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Orphaned Land - The Never Ending Way Of ORwarriOR CD (album) cover

THE NEVER ENDING WAY OF ORWARRIOR

Orphaned Land

 

Experimental/Post Metal

3.90 | 293 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

Urik
4 stars Orphaned Land has been for years one of the most respected bands coming from the Middle East, and their last album, Mabool, has a big spot in my heart along with albums such as The Dark Side Of The Moon, Metropolis Pt. 2, The Visitor, and In The Land Of Grey And Pink between other albums that really changed the way I listen to music; so I had big hopes for this album.

6 years and over 600 hours of studio work have passed since the release of Mabool, so I had huge hopes for this album. Making such pretentious albums can be risky for the band and lead to bad critics (Be and PoS coming into mind) because the hopes are huge and the disappointment could be just as big. Gladly, I can say that didn't happen to me. The band made an amazing work with ORwarriOR putting all of their heart and soul in around 1:20 hours of pure awesome.

Let's talk a bit about the style. Orphaned Land is known for their mix of progressive metal with oriental music and their constant evolution since their first album. The band keeps its oriental vibe, although this time they've gone a lot more into the progressive side of their music. I also noticed the the instruments used are way more classic. Less ouds and more electric guitars. However, they succeed in maintaining the oriental vibe though their amazing harmonized riffs, which is a point in favor for me. It's not easy to pull such amazing sounds with traditional gear. Anyway, lovers of the oriental instruments, fear not for there still are amazing instruments. I'm just pointing out that their use maybe was more subtle. That's the impression I got. The style is similar to Mabool. Less death metal and more progressive with clean vocals and a huge oriental feel. Conclusion: If you are looking for innovation from Mabool, you probably will feel a bit disappointed since they go for the same formula. If you don't care about them going for the same working formula, you will not be disappointed.

Now let's talk about the album itself. It is another concept album, this time about the struggle between light and dark, good and evil, inside each one of us, being the Or Warrior (warrior of the light) every person. The listener. Just like Mabool, it is an album that requires various long and focused listenings. It is like an expensive wine or a Kubrick film. You can't just drink it in order to really enjoy it. You need to analyze it, to really understand it, to find all of the subtle harmonies and little things. The album is too awesome to focus on a few songs. But my favorite ones or the ones that I think about the most are probably the two parts of "The Path". Be sure to give them a good listen.

Now is there a thing that I didn't like and didn't live up to Mabool? Yes. And that's why this album is getting 4 stars instead of 5 from me. The album's flow wasn't smooth enough to ensure that the listener stays focused for the 1:20 hours. Unlike Mabool, it wasn't as easy for me to stay focused during the album.

Conclusion: We are in front of a huge and amazing album. We are in front of 6 years of hard work by the most respected metal band coming out of the Middle East and one of the most original bands from the last two decades. Does it live up to Mabool? Maybe yes, maybe no. But anyway an amazing and unique album that every progressive metal lover should have. If you didn't get it, do it now.

Urik | 4/5 |

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