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ORPHANED LAND BAND PAGE
 ORPHANED LAND
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CURRENT NAME
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Orphaned Land | |
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FORMER NAMES
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Resurrection | |
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ORIGIN
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Israel | |
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STATUS
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Active | |
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FORMED IN
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1991 | |
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LABEL
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Century Media | |
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GENRE
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Death metal; Folk music | |
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STYLE
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- | |
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LYRICAL THEME
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- | |
| BAND ADDED | 2005-11-23, 00:00 | |
| LAST UPDATE | 2010-09-09, 12:24 | |
Biography | Band members | Discography | Shows | Forum
| Band biography |
Its first gust was felt when the band was formed in 1991, then still under the moniker Resurrection. In 1992 they changed their name to ORPHANED LAND and their musical direction developed into an unique sound exploring the various shades of metal mixed with the band's Middle Eastern roots. Their oriental style were a breeze of fresh air in the metal scene, so that it was not surprising that they got signed to the French label Holy Records soon after the recording of their demo The Beloved's Cry in 1993 (which was re-issued in 1999). Both of their first two albums Sahara (1994) and El Norra Alila (1996) were praised by media as well as fans and soon classified cult underground albums. In 1997 ORPHANED LAND fell into hibernation when the individual band-members had to deal with the harsh reality in their homeland of Israel. What helped to keep their dream alive, though, was their strong fan-base in Arab countries. "Maybe because ORPHANED LAND's music reflects harmony and unity between East and West, light and darkness, Judaism and Islam", explains bandleader Kobi Farhi. "After all these years of silence the band members felt that the way to come back was starting with three shows under the motto 'The Calm Before The Flood'. The first took place in Turkey - together with people from Israel and Arab countries headbanging side by side."
Second was a show in Tel Aviv and the last one an acoustic set that was recorded and will be added as 5-track bonus-CD to the first pressing of Mabool. The vocals on this album were sung in five languages, English, Hebrew, Arabic, Yemen and Latin as well as a form of gibberish (a language ORPHANED LAND created themselves). They were partly sung by female and male classic as well as oriental choirs. Aside from the five band members, more then 30 guests appear on the album. Among them is a percussionist who plays more then 10 different instruments. Also, a lot of oriental instruments such as Oud, Saz and Buzuki are used besides violins, cello, piano and classic/acoustic guitars. "Our music style is a mixture of all kinds of metal, from progressive to black metal. In general I would call it Middle Eastern metal", says Kobi. Asked on their musical influences he reveals more about the unusual recording of Mabool: "We are influenced by all kinds music, from Indian music to Jazz. I! even recorded musicians in the streets of India."
The official recording of Mabool took place between July and October 2003 in Zaza Studios for drums, piano, cello, violin, some of the choirs as well as the majority of the mix (by Simon Vinestock who also worked as additional engineer) whereas the rest was taken care of in Bardo Studio. In a song like "Halo Dies", ORPHANED LAND's experimental and progressive side is shown when they include polyrhythmic noise effects in the middle of the song.
They lyrical content of the album is as complex as it's music: Mabool (= the flood) - The Story Of The Three Sons Of Seven (= the heroes) is a concept album with every song reflecting another part of the story. It is starting with the birth of the three heroes, then describes their whole journey including all their adventures and finally ends with the flood which fills, covers and destroys the sinful Orphaned Land by a raging storm. The three heroes are the Snake, the Eagle and the Lion (check their sign, the triangle of the three which will be included in the artwork of the album) and they are described as the sons of Seven. They are the sons of the three monotheistic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam) and despite the war of beliefs running in today's reality the heroes to prevent more bloodshed. Sadly their mission fails and thus they have to face the flood.
Welcome to the ark of ORPHANED LAND, welcome to a journey around the world!
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9 / 10 Read our review here | ||
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