UNSUNG PROPHETS & DEAD MESSIAHS

After the mediocre All Is One and after the departure of the great Yoshi Sassi, my expectations about Unsung Prophets and Dead Messiahs were low... What a mistake!

Because this album fully retrieves the energy and the magic that this band had in the past, offering their typical mixture between metal, death, progressive and folk with outstanding songwriting. Chen Balbus and Idan Amsalen are fully integrated in the band till the point that Yoshi Sassi is almost not missed here, while the rest of the band makes also a splendid work.

It's very rewarding to hear that while some band like Opeth or Pain of Salvation lost their sound and personality with line-up changes, Orphaned Land retrieves all their elements and characteristic sound throughout the years despite all the members that gave up.

I wish also to mention the great collaborations that this album contains, playing Steve Hackett a fabulous guitar solo in the outstanding Chains Fall to Gravity (one of the most progressive tracks in the whole band's career) and singing Hansi Kürsch (from Blind Guardian) and Thomas Lindberg (At the Gates) in Like Orpheus and Only The Dead Have Seen The End Of The War respectively.

Best Tracks: it's complicated to pick only a few songs, because the overall quality of the album is very high, but The Cave is one of the best Orphaned Land's tracks, All Knowing Eye is touching and Kobi sings great, Chains Fall to Gravity is surprising and very prog, My Brother's Keeper (pure Orphaned Land magic) and The Manifest - Epilogue (precious homage to Victor Jara)

Conclusion: Unsung Prophets & Dead Messiahs is not only a triumphant return of our favorite Israeli band, it's also one of their finest records. Maybe not so great like Mabool, but at least as good as ORwarriOR. A varied, touching and very well crafted collection of folk-prog-death-metal with a beautiful message inside and tons of memorable songs.

After this album, I can only wish the best of lucks for this bands in the future! You have managed to give me back my faith in you.

My rating: ****

This one has been sitting on the shelf gathering dust for over a year now, I must have played about half of it before putting it away. Orphaned Land will always have a warm spot in my heart since I was a fan right from the start, the band musical style has changed over the years or should I say evolved. In spite of being labeled extreme metal, those days of the band are long gone, this is more progressive metal than anything, their sound and material became less and less heavy with every album. There's more emphasis on Kobi Farhi's beautiful vocals, their arabic/middle eastern influences grew and include more ethnic string and wind instruments with smooth orchestral arrangements, this has come to perfection in their 4th album The Never Ending Way Of ORwarriOR. But it's their previous All Is One album that saw them taking an even softer approach, for some reason also the material was just not as good as before to say the least, but what made me loose more interest in the band and wonder "is it all over now??" is the departure of cofounder ace guitarist Yossi Sassy which was resposible probably for the most beautiful and engaging arabic infused metal leads and riffing ever played, yep...that was quite a blow.

Unsung Prophets & Dead Messiahs has proved me wrong, the album is closer to All Is One production wise, but the difference is the quality of the material and songwriting, the middle eastern orchestral arrangements are all over the place as before, which might seem a little bit too much at first but repeated listenings will reveal the great work put into the songs. Fans will be glad to find out that although there are a lot of calm moments and more tranquil songs the album feels heavier than before which is a good return to form. That said the sound is smooth and polished so the album doesn't sound so heavy overall plus the orchestrated parts also softens the sound. I think the album's strength lies in the melodies, after a few listenings it's so easy to get hooked on those beautiful songs. Even though heavily accented, Kobi Farhi's soulful vocals are simply outstanding, he is doing an amazing job throughout the album. Growling is not a big part of their music anymore and reduced to a minimum but it is still present here and there and it sounds really good and fitting.

Idan Amsalem and Chen Balbus are Sassi's replacements on guitars, bouzouki and saz and inspite the urge we have sometimes to hate the new guy I must say the new guy is really good!! They both fit very well into Orphaned's concept of oriental metal, the riffing and all kinds of leads are powerful and imaginative and of course a few amazing solos especially check out the stunning All Knowing Eye for example. There are a few guest musicians appearing here including the great Steve Hackett!! in Chains Fall To Gravity, how that came to be I really don't know, but he's making a beautiful job with adding guitars on this almost 10 minute epic. Also guesting here is Noa Gruman with female vocals from the excellent Soul Enema. The album works as a whole but there are a few standouts, check out the album's powerful progy 8 minute opener The Cave, that shows their perfect balance of an upbeat metalic rocker fused with a swaying middle eastern orchestra and choir, sounds beautiful. We Do Not Resist is another short favorite of mine, it's the heaviest track here and the only one that really qualifies as Extreme metal, sounds like something from their El Norra Alila era. Love the beautiful chorus here as growlings lead the way until it breaks to a quiet arabic ending. The band likes to include sort of a short biblical anthem in every album, Yedidi (My friend) sung in hebrew is really catchy, taking influences from Yemenite music, something that they picked up in The Never Ending Way album, love it!

It seems Orphaned Land has found the spot where they feel the most comfortable, their formula of perfect balance between metal, oriental orchestration and softer calmer songs works very well once again. The songs are catchy, powerful and full of emotion. Another great addition if you're already familiar with the band, but I think it would also work as an introduction to the band. 4 stars.

I was late to the party with Orphaned Land, as I only came across them with their 2013 album 'All Is One', which was their fifth. This 2018 release was their seventh, while back in 2014 they parted company with Yossi Sassi, meaning that just singer Kobi Farhi and bassist Uri Zelcha were left who had been there from the beginning. However, I must say that I found I didn't really miss him too much, as this is yet another wonderful release which is progressive in its very truest sense in that they are bringing together influences from different cultures and then blending them so they are still recognisable but sit happily alongside something which one would not think could work but does.

As soon as it starts, we are deep inside the world of Orphaned Land, a world where all cultures are welcome and they are brought together so Moslems, Jews and Christians all exist in one place in a state of grace, all being lifted by the others. The core quintet has brought in plenty of guests to provide additional colour and tones, with instruments like bendir, darbuka, oud and qanun being brought alongside electric guitars. It is an album of extremes as we journey through the world of their creation where everyone coexists alongside each other, so we hear multiple languages and styles, yet with these guys it all makes sense and is beautiful and never clashing. It can be incredibly light and acoustic, or ferocious and pummelling and one never knows where it is going to go next. Given the album is so diverse it seems somewhat strange to say this is easy to get inside, yet the depths only really become apparent with repeated plays.

This album is four years old now, but is fresh, exciting and invigorating as Orphaned Land continue to pursue their vision.