part and guitar solo from “Wreckages Ghost”, for example), intertwine nicely into blast beat driven black metal in the vein of classic Emperor, and with a melodic sense more akin to Insomnium than to many of the traditional orchestral black metal bands. This of course means that these guys are not playing traditional black metal as you would expect it to be played: and for this there is nothing that I am more thankful for. Not once when listening to this album did I say “Oh, listen, they love [insert band here].” Instead, I was completely enraptured by the melodic structures, the song writing and the general feel of the album.

So, what makes a band like this so cool then, is partly ’cause I’m having trouble understanding why other bands haven’t done what they’re doing yet. Blending progressive metal and more traditional metal styles into melodic orchestrated black metal with a dynamic vocal approach. Tracks like “Hunting the Human” have great, but more simplistic, orchestrations which give the record a unique feel, while still having very cool death metal feeling riffs and addictive melodies and smoother parts. The track that follows (“Execution”) has some amazing bass vocals and an addictive Spanish guitar interlude, while still maintaining a militaristic rhythm similar to the kind of thing you hear on old Dimmu Borgir records. And yet somehow, like many of the best bands that are coming out these days, all of these disparate parts come together to form a cohesive whole that rules.

And now you can maybe understand why I would willingly promote something that no record company gave me to promote: because it’s fucking awesome. The novelty, and frankly writing talent, that this band exhibits on Underwatermoon is stellar, and this leads to what I consider to be one of the most unique and entertaining records of 2010 so far. Don’t let this one fly under your radar if you dig bands like Orphaned Land, Enslaved, Istapp, Gloria Morti, Emperor or Opeth; you will certainly regret it if you do.

Related posts:

1. Crow Black Sky – Pantheion Review
2. Gloria Morti – Anthems of Annihilation Review
3. Sigh – Scenes From Hell Review

Related posts:

1. Orphaned Land – The Never Ending Way of ORwarriOR Review
2. Orphaned Land Post a New Track on Myspace and get Confirmed for Wacken!
3. Orphaned Land – The Road to OR-Shalem Review

Orphaned Land formed in 1992 as Resurrection, however the band changed their name early on. Since then they have produced one demo and four full length albums, including 2010′s The Never Ending Way of ORwarriOR. The band has major middle eastern influences and is well known (maybe infamous?) for taking huge amounts of time between records. However, this quantity deficit is offset by the quality of their releases.

AMG: Why don’t you give us an introduction?

Kobi: I’m the vocalist of Orphaned Land for the last 18 years. This is mainly what I do and Orphaned Land is like my project life for me and for most of the band members because we are all into music but much more than that when it comes to the concept of the album and stuff like that. So we are very much devoted to what we do. [We] come from the Middle East which is a lot of the time a very tragic area for so many people so this is like some kind of mission that we have here as musicians. I’m 34 years old, living in [inaudible] which is very near to Tel Aviv. And that’s right about it.

AMG: You said you were the vocalist for 18 years, but you guys have had like what, 4 studio records now?

Kobi: We had a demo and this is like the fourth album, yes. It takes us pretty much time to release an album but when we do it, I mean, it’s a big celebration for fans and everything because everybody is like waiting for our album approximately five to six years. I guess it’s an outcome of living in our area, which is very diverse and complex and so is our music. We never deliver an album of like 35 minutes or 40 minutes it’s always like above the one hour [mark]. The latest album is 78 minutes long. It’s very complex and diverse and full of layers and stuff and maybe those are the reasons altogether why it takes us this long to come with an album.

AMG: So how does the writing process start? Who is the spark for that or do you guys write separately and bring things together?

Kobi: We have a very strange way of working, I always love to call it the puzzle formula. We always collect the material like guitar riffs but we never write a song. It’s always like a bank of riffs. It could’ve been written on several instruments and everybody composes, I mean, even if I don’t play guitar I have material that I compose and I make sure to record myself singing or stuff like this for example. We always find a concept or a theme that we want to speak about and once we have this concept we start to divide the story conceptually speaking to some kind of chronological parts of the story. Like if we were making a film for example or a script. And according to that we are starting to build, we go to the bank of our riffs and we start to build the music putting the riffs in like pieces of a puzzle. So if one of the parts is very sad then we will go to the bank and search for these sad parts that we have and wrote and we use it. And if it’s a part that’s speaking about, I dunno, the wrath of God or some kind of a war or something like that we go to the more extreme parts and we put it on that and layer-on-layer, this is how we build the album like a puzzle. I don’t know if there is any other band working that way but it’s very complex and you don’t get to see the picture yourself as a composer you know, because you build it like a picture. And only in the end when you make the album, you just start to see the picture as well.

AMG: You say that you’re puzzling it together, so that process goes on for what a couple of years? Are you demoing as you’re doing that?

Kobi: Well, it could take us like, yeah, definitely like a year and a half just to see and to build the whole puzzle. Then we are rehearsing the material for six months, so this is like the last two years are always very much intensive, in terms of composing and rehearsing the stuff and making all of the arrangements, while the first years are all about composing and collecting material.

AMG: And you guys work thematically like you said, and the new record is a concept album, but unfortunately when I get promo I don’t get lyrics. So I was wondering if you could elucidate the concept a little bit.

Kobi: Well, first of all, for an album and music such as ours it is really shit to listen to it without the lyrics because there is so much into it and stuff.. It’s basically a concept album about the warrior of light who is not some kind of any [irrelevant?] messiah who is going to come and rescue all of us, but the warrior of light is in simple words it’s just me, you and you know the listener who listens to the album. Because we believe that people all around the world are living in this frustration, wherever you look at them. I don’t mean the Middle East, but everywhere. People are unhappy. Whether it’s capitalism or their parents, girlfriend or even teacher or priest. They’re not really happy about the way the world is looking out [sic]. And the way we see the world is that there is a very big chaotic, spiritual darkness that we are into. When it comes to the Middle East this is like this black circle that goes on and on between Israelies and Palestinians or Jews and Muslims. But if you goes centuries back you see the Abrahamic religions killing each other for centuries. So, this darkness of ours we are trying to light the inner light of each and every one of [us] human beings because we very much believe that human nature is also good when your inner light is on. When you’re able to see that we are all pretty much the same and that there is no difference to categorize people or to think that you’re different than the other or to not want to communicate with the other. So this is something that we are trying to avoid and we use it as an allegory “the darkness” as a place of questions and “the light” as the place of answers where you can see more. Just as if I will put you in a very dark room you will not see anything and if I give a match into your hand you will be able to see more. And questions that you had in the darkness, you will have your answers while having a match in your hand. So the light in many ways is some kind of an answer, giving you more information about where you are. Adding to that your taking your inner light and lighting it within your soul, it gives you the opportunity to see that there isn’t any difference between you and your enemy or between the Israeli and the Palestinian or between.. it doesn’t matter, you know? Between the black and the white. It’s pretty much the same and this is what we are trying to do here because we are coming from such a place, we are not thinking about mythologies or history stories. We are singing about things that are happening right here right now. And I want to give a better Middle East to my future children. I want the Orphaned Land to come back and be a Holy Land a Promised Land. And that’s why we chose to deal with this subject.

AMG: That leads to about 1400 questions for me, because something that I’ve been thinking about since I watched Global Metal [the documentary from Sam Dunn] is that in a lot of ways sort of thematically, heavy metal has very much been a music of individualism and a breaking away from society and rebelling against society. It seems like what you’re doing here is that you’re thematically talking about unity at the same time that you’re also talking about what you’re referring to as the Abrahamic religions, which is almost the opposite of where metal has gone in Europe…

Kobi: We’re not missionaries, I mean, we’re not preaching to people “go to church” or “Islam is good for you” or “Judaism is good for you”, you know, we have a lot of criticism against religion just like black metal bands. The only thing is that we’re not using it in the way black metal bands choose to use it. We use it in our own political or artistic way just like we did in our band photo. We are not a “white metal” band whatsoever, I mean, you can’t consider us as a white metal band. And we have a lot of critique against religions and what they’re doing. And it’s not really uniting everyone into one group, we do support your being individual. We just don’t support the individual rejecting the other individual or considering himself being more just or more on the right side than the other individual in front of him. That’s the main problem. We don’t mind everyone having his own ways on the road, it’s just that we don’t want this conflict to go and smash one another so that we will kill each other. You know, because human kind lost completely their morality when it comes to human life. I mean, I would even say that if I was like, I dunno, one of the leaders of the world I would have summoned all the leaders of the world and created a new law that says it is forbidden to kill other people. And I would educate it in schools that this is something you cannot even imagine. Of course, you can do it. You can take a knife and you can kill someone according to your ideology or holding your holy book in your hand. But this is not something that God in any way tells you to do. Anway, the God that I believe in. So, I would even go further. I would say to you that it isn’t possible for people to think or to imagine themselves having a sexual relationship with their mother or sister right? This is like really hilarious and, “woah!” so um, if this is something we cannot even imagine how can we imagine, or even not imagine.. how come we can kill people which is something even worse than that? So, I would say that I have nothing against being individual, I just want people to be in harmony and some synergy. I mean, if you listen to our music this is a fusion. A fusion of instruments it’s a fusion of ideas. It’s a fusion of languages. And each and every one of the languages or ideas is very much individual when you take a tazuki (suzuki?) guitar into your hands this is very much an individual guitar and each of the instruments is very much individual. But when you combine them together you’re getting this rich, colorful synergy between the whole sound and.. you can love Orphaned Land, you can hate Orphaned Land but you can never say that this is not a very rich music. And that’s what we’re trying to get here in terms of human people.

AMG: Definitely. What you’re saying is true, but I think the point I was making was that black metal, and Satanism in the Levayen sense is serious selfishness and the basic idea is a big “fuck you” to the world, to everyone. And to quote Fenriz from Darkthrone: You’re throwing fists in all directions no matter at whom. And I think it’s interesting, because it’s very much one of the things that appeals to me personally about Orphaned Land that it’s a very different approach.

Kobi: Our approach is very different, that’s for sure, you know, I mean we come from a very different place with such a different mentality and when everyone is used to Norwegian black metal, bands from Europe and from USA and suddenly you have this band coming up with a completely different approach coming up from the Middle East, so definitely it’s something to notice.

AMG: What are you influenced by as far as non-metal music goes?

Kobi: I would say everything. Being such a fusionist in our metal music we go and listen to any kind of music and we can find beauty in any kind of music that you could just put in your mind. If you go through my CD collection you can find music from [inaudible] or opera from Puccini. You know, you can find Arabian music you can find [inaudible] music, definitely all kinds. I think that music is one of the greatest gifts that God has given us. So, just everything, I would say. You name it and I love it. Because this is why we also stretch it from extreme music, which is metal and growling to a very much cultural music because we are very much fans of music and we are very much receivers of any music that we will get and listen. Music always fascinates me, strange instruments always fascinate me and the human need for music. So everywhere that you go you will see that human nature created these instruments and stuff. This is always something fascinating for us, especially because we are Orphaned Land and we are great fans of these things.

AMG: You guys chose to work with Steven Wilson, what were the specific reasons that you chose to work with him?

Kobi: We’re great fans of Porcupine Tree and during the years we always noticed that despite the fact that Porcupine Tree is playing this prog rock music we could hear that the guy has this thing with metal music. Just in the Porcupine Tree music and then, of course, he also worked with Opeth, which really gave us the [receipt?] for what we had thought. I always wanted to have someone that is very much skilled to understand our music and to know how to mix it properly and how to get involved and it’s also interesting to have someone out of the band involved in your project if it’s the right person so this is a great added value. And Steven was definitely fitting this position and I think that he did a great job in terms of playing keyboards or even mixing the album and his ideas I think work. And it was a privilege of course to work with him because we’re fans of the guy and it’s amazing to have him on our record. I think from his side of things it was also great because he’s always looking for this unique music and interesting music and we are very much flattered that he found it in Orphaned Land. He always said that if Opeth would have been born in Israel they would have been Orphaned Land and the opposite, if Orphaned Land had been Scandinavian we would have been Opeth. This is the way he sees it and I can really understand where he comes from and that’s probably why he chose to work with both bands.

AMG: And how did that come about with him playing on the album? Because I know that you talk about the puzzle method and how you rehearse six months, so how does that work once you get into the studio and you know what you’re going to do and then suddenly you’re adding things in with him? I mean, how does that come about?

Kobi: Uh, we had sessions with him when we were playing him the music and just giving him the list of songs and just mentioning times when we would have thought it would be fitting keyboards. But it was just in a drive from our side of things and of course he had the free access also to offer whatever he wants so we gave him the music with our advice and he took it and just learned it and decided what to do. And it was this kind of a ping pong between us at the end of the day and we very much knew what kind of sound we wanted to use, like the Melltron and the Hammond sounds or the Melltron choirs which are very much analogic [sic] classic rock from the 70s kind of sound. And he agreed with these and we agreed with most of his ideas.

AMG: Were you guys physically together at any point? Or were you just working over the Internet sending files back and forth?

Kobi: I was in London actually at some later stages of the mixes, I went to London just to.. I spent like three days with Steven on the studio and we worked our asses off and you know we recorded some stuff and we fixed some stuff and I had this like… I came probably with my 40 pages of comments. More here, more effects over there.. let’s try this here. It was like, very generic work but it was really necessary to the whole process so.. and he was very much understanding and really into it and he understood that the album was very complex and he’s claiming that this is like the most complex album that he ever mixed in his life. So I will take it as a compliment in a way.

Clip from His Leaf Never Withers (Pay attention the violins.. we talk about them next!)

AMG: There were a few things on this record that I thought were a step away from Mabool a little bit. Was this a real orchestra or just really good samples?

Kobi: No, no, it’s an orchestra. All violins, I mean 99% of the violins on the album are not keyboards. So 99% of them are the Nazereth Orchestra which are like Arabian violin players who play the usual violin like the one that we all know from Classical music but they just use it in a different approach. The way the play on it. So it was a fascinating experience for us and for them as well. For them I mean, to work with this rock band [inadible] I mean, it doesn’t happen to them every day. Also for us to have those sounds on our music and riffs, it’s very unique and giving the atmosphere of the Middle East so much and really helping the music to give the color of our region.

AMG: And that’s sort of the unison violins that will swoop in and out.. that’s what that is right?

Kobi: Yeah, yeah, yeah..

AMG: That works really well. It’s one of the things that stood out for me right away when I was listening to the album was how cool that was.

Kobi: Yup, this is one of the things we didn’t do on the past albums and we wanted to have that sound. We wanted to be unique on this album, to make it differ from the rest while using these violins. I mean it was a whole process, we did rehearsals with them and it was like a whole project to work on parts with those guys and yeah, the results are great and I’m happy that you noticed that.

AMG: You guys did your first, or I might be wrong, but these are your first Arabic lyrics on this album?

Kobi: No, I used Arabic in the past, but this is like, I would say, the best and the longest process that I ever did with an Arabic text, I mean I really worked on it a lot. It’s like, I had to execute Arabic which is, you know you have to be perfect with your diction and your pronunciation and with the way you sing it which is a completely different approach of singing. So, yeah, I worked on it a lot. I mean, we used Arabic from day 1 here and there, but this is like the first time that we used it really massively, like in song number 9 [Disciples of the Sacred Oath Part II].

AMG: And you had actually said that this was an appeal for peace or something along those lines?

Kobi: Yeah, among the other versus that we do it, this was like a very important song. Usually we use our messages in a very poetic way, or allegorical way but this is like a very up front song if you just get the lyrics. You can find them I think on our website, if you look for them today you can just go to the album section and you can read all the lyrics. So you can check this song which is, I mean the way we approached to Muslims as Israelis, it’s very much up front and like.. we really speak to them directly in many ways. And I did it as a gesture, you know, as a gift to show them how much I have nothing against them. How much I appreciate their religion, how much I love their culture because if you can listen to the way I execute, the way I sing it, you can definitely see that it comes from the bottom of my heart and that’s what we wanted to get there. And we already have had a bit of criticism about it because.. in terms of being religious, we did something which is actually forbidden because we used a text from the Koran. But, what we’re trying to say that all the people is that in order to create unification sometimes you need to break old rules. And this old rule doesn’t make any sense to me, this isn’t like the Danish caricature that was laughing about Mohammad, there isn’t anything comic over here. I’m just singing the words which I chose from the Koran and I sing it from the bottom of my heart. And if the Koran are God’s words and music is one of God’s gifts then why is it forbidden to combine his gift with his own words? So, um, we did it in a very respectful way, and still people sometimes find it offensive, I would say. But I guess that’s the way it is. You cannot make everyone happy and this is art and when you make art you follow your heart and we definitely followed our hearts on this one.

Clip from Disciples of the Sacred Oath part II [This is the Arabic section]

AMG: How are you received in the region and by Muslim fans? Do you have a lot of them and do you find that you attract religious people?

Kobi: Well, we have a lot of fans from all kinds and definitely being Israeli and having so many fans coming from Arab countries it is something that is really on the limit of being bizarre, or not real because it’s unbelievable. I mean, you cannot imagine the fans of Real Madrid cheering Barçelona. Now we mention how bizarre it is for Arab people to be the followers of an Israeli band because Israelis and Arabs are killing each other for like, I dunno, decades. And it’s really crazy but I think that in a way those people succeeded to understand and with the power of music being a global language, they succeeded to understand that we are.. yeah, we are Israelis but we are not for Israelis more than we are for Arabs. We are just musicians and we are for everybody. The fact that they realize that, this is one of our great successes along our career. And, the fact that they see us as their Middle Eastern ambassadors in the world wide metal scene this is also a huge honor for us and we are very happy about it. There are always religious people that are frustrated with what we do. Orthodox Jews can be very much frustrated with me dressing up like Jesus Christ in the band photo. [chuckles] You know, but, I am a great fan of religion, I would say. I can walk with religion hand-in-hand but I am walking with religion hand-in-hand only until the point where religion starts to tell me what to do or what is forbidden or when religious people are starting to speak to me as if they know better than me. Or as if they are the ones closer to God and they can teach me and not the opposite. This is the place where I take my hand off and I’m telling them to continue with their own way, but I’m going to stay here. This is my red line. So, I cannot accept any criticism of “Don’t use the Koran”, “Don’t dress up like Jesus Christ”, “Don’t sing in Arabic because we’re enemies”, this is the kind of thing I cannot accept as a musician. This is bullshit. I think people sometimes should be afraid when they speak in the name of God because they might piss God off. God might be pissed off about the things that they say on his behalf. But with that said, I am a great fan of religion in terms of trying to be a way of morality and tolerance and stuff like that. The fact that people fail to do it is another story, but I love religion when it succeeds to deliver in those kind of things.

AMG: Do you engage politically at all?

Kobi: Well, it’s a good question.. but I would start saying that I think that being political means that you have to take some side. You have to be on one of the sides and you have to be against some parts of the other side. I would say that we are dealing with what happens in political aspects because I’m not singing about love songs or you know about girlfriends or stuff like that. We’re just singing about our political reality that’s true. So we sing about it, but we are standing in the middle and trying to unite everyone to understand each other better. I don’t want to unite people to be, I dunno.. I don’t want Muslims to be Jews or Jews to be Muslims I just want Muslims and Jews to be friends. So we are just standing in the middle and using the music as our tool in order to make it happen because I don’t believe in politicians. I never voted in the elections. And, uh, I think that politicians are very great at dividing people to take care of their own interests. So, I don’t have any other solution and I’m not trying to change the world, I’m just trying to help people to think differently or to make them think. It’s up to them what they will do with it at the end of the day.

AMG: Just to play devil’s advocate, don’t you think that at some point though you need individuals such as yourself who are looking to unite people involved in the political process as opposed to the dividers and the power mongers and war mongers?

Kobi: I don’t know, you know, I mean we have thousands of people who follow Orphaned Land and follow our messages and if you look at our Facebook pages or everything we just see Muslims, Jews and Christians just writing “peace” and “let’s unite and stop fighting” and I believe that if this movement will grow bigger, I mean, I definitely don’t want to be a politician or a Prime Minister but I think that if this movement will grow bigger then they will speak about it with their friends, they will raise their children to think in a different way than politicians or newspapers or the media teach us to think. And they will be able to see the whole picture because I think that music is much stronger than the media or the news. News just wants to sell news. And I know that when the newspaper is shouting at me in red letters, big letters, I know that something in me wants to buy and read it because this is human nature. We like these dramas and we like the news of tanks or killing each other always sells more than people hugging each other. I’m not some kind of a hippy, but I’m just saying that if we already have thousands of friends and fans who are Arabs that they are my sparckle of hope to this region. It is still nothing, it is still a small movement, but it’s a movement you know? And it’s amazing and I think that the more that we get to tell this amazing story of Orphaned Land and their fans, the more people will get into it and maybe a better future will come to this region.

Clip from Olat Ha Tamid

You can check more samples from this album on Orphaned Land‘s MySpace or just go out and buy the album, which is out worldwide as of today!

Related posts:

1. Interview with Mary Zimmer from Luna Mortis
2. Orphaned Land – The Never Ending Way of ORwarriOR Review
3. Ed Warby / The 11th Hour Interview

Few bands will ever make their own mark on a genre of music—it’s just a statistical rarity. Someone once told me that there are something like 5 million bands on MySpace, if that gives you an idea of the breadth which exists when one is thinking in terms of how many musicians there are out there. Of those, most of them probably last longer than a year, never produce much of a demo much less get signed to a real label—and how many ever produce a real step forward into a new decade with a statement of great things to come? The chances of becoming a professional musician are basically NIL and then of the number that do, how many ever produce something that will be remembered and affect enough listeners to ever influence any? That number is even smaller. Orphaned Land is one of the few bands that will ever exact change in metal and they are doing so now with their new record The Never Ending Way of ORwarriOR.

For those of you not “in the know,” (though frankly these guys are on Century Media if you don’t know by now…) Orphaned Land is progressive death metal act from Israel who produces masterpieces at a snail’s pace. However, they do, in fact, produce masterpieces. To do the band no justice at all, imagine Orphaned Land as the culmination of progressive metal (in the vein of Opeth and old Paradise Lost), traditional heavy metal and folk metal. But not Otyg, Eluveitie or Finntroll folk metal, which is very much a northern Europe kind of thing, but instead blending in all the textures and unique flavors of “oriental” and middle-eastern instruments and big orchestrations into one cohesive, and epic as hell, whole. Blend all of that in with a tendency to get a little chuggy at times with off-tempo and syncopation and beautiful female vocals and you have Orphaned Land.

For fans of the band, The Never Ending Way of ORwarriOR picks up where Mabool, the band’s 2004 (!) release, left off. Well, musically, that is. Despite the 6 year break, the sound is still remarkably fresh. This might have something to do with the fact that this album was mixed by Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree genius-at-large, temporary keyboard player for the band and Opeth go-to guy for Blackwater Park, Deliverance and Damnation), who added some of his distinct, trademark sounds (see: telephone line vocals, mellotron keyboards, etc.) to the album giving the tracks a different flavor than Mabool had—though, I’ll guess that a higher budget probably had something to do with that as well (though this is conjecture). The tracks flow into each other perfectly, balancing mid-paced death metal riffs and mid-range death metal growls against folky klezmer sounding pieces and huge sweeping orchestras which use unison violins to imitate old Lawrence of Arabia style movie soundtracks—a stunning and chilling effect, surprisingly. [Editors note: it was confirmed for me by Kobi Farhi that this orchestra is indeed the Nazareth Orchestra, which plays the violin in a different way and that it was chosen specifically to give this album a different approach.]

As Mabool before it, The Never Ending Way of ORwarriOR is a concept album—but the unfortunate side-effect of promotional media is that I have not received lyrics to give you a picture of the story. However, from what I’ve read elsewhere on the net and from the band’s own statements it is clear that they are maintaining their overarching theme of the unity and common ground of Islam, Judaism and Christianity—even appealing for peace openly on the track “Disciples of the Sacred Oath II” and singing in Arabic for the first time on that track. In a sense, these guys are breaking ground with this stuff, too. Without being an overtly religious band, they have broken away from the confines of EEVIIIIL heavy metal and moved into the arena of smart, appealing and interesting themes on their own. This gives the band a sense of sincerity that I think a lot of bands lack, and gives them credibility overall.

I admit freely that Orphaned Land has pretty much cemented its place as one of my favorite heavy metal/progressive bands of the modern era and, frankly, ever. The complexity of the thought processes, the writing, the arrangements and production are not lost on me and I encourage everyone to give this a record a listen in high quality earphones, because that is to some extent how it deserves to be listened to. I suspect that I will be listening to this album every day for a long time to come, despite the huge number of CDs I should be reviewing, because I can’t keep myself away. And if it holds up as well as Mabool has to the years, then I strongly suspect I’ll be about ready for a new album in 2016 when they finally get back around to it.

Related posts:

1. Orphaned Land – The Road to OR-Shalem Review
2. Orphaned Land Post a New Track on Myspace and get Confirmed for Wacken!
3. Two Weeks Late.. but better than never..