If you think melechesh is the only middle eastern metal band I like than you are wrong. I like 3 big ones now, Melechesh, Odious, and Orphaned Land. I got into them in that order, and I will do a review of what I think Is Orphaned Land’s best cd, the epicly titlted “The Neverending Way of ORwarriOR”. This is by far their best cd. I’ve heard them all but their second cd, and there is a reason thy are considered the best Middle Eastern Metal Band, it;s because of music like this!
The Opening Track is called Sapari and the lyrics are all in Hebrew minus the break. The Music is really dancy on this song, and sounds by far, the hardest intro to get into. It’s just TOO dancy! It has some neat drum beats though, the one that kicks in at 1:18 is pretty damn good sounding, but still dancy. The Music is pretty good too, but this is not their best song.
The next song is far better. It’s called “From Broken Vessels”. This one has growls and is an epic Prog Metal Song with some damn good death metal riffs. The song is long too, and gets a little bit folkier near the end, but is mostly a death/prog song. It’s a good song. But still not their best.
It gets much better with the ballad called “Bereft in the Abyss”. This song has some amazing oriental leanings in it and is actually my favorite song on the cd. The next 2 are a 2 part thing called “The Path Part 1” and “the path part 2”. Part 1 is actually very good. It reminds me of a middle eastern version of Opeth a little and is quite epic. Part 2 is even more epic, with the epic choir/chant near the end of it that makes it sound incredible.
The Next song is something that sounds very middle eastern and has all the lyrics in hebrew. It is decent but not really favorite. The Song after that is called The Warrior and was my introduction to the cd. It is quite amazing, a symphonic oriental metal song with a SICK solo by Yossi Sassi! It has amazing guitars and a great atmosphere, not being too heavy. It’s definitely one of their best songs. But one person on youtube said it’s their best, I disagree on that. But still not bad. Excellent even.
The Next song is a little ballad that is an introduction to the song after it which is an epic song called “Disciples of the Sacred Oath II”. This song is one of their most epic songs ever, if not the most epic. It’s a proggy song and has this one part where a battle cry is put into it. A sampled battle. It was my favorite part of the song by far.
The Next song, New Jerusalem, is another great song by them, being very oriental and having a lot of traditional middle eastern drumming. The vocals both male and female are amazing. The Song after that is called “Yayehi Or’ and is actually a song that a documentary on them was named after. This song is epic and short however and the song after it is actually a bit better. That song “M I ?” is a ballad but a great one with a sick guitar solo at the end. It really sets the mood.
There are 3 more songs on this cd, and they’re all amazing. The First, Barakah, is filled with some neat moments including a part where some oriental melodies play on some middle eastern stringed instrument half way through. That Part is really really good sounding.
The song aftr that, codeward : uprising, is good but not their best, it is pretty much a straight death metal song. However “Epilogue (In They Never ending Way)” Is a highlight for it’s oriental instrumentation and female vocals. By far one of their best songs. I saw them perform it live once and I was blown out of the water.
This band blew me out of the water on this cd. I wasn’t expecting them to be this good. The previous cd I bought by them, “Unsung Prophets and dead messiahs” had a lot of keyboards and ballads, this one was better because it wen’t away from that a bit. Still think it’s their best cd, even Mabool isn’t as good. Seriouly. Check this cd out – 9.7/10
