| Orphaned Land 'Sahara' Holy Records , 1994 Lord Pale : Orphaned Land are amongst the uniquest bands I have heard . Playing an indescribable blend of heavy metal with progressive melodic elements mixed with the traditional Arabic sounds of their homeland Israel . Essentially a six piece outfit , Orphaned Land recruited five addtional musicians in the making of Sahara , including 2 female vocalists , a traditional Arabic singer , a Tarbuka player , and a Kannun player on top of the Oud performance by one of the band members , this gives the album an expansive and interesting sound . Vocals vary throughout the album , the two leading styles being a deathy growl and some clean arabic accented vocals , through to the aforementioned female and traditional singers . Orphaned Land fit a diverse variety of ideas , rhythms , and harmonies into any given song , with traditional intrumentation , heavier segments and a huge helping of vocals delivery styles and melodic passages that gel so smoothly it all sounds rather natural . Tempo's and song structures are vastly different at times but form the album as a whole without boring the listener , rather keeping you intesely interested the whole time . The lyrics have a slight spiritual slant and excerpt from the Koran , Halel , and the Tehilum all pervade the first half of the album . The second half of the album is the bands demo 'The Beloved's Cry' rerecorded , and the shift between the new material and the demo material isn't even noticable . If what I have described here sounds confusing or not appealing then I implore you to check them out anyway as their music is outstanding and beyond description . Favourite Tracks - Sahara Storm , Ornaments Of Gold ,. Orphaned Land : The Storm Still Rages Inside Mark - 9/10 Orphaned Land 'El Norra Alila' Holy Records , 1996 Lord Pale : Orphaned Land return with their next installment of progressive , melodic , arabic , folk , metal . El Norra Alila sports a sharper production giving the guitars a heavier sound with more punch and a greater clarity of sound for the album overall . The songs are slightly shorter and more punctual , with some 'tweaked' traditional musicals interspersed throughout bringing El Norra Alila up to a total of 15 tracks . A vast array of guest musicians and traditional instruments have again been used eclipsing even Sahara including : bells , a pandero ; a tar ; dumbecks ; violins ; quannuns ; keyboards ; darkbukas ; a duff ; an oud ; and a shofar . The clean vocals have improved and some of the harmonising on tracks like 'Of Temptation Born' is truely exceptional , and again they work hand in hand with the great deathmetal growls . The female vocals and traditional Arabic vocals of Sahara are not missing either , and they pop up at varying interlues across the albums course . The lyrical slant has shifted more blantantly into religious realms with songs suck as 'Thee By The Father I Pray' but it does not detract from the genius level of songwriting . Another fine release from a unique band , that sadly dissapeared after this album , although they were rumoured to be signed with Century Media , nothing ever came about . If either Sahara or El Norra Alila came out today in 2002 I would still give them the same mark , a true testament to this fine bands talent . Favourite Tracks - Of Temptation Born ; Find Yourself , Discover God ; A Neverending Way Mark - 10/10 Orphaned Land 'Mabool' Century Media, 2004 Lord Pale: The long awaited and much delayed third album of Israeli folk/prog metallers Orphaned Land has finally arrived. Mabool is a concept album about the three sons of seven ( Noah's Ark/the diluvean flood ) with twelve tracks of catchy progressive metal infused with Hebrew vocal and musical rhythms. Mabool carries on the legacy of El Norra Alila with shorter, more refined and focused tracks that this time around play a lot better individually than its predecessors did. More female vocals have been utilised in a wider variety of styles from traditional singing to operatic bursts of harmony. Fans of either of the bands previous works won't be disappointed and the longer less formatted style of track that Sahara mainly delivered are still present in songs like 'Mabool: The Flood'. Mabool is the bands most mature and consistent album to date with no bad tracks and an even flow of emotions and styles throughout its duration. Overall Orphaned Land have again managed to retain their unique sound and come up with another album of great new songs... lets just hope it doesn't take another 8 years for the next album to surface. * The limited edition version contains a bonus cd of live acoustic material taken from the first two albums including an interesting multi song medley. Favourite Tracks - Ocean Land ; A Call To Awake ; Birth Of The Three mark - 9/10 |
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