Orphaned Land (Folk Metal) Israel.

[Britton]

I know there used to be a thread for these guys. Must've gotten lost like some others eem to have. Anyway, I just wanted to point out there's some proof now that they're actually working on the follow up to "Mabool" in the form of some ohotos taken of the band in the studio.

MySpace: www.myspace.com/orphanedmyspace

[Northward]

Mabool is an amazing release full of highly original and impressive compositions. Didn't knew there was a new album coming!

[Samekh]

Awesome! The new album is way overdue, but I don't think we'll be disappointed. Mabool is my favorite, but I enjoy going back and listening to the older stuff as well.

[Takeda780]

Samekh you are quite right.
I do also, enjoy more listening to Sahara and El Nor Alila. Back when they were less progressive and a bit more brutal. For me as someone who was in more then a few Orphaned Land shows, the old songs seems to have more "meat" within them, in my opinion.
But Mabool is also magnificent! really looking forward to the next one, I guess it would be Or-Warrior (Or means Light) album they're talking about for so long...
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[Samekh]

I gained an appreciation for the older material after listening to the live acoustic EP that was included with Mabool (in the US, at least). That was what caused me to check out the first two albums. They're not as easily accessible as Mabool is, but they grew on me.

My only disappointment was that the acoustic version of "The Evil Urge" is such a beautiful song, yet the original is lame.

[Takeda780]

You wanted an update so here ya have it, from the Israeli metal zine Metalist.co.il, where I also work btw, covering mostly black/viking/folk genre. The English section includes only interviews so far, sorry...) -

Loosley translated:
"The successful Israeli band Orphaned Land have entered the studio to record their 4th full length album, 'The Never Ending Way of ORwarriOR'. The album is scheduled to be released near October through Century Media and the band would tour the world soon after."
The album would be produced by Steven Wilson (produced for Opeth aswell) and would mix the album at his studio in London.
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[Britton]

The first taste of the new album. Fucking great.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6R-i1cxi8N4

[Takeda780]

First single out of the new album OrWarrior - "Sapari" which is based on an old text by a Yemenite poet dating to the 17th century and it's basically a conversation between the poet and his soul.
The song is the opener for the new album, btw (same song in the Youtube link Britton posted).
This zine is in Hebrew (if you want, the interviews section is also translated to English), so simply press the play button in that small white player you see in the middle.

http://www.metalist.co.il/NewsPrivate.asp?id=2847

Enjoy
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[Heimdall]

One album I'm definitely looking forward to in 2010.

[Takeda780]

Another update from the band:

The song "Disciples of the Sacred Oath II"from the upcoming "Orwarrior" album has been released to the band's Myspace page - http://www.myspace.com/orphanedmyspace
"Disciples of the Sacred Oath I" is actually a song featured in a compilation album released by Holy Records a few years back.

In addition, the band updated it's next few gig dates:
04.02.2010 Theatre Club, Tel-Aviv, Israel
21-23.05.2010 Rock Hard Festival, Amphitheater, Gelsenkirchen, Germany
05-07.08.2010 Wacken Open Air, Germany
20.08.2010 Summer Breeze Open Air, Germany
21.08.2010 Metal Méan Festival VI, Belgium
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[Samekh]

"The Never Ending Way of OrWarriOR" arrived in my mailbox today. I ordered the CD/DVD version, and I'm glad I did, because the digibook is appropriately beautiful and makes the album look important, which it should.

I was a little concerned about how good the album would be after reading a few very negative reviews of the album (ironically, after further reading since the CD arrived, those were the only two negative reviews I've found so far), but I'm no longer concerned. I've only listened through the album once, so I have much, much more to listen before I can come close to digesting it, but my first impressions are very positive. It doesn't have the flow or cohesiveness of "Mabool," at least that I can detect so far, but it's full of impressive moments that left my jaw hanging open, like the long guitar solo in "The Warrior."

To be honest, my initial reaction was to fault Steven Wilson's work on the album because of the inappropriate "telephone" sound effects in "Sapari," but that's the only song that seems to have those effects, and I later had to admit that the production is very good, much better than on previous Orphaned Land albums.

The concept and story itself seems very convoluted and perhaps pretentious, but that doesn't translate into inaccessible music, thankfully. Though, as I said, I have much more to listen before I can digest it, I was still very much able to enjoy my first thorough listen.

So anyway, my opinion my sway one way or another upon further listens, but my early impression is that this is excellent!

[Takeda780]

Bought it aswell
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[Samekh]

[Takeda780]

Well I've only heard it once so far and not in a serious and sincere way, so I cannot truly comment about it yet.
Same as you, I'll digest it in the next few days and write my opinion.
So far, it's not as jaw-dropping as Mabool but that's because Mabool was superbly original and had a whole fucking stock of elements in it. Though, it still has it's very own originality and concept.

Argh, sorry Samekh my abroad friend, I still prefer Sahara over everything they recorded. Raw, less progressive, more crushing.

Anyway, here's the video for Sapari:
http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=134803

My goddamn boss didn't gave me an evening off for the album release gig a week ago, blachs. Was pretty awesome from what my friends are saying.
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[Samekh]