EL NORRA ALILA

I really like this band. I like their combo of Jiddish/Arabic sound in a region of the world hellbent on confrontations between these two cultures. This is why I am so disappointed every time I am listening to their albums.

The sound is very good here. The use of downtuned guitars and death growls is good. They are very much in the Anathema/My Dying Bride mould. Their use of Jiddish/Arabic music is excellent and they are tapping into a goldmine more and more bands are starting to use. Orphaned Land was the pioneer here and I applaud them for that.

My main gripe is the lack of good songs on this album. It therefore sounds more like a Gaza Strip/Liverpool soundcollage. There are several Jiddish/Arabic songs here in addition from Anathema/My Dying Bride inspired songs. The overall quality is good, though. But there is no really good songs here and that makes me really frustrated because I love Orphaned Land more than I love their music. It is a good three stars album where my heart want to give this album five stars.

3 stars