Review Summary: The epitome for progressive folk; the standard by which all bands should be held to.
Orphaned Land may have very well sealed themselves as one of the most creative and talented bands of the 2000s. For people unfamiliar with Orphaned Land, they are an Israeli band that play a certain unique mix of progressive metal (think Opeth, not Dream Theater), Middle-Eastern folk metal ("Oriental metal"), and death metal. (Note that the death metal elements are in limited amounts; the riffs used are more melodious than brutal, and the strongest death metal element is Kobi Farhi's growling, and that does not dominate the record.) They're also known for their incredibly long wait period between albums (eight years between
El Norra Alila and its successor
Mabool, and six years between
Mabool and its successor - this album), but the material they release is of very high quality.
I discovered Orphaned Land in early 2011 with their 2004 masterpiece
Mabool. While their pre-2000s material is less than amazing, I considered Mabool one of the best albums I'd heard in a long time. What really grabbed me is that, while nearly every album I liked and loved in the last year started off as a big "meh" or seemed good at best then grew into something I enjoyed significantly, I knew from the first listen that
Mabool was something special. Successive listens opened the album up to me more, and it became one of my most played albums of the last few years. In late 2011, I finally listened to
The Never Ending Way of ORwarriOR, and I realized it may very well be better than its almost-perfect predecessor. Let me make myself perfectly clear:
The Never Ending Way of ORwarriOR succeeds on every single level. I could go on for paragraphs about all of the little nuances that make this album so surprisingly good, but I won't. I will instead focus on the basics and the highlights.
The production (done by Steven Wilson) is crisp and clear, the mixing always puts emphasis on the appropriate instrument, and every instrument is noticeable (except for the bass, as usual, but even it stands out occasionally). Kobi's clean vocals are majestic, and his death growl is vicious. The instrumentation is top notch - especially the guitars, which constantly produce some of the best riffs I have ever heard. They even hired an orchestra (Arab Orchestra of Nazareth), which peppers melodies (such as violins) throughout the album.
What is perhaps most noteworthy is the fact that the album never feels excessive, despite it being over 78 minutes long with 15 tracks. This is because the album goes through multiple styles and moods, and each song flows with strong progression, never doing the same thing for too long. One of the things that really makes this album for me is how songs such as "From Broken Vessels" and "The Path Part 1 - Treading Through Darkness" (the two biggest highlights of the album for me, with "From Broken Vessels" working its way as perhaps my favorite song of all time) flow through multiple complex rhythms. They don't hover on the same riff for 5 minutes, but rather take the listener through a musical journey.
Of course, not every song is built around these complex rhythms. "The Warrior" puts emphasis on heavy orchestration and a long, winding solo. As well, while all of the songs strongly incorporate the Middle-Eastern folk, some songs such as opener "Sapari" and "Olat Ha'tamid" put more emphasis on that Hebrew sound. There's also several songs that abandon the heavy and complex riffs for a soft, yet deep and passionate sound ("New Jerusalem," "M i ?," and closer "In Thy Never Ending Way (Epilogue)") - and they all do it very well, forging some of the best elements of the album for me (such as "In Thy Never Ending Way (Epilogue)" which ends with a stunningly beautiful piano outro). Then there's "Vayehi Or," "Barakah," and "Codeword: Uprising" which are all groove-oriented, and feature less of the progressive, complex rhythms while still retaining their heaviness (and honestly, Orphaned Land never get overly heavy).
Then there's the lyrics, and that may very well be what separates Orphaned Land from the rest of the flock of folk metal bands (if their Middle-Eastern format and heavy progressiveness wasn't doing that already), and metal bands in general. These lyrics are positive and uplifting, while still being deep and complex. Rather than chanting about Satan or Paganism, their lyrics speak of Biblical matters and the Abrahamic religions (and in a positive light, too!). They manage to do this without seeming religious (or "preachy") in the very slightest, but rather intelligently do so through the use of conceptual lyrics (this is their second concept album now) and insightful quotes ("His Leaf Shall Not Wither" quoting Psalms 1, a passage in "Disciples of the Sacred Oath II" which quotes the Qur'an, and is sung in Arabic by the way). To be more specific, this album is a concept album about a metaphorical "Warrior of Light" (ORwarriOR), who, according to Kobi Farhi, is no Messianic figure, but rather the inner self. He related it to having a candle in a completely dark room; with the candle, you can see answers to what's in the room, but without it, you can see nothing. The album seems to dictate this warrior's journey to... extinguish the darkness, so to speak. It's very intelligent, and the way they show off the Abrahamic religions positively is a very welcome change, especially to worshipers of one of the religions (such as I).
The conviction of the lyrics leads to an overwhelming amount of passion therein. "The Path Part 1 - Treading Through Darkness" overflows with this passion; the emotion runs deep through the song, and it convinces me of what they do. It's deep, heartwarming, and beckons an emotional response from the listener. The aforementioned softer songs above also have this emotion running through them explicitly, but even in the heavier songs this passion rises to the top and dominates the sound. Every song radiates with the pain of the Israelis throughout history. In the music, I can hear their suffering, I can hear their loss, but I can also hear their hope. This cluster of emotions are the strains of the music's passion; the passion that emanates from the music constantly and releases an unexplainable atmosphere.
To put it quite simply, Orphaned Land seem unstoppable. The way they mix their styles alone is unique, but to create such mesmerizing and creative music the way they do makes them phenomenal. This is about as perfect as an album can get. The Holy Land has given us one of the best folk metal albums, one of the best progressive metal albums, one of the best albums released thus far this century, and one of the best albums
period. I consider this a must-listen for any fan of metal, and especially fans of folk metal and progressive metal.
