Customer Reviews

Mabool (Bonus CD)

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Epic/Progressive/Folk-Inspired/Neo-Classical Death Metal with the perfect, extremely unique blend of heavy guitars, traditional middle-eastern instruments, clean singing, calm instrumentals, death growls, female vocals, choirs and chants, and a tinge of technicality - there is even some singing in Hebrew. I'd agree with anyone who says you simply can't put a label on something like this, it is just music. Ethnic Metal? That seems fitting. Additional instruments include piano, keyboard, cello and violin. This album probably reminds me mostly of Symphony X's "V," because of that album's Egyptian themes, except this has death growls and is less cheesy. This album really doesn't contain much death growls at all, which is perfect - I really wouldn't be surprised if they totally abandon them on their next album or maybe two albums from now (I'm actually expecting it) and it would be a logical and natural progression. Of course, they certainly don't ruin this album or anything. I've never heard any of their other albums and unfortunately they seem a little hard to find.

The album flows beautifully from one song to the next, with very good transitions from soft to heavy parts that some bands don't accomplish very well. The best part is when there is heavy guitar riffing and the folk instruments (I wish I actually knew what they were called) atop it with either vocal type, they really don't keep alternating between this in the songs too much, and when they do, it is very smooth The CD clocks in at 68 minutes, and I really don't understand when people complain that that kind of length is too much. It is only too long if it starts getting repetitive, which this album definitely doesn't do. I mean, there are 20-minute recordings that can be "too long" because they ran out of ideas. With Orphaned Land, the ideas and great musicianship never dry up and it's certainly not pretentious or over-the-top.

When some people find out Religion is the lyrical theme they get totally repelled and automatically hate the band. That really shouldn't be the case, it is more of a story that involves religion and is put together nicely, not preaching to the listener, and even if they were preaching, the music is so good I wouldn't care. Lyrics never mattered to me that much as long as they aren't ridiculously silly, and if they happen to be good, it's an extra bonus. Some of this is sung in Hebrew which I already mentioned, which definitely adds to the theme and provides an interesting touch.

The album starts out with "Birth of the Three," with a nice powerful riff, quickly adding death growls and traditional folk instruments. It turns out to have a good combination of all the vocals, occasional piano, and nice rhythm changes, and at the end there is an angelic choir singing with melodic heavy riffing in the back... probably the first time I've heard that in any music. "Ocean Land" is one of the best songs, it starts out with fast-paced strumming, I think it's a sitar, and then suddenly goes into the main song, contains excellent clean vocals in the "chorus," a little more choir vocals, and a perfect blend of heaviness with death vocals and a pretty nice solo. "The Kiss of Babylon" starts out with some of the heaviest material on here, and suddenly adds some more female choir vocals - so outrageous but it sounds perfect. Near the middle of this song, they abandon lyrics and just sing "Na na na na na na na" instead. It's not horrible, but they do it for a little too long for my tastes. Then there is a lone female vocalist singing in Hebrew, who has a gorgeous voice, but this also goes on for just a tad too long. Then begins the next song, "A'salk" which just has the folk instruments and also ethnic tribal hand-drums with the same vocals; it's a short song that brings a nice refreshing direction to the album and foreshadows a series of a few songs like this.

"Halo Dies" is heavy again, using a traditional instrument that sounds a little different at the beginning, then containing some of the most aggressive vocals for a while, before breaking down into a little keyboard and acoustic section then containing some of the best metal riffs in the CD. "A Call to Awake" isn't too much different from the heavier tracks, but then "Building the Ark" suddenly begins with some ethnic hand-drums, acoustic instruments, and male + female chanting type vocals and continues this way, it's a beautiful, encompassing track with great atmosphere. The next song "Norra el Norra" has some excellent male singing in Hebrew, and is one of the calmer tracks with distorted guitar, containing a great mixture of heavy and soft. Near the end a brilliant mini-piano concerto is added to the upbeat strumming in the background. "The Calm Before the Flood" is the album's calm breath of air with slow acoustic playing and strings, very lonely and eerily troubling. The band is knows how to make tracks like this just as well as heavy tracks, it truly sounds like the calm before the flood. At the end, the sound of rain quickly arrives, transitioning into the title track which adds some thunder and truly apprehensive sounding fast-paced strings, slowly adding the guitars, turning out to be another quality metal track. This turns right into "The Storm Still Rages Inside," the longest song. A good chunk of it is a metal instrumental with a long, winding solo, finally ending with a few female choir vocals and the sounds of water. But there is still more, after the flood is a "Rainbow", a calm, simple acoustic track with the sounds of birds chirping. It might seem like this drags on too long from my explanation, but I don't think it does, it seems like a good length.

All in all, this is one of the most unique, diverse and excellent metal albums I've ever heard, and will be in anyone's collection; it's one of my very top purchases of 2004. I really have no other bands to compare it to besides that Symphony X album which is kind of a stretch, so if you like your metal unique and thought-provoking, this is for you.

Lots of bands have incorportated Middle Eastern melodies in their music over the last three decades, but it is certainly a lot more intriguing when a band from that specific region (Israel) uses motifs from its own culture and envelopes a broader musical spectrum. Enter Orphaned Land who released two other albums in the mid-90's neither of which was as progressive and interesting as their new one Mabool.

After an 8-year long break, Orphaned Land is back with their finest disc to date. I was sceptical about buying this album but when quite a few friends of mine whose recommendation I always care for praised it to no end and since Orphaned Land is going to play on a festival here in Istanbul next week opening for Pain of Salvation I decided to give them a chance... I'm glad I did. It's one of the better albums of year so far and the best thing Century Media has released in 2004.

While listening to Mabool, I am reminded of three bands in particular. The first one is Opeth circa Morningrise. The way they're using the twin guitars and somewhat blackish death growls is quite reminiscent of the Swedish prog-death act. Then there is Nile for their technical side and Middle Eastern elements in their music. Last but not least there is Mezarkabul, a great band from Turkey with accented Middle Eastern melodies. Although Orphaned Land is no where near as progressive as Opeth; as heavy as Nile or as traditional sounding as Mezarkabul, they certainly share some common characteristics with these bands. On the other hand they also have their own unique edge to them and they're almost addictive in this sense. I've also heard people comparing them to Pain of Salvation but I don't necessarily hear it myself. Then it's all subjective opinion; you may as well think that my comparisons are off quite a bit.

Mabool is a concept album and memans "The Flood". It is inspired by the biblical flood story of Noah and the Ark but represents the band's views on what's going on in the Middle East. The story is about three heroes who share the same soul on a spiritual level. The soul is divided into three human beings: one Jew, one Christian and one Muslim. When they unite, they realise that a flood is going to come and cover the Orphaned Land with a big ocean because of the sins of mankind. The name Orphaned Land symbolises Israel itself which is a holy place for most people. This holy place is corrupt because of the endless wars and bloodshed that took place because of religion and beliefs. So now it's time for nature to clean the sins and purify the land with the waters of the flood. This is basically what the concept is about: there are three individuals all from different religions coming together in order to stop the wars and save this sacred place. All three of them try in vain to warn their own people against killing each other in the name of God. As a matter of fact, this is exactly what is happening in the Middle East nowadays. People are getting killed day by day for no real cause so Orphaned Land's lyrical statements are quite solid and reflect reality. This album by no means is a 'religious' album where the band members are trying to impose their own beliefs onto the listener; on the contrary Mabool just draws attention on the senselessness and atrocities of war where thousands of innocent people of ALL religions lose their lives in this bloodshed.

Musically there is a dichotomy present as well. All kinds of heavy metal instruments are side by side with traditional Arabic instruments such as the 'oud', 'saz' and 'buzuki'. Moreover the mixed ethnic identity of the 'Orphaned Land' is successfully characterized with the inclusion of Hebrew, Arabic, Indian and Latin texts as well as the language of "gibberish" which is a made-up language created by the Orphaned Land members themselves. Kobi Farhi's meticulous attention in the production shows and the vocal harmonies are some of the most original harmonies to have been recorded. Farhi not only does the clean vocals, but he handles the death growls, spoken passages, chants and back vocals as well. The lead guitar work is stunning; you can tell that Yossi Saharon spent a great deal of his time, energy and creativity to write those killer melodies, riffs and solos. I'll leave the rest of my comments about the music for myself since each listener should intrepet it himself best.

After purchasing 100's of alternative and death metal cd's from many different bands, it was this disk by Orphaned Land that prompted me to write a review. Every track is simply flawless. The music more closely resembles a middle-eastern biblicaly inspired Iced Earth meets Opeth then anything else. "Mabool" takes the listener on an unpresedented voyage through the notoriously religious and mysterious land of Israel by combining elements of ancient judaic scripture with catchy death metal guitars. Kobi Farhi provides the majority of the vocals in a style similar to Opeth's Akerfeldt, switching between the standard death metal growl and high-quality singing. The backup female vocals provided by Shlomit Levi are incredible as is the performance by the Moran Ensemble. The catchy guitars played by Matti Svatizki, Yossi Saharonare, and Uri Zelecha on bass are awesome as is the backing piano played by Eden Rabin. Mabool is a must have cd especially for fans of melodious death metal, Opeth or Iced Earth, worth every penny and much more.

1. Birth of the Three: Track one opens up strong with middle-eastern chanting fading into incredibly catchy guitars and death metal vocals desribing the three sons of seven on which the cd is based. death vocals are perfectly complemented by beautifuly clear, harmonious singing. Guitars are amazingly catchy and the piano backing them makes this song an absolute must hear!

2. Ocean Land: Middle-eastern style guitars place the listener in an ancient desert land to open the track, powerful melodic death metal soon takes over. While the guitars are great, the astoundingly soaring and catchy vocals are key to this songs success.

3. The Kiss of Babylon: My favorite song on the cd. The guitars in this song are incredibly catchy and powerful. The array of vocals ranging from angry death growl to beautiful singing make this song perfect. The song fades into beautiful female hebrew chanting/singing.

4. a'salk: an interesting continuation of the last song. beautiful female vocals along side middle-eastern style guitars mark this song as slow but very melodic.

5. Halo Dies: Well played metal guitars are combined with biblical singing for the first part of the song, then death vocals take over backed by extremely catchy guitars characteristic of bands like Iced Earth.

6. a call to awake: Great Iced Earth style catchy guitars, very powerful, narrative vocals.

7. Building the ark: Incredible song! The melodic middle-eastern instrumentals are amazing as is the singing.

8. Norra El Norra: Judaic singing backed by powerful guitars. Amazingly Beautiful contrast. Fades into wonderful accoustic and piano. Another of my favorites!

9. The Calm before the Flood: Soaring instrumental, well placed in the cd.

10. Mabool: Another Favorite. Wonderful use of orchestra, powerful guitars and vocals. fastest, loudest song on the cd. A truly epic title-track describing the great flood.

11. The storm still rages inside: Continuation of the last track. Loud, fast and melodic. great narrative vocals, soaring guitars.

12. Rainbow The Ressurection: Amazing instrumental. Perfect way to end the cd.

Orphaned Land makes me proud to be a metal fan! With the complete lack of respect that the metal scene in general has to face due to a complete lack of understanding and narrow-mindedness, it can sometimes be difficult to admit that you think Carcass' "Necroticism" album is one of the best things you've ever heard. It's hard not to feel just a little apprehensive about letting your workmates know that your favourite band is My Dying Bride, or that Robbie Williams' latest album is crap compared to the latest Behemoth masterpiece. It's bands like Orphaned Land that release music of such a high quality and with a level of integrity and class that annihilate any doubts I have about my chosen path, and make me feel just a little perturbed that the majority of society are too narrow-minded to ever experience it.

It's been 7 years since the bands last studio album and I'm not completely sure whether this is due to environmental factors (they come from Israel) or whether the band has simply spent the 7 years preparing the album. I wouldn't at all be surprised if the latter turned out to be correct, since "Mabool" (which translates as "flood") is a truly monumental album, pieced together with such care and depth that I can't begin to imagine how much time and effort has gone into it.

After really enjoying "Sahara" back in the early 90s as well as its follow-up a year later, I was always hoping the band would release another studio album. If they did, I expected it would be a fine melodic death album with a major injection of Arabic influence. I expected it would show moments of intimacy and outbursts of powerful emotion and passion. I even expected the intense creativity that makes up this epic, but what I never expected was a religious theme based album that displays a level of musicianship and skilfully crafted pieces of work that has left me speechless. Well...almost.

Yes, you heard right. This album tells the story of the flood from the bible. Now, I find it difficult to not let my personal feelings about religion get in the way when I listen to Christian metal, but no-one should let that get in the way of listening to "Mabool". There is no preaching of any sort, this is purely story telling.

There are exquisite female vocals, excellent clean and death metal male vocals, incredible guitar solos, perfectly placed keyboards and samples, acoustic interludes, and crushing riffs. The range of emotions that Orphaned Land integrate to express their biblical story are just astounding and never sound contrived or overwhelming.

I find myself finishing reviews too often lately with "this album is not for everyone", but damn it, this one is! If you have even the slightest interest in heavy music, then there's no excuse not to check this out. It's album of the year and I'm proud to be a metal fan!

WOW. That's all I can say after soaking in a few listens of Orphaned Land's Mabool. This has to be one of the greatest progressive metal albums of all time. Superior songwriting, awesome musicianship, and a very well-produced sound that is all their own. This basically unknown band, hailing from war-torn Israel, really took me by surprise. I had read a few raving reviews on various metal websites so I took my chances and bought Mabool right here off Amazon. It was one of the wisest purchases I have ever made.

Now, just 5 or 6 listens in, I can tell that this album will stand the test of time. It is all over the place in terms of musical styles and tempos, and not a single opportunity for the listener to get bored. One minute they're thrashing out some progressive Children of Bodom-ish riffs with harsh vocals and the next minute some chick is vocalizing these spine-chilling middle-eastern folk melodies with nothing but a piano, acoustical string instrument, or a chanting choir accompanying her. I normally don't care much for the growling vocals, but on Mabool they are used sparingly (briefly in about 3 or 4 songs) and only in context to what's going on in the story. (Oh, did I mention that this is a concept album as well?)

The production on Mabool is beyond reproach. Considering the amount of instruments and various vocal tracks, everything is mixed almost to perfection. All elements of this roller coaster ride of music are seamlessly blended together giving the listener a true "departure from reality". This is not background music, this is a soundscape that must be embraced by the listener. You must lose yourself it in Mabool, which is very easy to do even from the very first listen. It's that damn good.

I highly suggest doing a search for Orphaned Land on the internet, you'll find further reviews and even a complete song available to download from their American distributor, Century Media. This is an album that truly crosses genre boundaries, pleasing fans from Children of Bodom-ites, to Savaholics to (Dream) Theatre-heads.

Really, I can't recommend this album enough. It is truly a work of art.

While I've had Orphaned Land's first album, Sahara (and quite liked it), I didn't really know what to expect when I got this album. But, since I bought it at a friends recomendation, I thought it also would be quite good. Man, was I wrong! IT'S AMAZING! There is nothing, and I mean nothing, wrong with this album. So diverse and powerful. Absolutely breath-taking.
It begins with "Birth of the Three", and right at the get-go you can tell how great this album is. Very good song, that changes alot throughout it. Begins with almost narrative singing and headbanging riffs, but then goes on into beautiful singing by Kobi. He also showcases his great death-growl, which can't be more fitting to the verses he sings. There is also a part that the singing goes into an arabic yodeling thingy, and I just can't help myself but sing along. Great song
The second song is "Ocean Land", and this a definite favorite among fans, myself included. After a cool little intro, the song begins with heavy riffs and singing, but again changes into beautiful singing. I particularly like the vocal line near the end of "Here are we, servants three, flesh and blood". Also very worthy of a sing-along. Also, Matti the guitarist, shows his skills with a very cool solo.
The next song is "The Kiss Of Babylon", and this begins with one of the heaviest parts of the album, and then, as usual, goes into beautiful singing, and so more yodeling that goes with the excellant riffs, and this time its even better than the first time! It ends with only female vocals,singing in Yemen, and while I usually can't stand this stuff, on this album it just adds to the atmosphere.
The next track "A'salk" continues the solo singing and also has some very nice classic guitar stuff in the background. While I like this part and find it a nice break, many will probably skip this track.
Next comes one of the highlights of the album, "Halo Dies", and this is probably the heaviest song on the album, though probably not at first. It begins with a Hebrew sentence spoken by Kobi, and then the melodic guitars, and shortly after come the melodic singing. By the middle, it all changes and the aggresiveness comes in. This part is very death-metally and very cool and worthy of headbanging and moshing. Also used in this heavy part, is some sort of unusual sound affect that I don't know whats its called, but is used very well to seperate the verses (I can't explain it better than that - when you hear it you'll understand). After all this heaviness, enters very beautiful work by the band music wise, and they create a wonderfu melodic feeling by the end of this song. This song is a perfect example of how Orphaned Land managed to mix harshness and aggressiveness with lovely melodies that make you want to cry. Just magic!
Next song "A Call To Awake" continues the story with a great main riff throughout. Near the end of it, there are some very cool vocal plays throughout the last verses (again, if you hear, you'll understand). This track end with a very Dream Theater-esque feel, and fans of this band will feel right at home.
"Building the Ark" is a laid back track, that for the most part is in Latin, except the last verse. Nice break.
"Nora El Nora" is originally some kind of Hebrew folk song, I think, and this track is a very good adaptation to it. Never thought I would headbang and sing along to something like this.
"The Calm Before The Flood" is just what the title says... a calming instrumental. Sort of gives us a breather before the finale.
The last two tracks "Mabool/The Storm Still Rages Inside" go hand in hand and are definately the highlight of the album, in my opinion. Mabool has the best singing (and lyrics) of the album, and some of the best music of it too. The Storm Still... is a just the most beatiful song I've heard in a long time. Wow. I just love this song so much. Yosi really displays his talents on this one with amazing solo's. I can't think of such and end to an album as good as this (even though techincally this isn't the last track), aside from Iced Earth's "Question Of Heaven". Absolutely breathtaking.
The last track "Rainbow", is another instrumental, on a classic guitar. Very nice and ends the album with a smile.

Now, on to the concept. Very original idea. It tells of the three sons of seven - while seven represents God and each son one of the religions (Christianity, Islam, Judaism). They have a task to warn the world of the flood that will come if they don't change their ways. Sort of a modern day Noah. Once you know the idea, it's very easy to follow along the concept with the lyrics. Speaking of which, this album uses 5 languages: English, Hebrew, Yemen, Latin and Gibberish (a language that the band made up). If you are not fluent in these languages, don't worry. Each has a translation into English in the booklet.
All in all, the best album I've heard in a long time, and will probably stay that way.

The second disc on the limited edition is almost half an hour of an unplugged show, where the band showcase their older songs. Again, very good and this album alone is worth it, let alone the other Masterpiece. The album has beautiful re-enditions of their songs, highlight being "The Beloved's Cry, when the audience sings.

A MUST ALBUM FOR EVERYONE!!!

Orphaned land are one of the bands that created their own original style of music with the combination of Death Metal and Arabic instruments such as Oud, Kanoon, Tabla, Rek and many more instruments. Beeing a middle-eastern and a listener of classical and new Arabic songs and music, I realized that Orphaned Land used many classical pieces of Egyptian songwriters and composers, for example the song "Norra el norra" was completely taken from the Egyptian musician "Karem Mahmoud" and the original title of the song is called "Samra ya Samra" The song refers to a brunette woman which the singer fell in love with but Orphaned Land changed the meaning of the song and its language from arabic to hebrew. Highly recomended for people that love originality.

Peace to all.

The excellent composition of middle eastern and metal tune. This is excellent for Opeth, Dream Theater and Paradise Lost fans.

Experience the blend of Symphony and Metal in the track "Mabool" or listen to the Opeth like vocals in "The Birth of Three", and embrace the beautiful voice and melody of "A'salk".

This is a must get album, it's much more better than their previous album and the theme of the album is excellent...

2 thumbs up for this.

It's not easy connecting to the metal scene when you live in Israel, everyday worries, the economy and the religion do not give much room for decent music in Israel ,what you get usually is silly pop music or repetetive oriental music which doesn't add to much. Another common problem in Israeli music is that musicians in a given band, do not let their talent shine, I mean they do not engage technical solos, riffs or rythems, it's tough to explain, but it's a problem I noticed in Isareli music,; musicians are either unispired or shy.
Orphaned Land, very surprising assembly, hell, they even make me like oriental music, I just wish there were MORE growling, because they sound really good alongside the tender voice of the oriental musician in the band. Orphaned Land; thoroughbred Israeli metal heads with Israeli oriental guidos. The ablum is thick in sound, some surprising technical ability all over (again, VERY surprising in Israeli music) a scary narrative (the flood story in the Bible) and terrific vocals. I am completly sold on this album, I just hope they don't lose their heavy edge.

I am not going to write in-depth review about this album, there already are reviews below with precise description of the album contents. All I want is to express my emotions. The album "Sahara" took the special place in my heart, and to be honest, I thought, I would never hear "Orphaned Land" sounding that nice again. How wrong I was. Of course I had had some expectations with new release, but they were beaten, the album was much more stunning than I only could imagine. Within the month I listen to album all day long and it is not enough. It's like a spring that impossible to drain. My favorite songs: Birth of the three, Ocean land, Halo Dies, A call to awake, The storm still rages inside. Everyone who loves intelligent metal and simply beautiful music must listen to "Mabool".

P.S. It should be written the separate article about bonus disc which contains acoustic live show. The acoustic versions of old songs are just amazing, and tastefully made with huge temperament. The admirers of band will be pleased, and one who listens for the very first time will be enchanted!