Orphaned Land – 30 Years of Folk Metal Review

March 2021

This time I am reviewing not one album, but a collection. Recently Orphaned Land has been celebrating their 30 years anniversary and has released a compilation of all albums together and the live celebration in a special bundle. There are only a handful of these, to be precise: 3000 copies.

Start of the Oriental Journey

The very reason why I felt so drawn to writing this review is the very fact that there is no other band alike as Orphaned Land. Seeing them a few years ago as a support band of Blind Guardian playing their released album at that time “All Is One” was a life changing experience.

It was my first encounter with middle eastern metal. The clothes, music & mix of religions were very distinctive and something I haven’t seen nor heard before.  

On the basis of the above we interviewed Kobi last summer to learn more about their musical journey and the band itself. So, the anniversary collection CD was a nice addition to our journey throughout 30 years of Folk Metal.

In this review I will discuss the following topics: the idea, the music, artwork and then summarize it.

”THERE ISN’T ANY OTHER BAND ALIKE AS ORHANED LAND”

The Idea

The first albums were a strange listening experience. The reason for this is, that the first album I came in touch with the band was “All Is One” which is basically the cleanest of all the albums. The very album that Kobi considered to leave growling behind and explore his clean vocals.

Unsung Prophets And Dead Messiahs was the next album I listened to. This album is chronologically the next one. As a consequence, I was blown away. First time, I heard Kobi growl and it sounded amazing. On top of this, they got Hansi Kürsch from Blind Guardian on board for one song. Also the album is well balanced between different kinds of influences and vocal ranges.

When this beautiful anniversary box arrived at my doorstep, I started to listen to “Sahara”. The album was released in 1991. This was a very interesting experience as the guitars are quite heavy as well as the vocals. The album itself reminded me of death metal with very small mediterranean influences. Reading the booklet I came to an interesting conclusion. That is to say, At The Gates, Morbid Angel, Death, Deicide heavily influenced the album, For those, who it doesn’t ring any bells, they are all Death Metal bands.

El Norra Alila which is the second album resembles much more the sound I know of Orphaned Land. The cause could be that in this album the band has been recording & studying synagogues singing and chanting. However, the album for me is still heavy and the music seems a bit over the place.

Next one is Mabool – The Story of The Three Sons of Seven. I really love this album as it comes close to what Orphaned Land is nowadays. This album has so much variety in instruments and mediterranean influences. It is also centered around a concept.

The next one The Never Ending Way Of Warrior builds further out these aspects. Perfectionising the sound further.

Relistening again to the first album All Is One, I must admit now it is a step back. It is an album where Orphaned Land was reinventing themselves, rethinking their music again. Like Kobi explained in our interview he wanted to explore his clean vocal side.

Unsung Prophets And Dead Messiahs was the album they found their way back and established their sound. According to me Kobi is much more confident when to use clean and where unclean. When we spoke with him about this particular album he mentioned that he came to realize that after the previous album there is room for both vocals and growling and it is an amazing way to express yourself. I believe this is the strength of this album: the music and vocals seamlessly fit together with the lyrics, something Orphaned Land has not done in such a capacity.

Finally, the last CDs are the bonus ones which nicely summarize all albums. A few songs from each album are played. As a result, it is a quite diverse listening experience as you will be hearing different periods enhancing the musical journey even more.

”WITH THIS ALBUM YOU WILL LEARN HOW ORIENTAL METAL WAS BORN FROM DEATH METAL”

Artwork

The artwork is nice and simple. It has a black background and on each corner you see the band’s and album name. On the back, the CDs are displayed in chronological sequence. Each album has their original artwork cover. In my opinion, a good choice. The main artwork lets you focus on the whole concept of the anniversary edition; traveling throughout 30 years of oriental metal. Each album has a different lyrics and music angel. Due to this, I would not say there is a binding illustration for all albums together.

If we look inside the box, I am happy that each album has kept their original look. It makes exploring the band quite easy as you have a visualization of the whole journey. Getting each CD out of their packages adds layers of time.

”DESPITE THE SIMPLENESS OF THE ARTWORK COVER IT DISPLAY EXACTLY WHAT JOURNEY YOU ARE GOING TO TRAVEL”

Summary

Orphaned Land is much more than a glimpse of light in darkness, it’s a band that one can be amazed of as they have evolved so much music wise. This album with the help of the booklet truly showcases how oriental metal was shaped.

I have written this experience as a fan myself and I am aware that not everyone was drawn to the band for the same reasons. Also, not everyone started with the same album as me, however I believe there is one point we can all agree on: there is no band as Orphaned Land who had such a huge impact on oriental metal as well as the Middle-East. It is a journey that definitely is recommended for exploring to those who are into this kind of music or want to learn something new.

In short, relistening our chat and all albums it feels a full circle; a band who started out as a death metal band, finding their own style, rethinking themselves at one point, coming back with a sophisticated sound and being pioneers at the same time in all these years of oriental metal.

MAIr