Closing out the O's this week with something a little worldly in the metal sense. Metal from the Holy Land of Israel. Orphaned Land is one of the few success stories in the Metal genre to come from Israel. The other well noted bands are Melechesh and Salem. Orphaned Land started out in the early 90's as a Doom/Death/Middle Eastern Folk outfit before changing their sound to a more Progressive/Middle Eastern Folk sound. The band has only released four albums to date. Taking a eight years to release albums at one point. The band deals with the religious uncertainty that plagues the Middle East by crafting music that promotes peace and unity. Those themes are present on their latest effort, 'The Never Ending Way Of The ORwarriOR'. For those of you wondering Orwarrior roughly translated means, "Warrior Of Light", in this case representing a conceptual hero between light and the darkness.The album is divided into three parts: Part I: Godfrey's Cordial - An ORphan's Life (tracks 1-6) Part II: Lips Acquire Stains - The WarriOR Awakens (tracks 7-12) Part III: Barakah - Enlightening The Cimmerian (tracks 13-15). Overall this is pretty much a concept album. Musically it is very diverse and unique sounding which I think adds to the charm. Overall if you're looking for something different, this is an excellent choice.
Orphaned Land has garnered a lot of praise for what they do as a band and what they do outside of the band. It's not easy to be a metal band in a conflict ridden area. Musically speaking the band always seems to draw high praise from the critics. And it's not hard to see why 'Orwarrior' was produced by Steven Wilson of Porcupine Tree fame. Let's face it the man knows how to make a record sound good. But it's really the band that shines through here, blending native instruments with prog metal. It's not what you would necessarily expect, but somehow it's really great sounding. Always worth listening to bands from unexpected areas.
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