Year : 2018
Style : Progressive Middle Eastern Folk Metal
Country : Israel
Audio : 320 kbps + scans + Video
Size : 150 mb
Bio:
Israel's breakthrough band Orphaned Land, the pioneers of Oriental metal, have returned with All Is One and an in-your-face message for everyone to embrace: "People should be judged by their hearts and inner sincerity, not their religious beliefs."Three years have passed since the release of The Never Ending Way Of ORWarriOR (Co-Produced with Steven Wilson, Porcupine Tree) and in that time Orphaned Land have toured the world, brought their message to the people, and almost 20 years into their career, continue to cement their reputation as band with a purpose. Something beyond melodic death metal, black metal and folk metal, Orphaned Land doesn't base their music on myths that other bands sing about; they focus on situations in the real world that are happening right here, right now. You'd be hard pressed to find any other musicians in Israel that have influenced so many people in outside the country's borders, and in the eye of opposing religious views Orphaned Land are, in many ways, considered enemies. There's no escaping the fact, however, that the band's music has broken down those barriers and unified a community. It wasn't a new age band or a jazz band that brought people together; it was a Middle Eastern heavy metal band called Orphaned Land.This has been acknowledged by the fans, who did the unthinkable and started an online petition in 2012 to nominate Orphaned Land for the coveted Nobel Prize. Many metal fans felt strongly about the band's commitment to inviting the Arab world to listen to their music in spite of resistance and outright bans from Arab League countries. Thousands of people from all over the world have since signed the petition."I could never imagine in my wildest imagination that one day an Israeli band would be followed by thousands of Muslims from all over the world," says frontman Kobi Farhi, noting that Orphaned Land are the proud recipients of four Peace Awards issued by their Turkish brethren. "If we do a show in Istanbul, Turkey - which is the only Muslim country where we're allowed to play - people come all the way from Iran, Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan just to see us. These are enemies that are fighting each other coming to see us as one group of people. I'd say that historically the Jews and Arabs are brothers because we are all descendants of Abraham, but the conflict and the differences are so big that we've forgotten that. Discovering the fact that our music is the instrument to remind people that we are all one is shocking to me. I never imagined that blood enemies would open their eyes because of it. That's why the title of the album is All Is One."Orphaned Land's lyrics are politically charged most of the time according to Farhi, but not from the point of taking sides. The band is committed to reflecting the political situation in their corner of the world, but they never claim to be for or against any one point of view. All Is One continues their tradition of working and writing as a collective, and if fans go back and explore Orphaned Land's lyrics from the '90s (Sahara - 1994, El Norra Alila - 1996) they'll encounter the same themes and concepts as presented today. "The music is just played better and the concepts are made stronger now."Fans will never hear one Orphaned Land album sound like another. Some patterns on All Is One are Orphaned Land trademarks, but the band is always open to experimentation. This time out, for example, Farhi's growls are almost non-existent. In addition, the songs as a whole are catchier and shorter compared to previous outings, and more "in your face." That said, by no means has the band gone commercial. Not even close.All Is One was mixed by the critically acclaimed Jens Bogren (Kreator, Amon Amarth, James LaBrie, Devin Townsend Project, Opeth) and was recorded in three different countries: Israel, Turkey and Sweden. Ironically, countries that are Jewish, Muslim and Christian respectively, which strengthens the Orphaned Land message of unity through music. Over 40 musicians were used to flesh out the sound of All Is One, including 25 choir singers and eight classical violin, viola and cello players from Turkey. Farhi, for his part, considers All Is One "the greatest album we've made to date.""We felt that we've done very complex albums in the past, we've proven that we know how to be the most complex band in the world if we want. But this time we had the feeling that, coming from a very complex region, it's time to make an album that would be fun to do and fun for the fans to hear. A lot of the songs are very sad and tragic, but they're a little easier to digest the messages in the lyrics. We wanted to make an album that's easy for any metal fan to understand the lyrics from the very first listen.""Our feeling is that we were able to bring our music to a new level on All Is One," says Farhi. "I hope the fans will feel the same way."
Album:
The global metal community has claimed the world, even reaching places where war and conflict is dividing people and where sometimes the only hope people have is in the harmony and power of music to unite them. One metal band using their music to advocate for an end to bloodshed and to create a peaceful co-existence with other cultures and religions is Israel’s Orphaned Land.In their 26 year career Orphaned Land have been recognized for their humanitarian work but their most notable achievement to date is the way the band fuses heavy metal with traditional Middle Eastern music creating their own sub-genre known as “oriental metal”. Its appeal is far reaching as the band sings primarily in English and tour relentlessly around the globe. In 2014 guitarist and co-founder Yossi Sassi announced he would be leaving the band to pursue his solo career and for many fans this news came as a big surprise as Yossi’s guitar work was a core part of Orphaned Land’s sound and style. This however didn’t stop the rest of the band from pushing forward to create new music with Chen Balbus taking lead guitar roles and Idan Amsalem joining as rhythm guitarist.This year the band announced they would be releasing a new album in early 2018 titled ‘Unsung Prophets and Dead Messiahs’; singer and lyricist Kobi Farhi was inspired by Plato’s famous philosophy text “The Allegory of the Cave” drawing parallels to the way 21st century media and government are attempting to brainwash us and how current man’s inhumanity to man counterparts the slaves in the cave who love their slavery and refuse to see the light. The album also features some very prominent guests including the renowned ex Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett, vocalist and bassist of Blind Guardian Hansi Kürsch and front man of At The Gates, Tomas Lindberg.‘Unsung Prophets and Dead Messiahs’ opens up with a hypnotic and energetic composition “The Cave”, Plato’s writings do find themselves in the lyrics but Kobi interprets them and makes them his own putting them in a contemporary context. “We Do Not Resist” continues the theme of how the media is not telling us the true cost of war and instead sells us lies and gossip, Kobi’s growls are at full effect and channel the anger that is needed for the subject matter to cut through whilst the band wrathfully backs him up with pure metallic rae.“In Propaganda” charms the listener with the seductive Saz and Bouzouki guitars and an orchestra highlighting the band’s very skilled musicianship blending metal with Arabic folk music. Orphaned Land are a band who know how to get the balance right between heavy and light music and demonstrate this well on “All Knowing Eye” and on “Yedidi” where Kobi sings in his native tongue. Even progressive rock legends such as Steven Wilson and now Steve Hackett have recognised the sophistication Orphaned Land brings to their song writing. This is evident on “Chains Fall To Gravity” an oriental prog anthem with special guest Hackett tearing up a fine guitar solo and the band weaving in their oriental magic and excellent musicianship.“Like Orpheus” is one for the metal fan at heart, featuring Hansi Kürsch, the power metal singer’s vocals soar high above the chorus making the song even more majestic and epic. “Poets Of Prophetic Messianism” is a beautiful instrumental with a choir in the background and the native instruments taking a lead role. “Left Behind” hits you straight away with spell binding oriental strings and proceeds with a chunky metal riff, It’s one of those wonderful pieces of music that urges you to dance and gets you locked into the heavy guitar groove, it’s so well crafted it demands multiple listens. “My Brothers Keeper” acknowledges the dead messiahs that failed throughout the history of mankind, the revolutionaries who have lost their lives to empower their fellow human beings. The music takes the listener into shades of darkness and light and once again brings out the best in Orphaned Land’s songwriting. The band has creatively employed samples of swords, sirens and speeches about war and the nature of power to great effect especially in the intro of “Take My Hand”.“Only The Dead Have Seen The End Of War” returns to the death metal roots of the band’s earlier albums and features Tomas Lindberg’s dirty growling. “The Manifest – Epilogue” concludes the album with a mesmerizing guitar solo and ending with a sample of George Orwell’s Final Warning “ If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stomping on a human face forever, the moral to be drawn from this dangerous nightmare situation is a simple one, don’t let it happen”.‘Unsung Prophets and Dead Messiahs’ is an album that truly opens up a dialogue about the way we should treat each other and to stop repeating the same mistakes over and over again. Orphaned Land not only are strikingly prophetic, they bring music that has such sophistication that you can’t help but feel joy, happiness, anger and rage all at the same time. It’s a remarkable album and one that will open 2018 with a loud subversive bang.
Line-Up:
Kobi Farhi - Vocals (lead, backing, choirs, chants, narration) (1992-present)
Uri Zelcha - Bass (electric, acoustic, fretless) (1992-present)
Matan Shmuely - Drums, Percussion (2011-present) - See also: Subterranean Masquerade, ex-Armilos, ex-Azazel, ex-Edgend, ex-Grave in the Sky, ex-Matricide, ex-Stella Maris, ex-Distorted (live), ex-Moonskin
Chen Balbus - Guitars (lead, rhythm), Bouzouki, Piano, Xylophone, Vocals (backing) (2012-present) - See also: Chen Balbus Project, ex-From Nihil, ex-Tales From the Morgue
Idan Amsalem - Guitars, Bouzouki (2014-present) - See also: ex-Armilos
Tracklist:
CD1:
01. The Cave 8:10
02. We Do Not Resist 3:24
03. In Propaganda 3:33
04. All Knowing Eye 4:28
05. Yedidi 2:33
06. Chains Fall To Gravity (Feat. Steve Hackett) 9:29
07. Like Orpheus (Feat. Hansi Kursch) 4:34
08. Poets Of Prophetic Messianism 2:56
09. Left Behind 3:11
10. My Brother's Keeper 4:42
11. Take My Hand 6:03
12. Only The Dead Have Seen The End Of War (Feat. Tomas Lindberg) 5:43
13. The Manifest - Epilogue 4:45
CD2:
01. The Beloved's Cry (Live Tel Aviv 2011) 3:32
02. M I ? (Live Tel Aviv 2011) 3:35
03. Halon Layam Hatihon (Live Tel Aviv 2011) 6:25
04. As I Stare at the Ocean Alone 6:15
05. Estarabim (Alternative Mix) 5:10
06. Estarabim (Radio Version) 4:40
07. From Broken Vessels 7:45
08. Jeremy 4:03
+ Video "Like Orpheus" (Official Video)
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