Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Incredible disc, July 18, 2006
First of all, if you have not heard of Orphaned land before, then I most heartily recommend their 2005 release Mabool, because that truly has become one of my favorite releases, and continues to amaze on repeat listens. For those already familiar with Orphaned land, and looking to step into their backcategory, I can offer mostly only praise for this disc. Compared to the later Mabool, this disc is much heavier. The melody and aggression are both well integrated in the songs, and the oriental/middle eastern influences which set this band apart are heavily present. The screaming vocals on this disc hearken back to Israeli metal's most well known band, Salem, but are filled with an extreme confidence and power which the later often had lacking. Compared to Mabool however, this disc suffers on several levels. Lyrically, this disc is far more blatantly religious. There are three full prayer tracks, and two songs about finding salvation in god. Honestly, it gets slightly tiresome after a while. Mabool's lyrics worked so because they are weaved into a storyline, and so there is no feeling of evangelism, but the same can not easily be said here. Musically, the band truly plays top notch on this release, and, particularily on such memorable tracks as "The Neverending Way", and "The Evil Urge", the band crafts memorable tracks that are engaging and worthwhile.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Orphaned Land's apex of heavy progressive death metal, November 4, 2008
Orphaned Land's 1996 release "El Norra Alila" stands as a unique statement for the band, clearly never to be repeated, blending a consistently HEAVY guitar-focused approach with world metal elements and almost just as an after-thought: ambient death metal growls giving way at intervals to ambient "spacey" clean vocals. In sum, this is an excellent gem quite worthy of picking up. Fans of Opeth and Agalloch take note. The brilliant world music infusion is similar, but unlike 2004's "Mabool", the music here is stripped-down -- there is much much less Dream Theater inspiration in El Norra Alila.
The striking factor, to me, is that the highly-developed musicality is not compromised by in-your-face bare vocals which so often ruin progressive metal music when you do not personally love the vocal style. Here the vocals are very good but they are also back in the mix which allows the listener to focus on and breathe deeply in the ancient instrumentation as it melds with an almost melodic death metal drivetrain present in the songs. The vocals become just another instrument, which is surprisingly often the best way to go. The sum of the parts here is often simply breathtaking.
I tend to start my "El Norra" adventure by skipping the first track and dropping in on the drumming which introduces "Like Fire To Water", which to me is the perfect opener for this album. "Takaism" and "Joy" both provide lush interludes and thus act as excellent scene-setters between the constantly-evolving progressive metal suites that fill out this disc. Of special note, "Whisper My Name When You Dream" breaks out the cellos and female vocals in the last half for nice effect.
Purchasing this CD was exceedingly easy from orphaned - land dot com. Using Paypal, I received my CD from Tel Aviv, Israel, within 2 weeks. What is more, the booklet's historical & spiritual artwork is exceedingly cool.
"Mabool" (2004) fans owe it to themselves to hunt down "El Norra Alila" (1996) without rest or respite until it is found. It is that rare of a find. Orphaned Land have taken the approach of repeating very little here. Through their constantly evolving musical suites here, Orphaned Land has, intentionally or not, delivered us essentially a statement of life's omnipresent change and evolution. It's impermanence. That they do all this with a consistent, driving, guitar-focused heaviness -- that they would use more sparsely in their later recordings -- may indeed mark this album THE fan favorite for a certain branch of Orphaned Land's constituency.
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