ORPHANED LAND

30 Years Of Oriental Metal CENTURY MEDIA

The life and times of Israel’s prog metal peacemakers.

Not just the one of the first bands from the Middle East to have any impact elsewhere, but a consistent force for the greater good, Orphaned Land have repeatedly broken down barriers while espousing an uplifting message of hope. If their music was rubbish, fans of forwardthinking creativity would still owe them a debt of gratitude, but as 30 Years Of Oriental Metal confirms, the Israelis’ vision has informed some of the most inventive and progressive records in recent memory.

This lavish box set comprises all six of the band’s studio albums, with a generous helping of rare and unheard bonus material, and may be many latter-day converts’ first chance to hear the band’s early works. Originally released in 1994, debut album Sahara heralded the arrival of Orphaned Land’s self-described “oriental metal”: with lyrics sung in English, Hebrew and Arabic and flurries of Middle Eastern atmospherics, it showcased a deliciously alien re-imagining of modern heaviness. 1996’s El Norra Alila repeated the trick, but it was the band’s third album that sealed the deal. A sprawling concept piece with the widescreen sweep of a movie soundtrack, Mabool: The Story Of

The Three Sons Of Seven still sounds extraordinary. Steven Wilson loved it, too, and ended up mixing the follow-up, The Never Ending Way Of ORwarriOR, which was somehow even more ambitious and immersive. It received the kind of ecstatic reviews that most bands would kill for, and Orphaned Land’s long overdue breakthrough was in the bag. No wonder, then, that 2013’s bombastic and theatrical All Is One sounded so celebratory and its core message so crystal clear. Finally, 2018’s Unsung Prophets And Dead Messiahs encapsulates everything that went before, but with a renewed sense of urgency and some of the band’s most memorable songs, not least towering centrepiece Chains Fall To Gravity. Collected in one place, it feels more than merely momentous – it’s proof that music really can change the world.