MABOOL - THE STORY OF THE THREE SONS OF SEVEN

Mabool is a metal album like no other. Sure, you've heard it all said before, but Orphaned Land hail from Israel and how many progressive metal bands do you know from the Middle East? Mabool is the kind of metal album that contains such exotic musical influences that you've probably all heard before but never meticulously mixed quite like this folks, I assure you.

Orphaned Land has this unequaled/unrivaled ability to fuse middle eastern musical influences with progressive death metal elements. All the songs flow seamlessly into one another both musically and lyrically - this is a concept album - and if you speak English, Hebrew, Latin, Yemen and gibberish, you'll understand it all perfectly.

This is a disc that begs to be listened to in its entirety, for listening to a few select songs will simply not do the album justice. The concept is a re-telling of the Biblical story of the great flood. In addition to their own lyrics, the band uses texts taken from the book of Genesis, the Rabbi Shalom Shabazi poems and uses a text from the traditional "Halel" praising song. Think of it as a story and nothing more.

Instruments used on this recording in addition to traditional drums, bass, acoustic/electric/classical guitars are the piano, violin, cello and the synthesizer. Atmospheric orchestrations all make an occasional appearance and you will also find that the band makes extensive usage of middle eastern instruments such as the Saz, Bouzouki and Oud.

Add to this a variety of vocal styles that range from Kobi Farhi's soft spoken word and clean delivery which includes chanting and a foreboding death growl, while Shalomit Levi provides the beautiful female voice. You also get an oriental choir that is used sparingly and in my view, just at the right moments throughout the album.

Mabool opens with children apparently singing and playing, nothing could be more innocent. When the band kick it in, the listener is immediately introduced to the bands distinctive metal sound. Keyboards, orchestrations, in fact the full gamut of instruments and vocal styles is included and everything you want to know about the band and the music is laid out on the very first track: "Birth of Three (The Unification)."

The first time I listened to "Birth of the Three" - I was finding it somewhat difficult to get into. But, by the end of the song, everything seemed to fall into place. And everytime I listened to the album, the same feeling kept returning to me on that very first opening track. It just appeared to me like the first half of the song didn't quite "fit" properly, but like I said, everything seemed to fall into place in the second half of the song?

Anyway, many months later and I still feel the exact same way about it today! The only difference now is that the album has had time to sink in a little more and thus "my understanding" of it has somewhat evolved. The first half of the song is indicative that something is really wrong in the world and in the second half, well...life goes on!

I think everybody who listens to the album will probably have their own interpretation of the songs. That pretty well stands for any music or album one listens too. Shall we resume with the music on the album...

The band continues with the heavy guitars approach on "Ocean Land (The Revelation)." The guitar solo is sweet, helps to remind the listener that the musicianship is top notch. "The Kiss of Babylon (The Sins)" includes more middle eastern elements. By now, the listener is fascinated and captivated by it all. The chanting, the progressive metal influences all interwoven together to create this wonderful opus. As the music fades away, Shalomit Levi's powerful voice starts to sing - a capella - the opening to "A'salk", simply beautiful. Acoustic guitar and other middle eastern exotic instruments are added to the track. Just a great musical moment. There is a very short spoken word segment just before the onset of "Halo Dies (The Wrath of God)." As the title suggests, this song is perhaps the heaviest on the album, which makes much use of Farhi's death growl.

"A Call to Awake (The Quest)" is reminiscent of Dream Theatre with its simple more straightforward progressive metal approach which comes complete with keyboard and guitar interplay and solos.

The album moves into a softer mode with "Building the Ark", acoustic middle eastern flavored track with piano and atmospheric orchestrations. "Norra El Norra (Entering the Ark)" begins like a folk track with strumming acoustic guitars but quickly moves into heavy territory. It bounces back and forth effortlessly with beautiful middle eastern harmonies. This one ends as an acoustic instrumental with a beautiful piano passage that segues into a two minute all acoustic guitar instrumental intro to "The Calm Before the Flood," which then gives way to an atmospheric instrumental complete with strings and wind blowing - then rain, thunder, violins, cellos - and just as the storm is building, so does the music.

Finally, "Mabool (The Flood)" has arrived, the climax of the story. My absolute FAV track on the album. Excellent guitar work throughout and the drums are varied and pounding and come complete with fast double bass drum passages. The first time I heard this track on my friends computer, it appeared to lack a little something, sounded a little subdued to me. When I listened to the track on my own stereo, well, what a world of difference a good sound system makes. :)

"The Storm Still Rages Inside" is a mid-paced slow moving track with a very lengthy guitar solo. Here, the guitarist uses an interesting scale with some bent notes that are purposely slipping out of tune, just as a raging storm would have naturally bent things out of harmony. The album comes to a close with streaming water and chirping birds, a classical acoustic guitar instrumental titled: "Rainbow (The Resurrection)."

It's amazing how the band can go from an acoustic passage to heavy guitars and back to middle eastern instruments and then back to heavy guitars again and make it all work flawlessly. Mabool is as close as one will ever get to an exotic progressive metal vibe. It's truly a beautiful piece of work from beginning to end.

Sometimes, when you think you've heard everything in music, appears something that surprises you and make you keeping the passion for music... Orphaned Land is my last discovering, and "Mabool" is one of the best prog-metal albums I've heard... And of course, the most original of all them. This is pure passion made music...

Is difficult to explain everything Orphaned Land has to offer, because these guys are really variated, and their music has a lot of details to explore... Basically, they make progressive metal. But they come from Israel, and the western influences are very very prominent. Here we can hear a lot of Arabic and Israel's music mixed with metal, but there's a lot of death metal, black metal and some hard rock influences, medieval tunes, some classical music... They sing in 6 different languages too. The final mixture is totally coherent and cohesive. But I think is better to explain making a track to track:

1. Birth of The Three (The Unification): the album opens with the sound of kids playing and singing, very pleasant and mysterious... And then, the strong and melodic electric guitars appears. This is very surprising, because from the first moment you can hear the strong folkloric influences of the band, even in the stronger parts... The initial Kobi Fahri's growls lead to a very melodic and clean chorus. After that, appears the acoustic and Israelite instruments mixed with the heavy section. Incredible! The last three minutes are superb, with a lot of rhythm changes, real prog-metal mixed with western music, with the first example of the incredible Yossi Sassi's abilities to playing guitar. Awesome!

2. Ocean Land (The Revelation): maybe the most commercial song of the album. Great acoustic opening. The electric guitars are awesome, and the Avi Daimond's drums are really good in the first riffs. The verses are growls but very melodic, both acoustic and electric. The chorus is very catchy and Kobi Fahri demonstrates that he is a great singer here. Matti Savtitzki plays a fine solo too. How good are both guitarist of this band! The end of this song was secretly recorded inside the Taj Mahal by Kobi.

3. The Kiss of Babylon (The Sins): very strong and groovy guitars riffs opens this songs, with some great electric guitars... Then, comes a good section with clean vocals, interrupted by a catchy oriental acoustic part. After the second chorus, comes the best section of the song. Great duets between Kobi Fahri and Shlomit Levi with strong guitars. These choirs are really catchy and the end of the song, with Shlomit singing alone will surely make your skin bristle.

4. A'Salk starts united with the previous song, but then comes a totally folkloric instrumental development, with more voices from Shlomit Levi again. This is a great transition towards the next song...

5. Halo Dies (the wrath of God): my favourite track of the album. This song has everything that a prog metal fan can imagine. Just perfect from the first second to the last one. The guitar solo from Svatitzki is just incredible! One of the most passionate solos I've heard... Really, if you are a true prog fan, you can't die without hearing this song.

6. A Call to Awake (The Quest): this song is very curious. The first section is totally on the 80's ways, with very melodic guitars and a slow chorus with oriental guitars. Really curious... At the end of this first sections comes a great Yossi Sassi's solo. But the final section is very much stronger, and for some reason, remembers me a little to the most oriental parts of Dream Theater. Great Eden Rabin's keyboards playing and solo here...

7. Building the Ark: the song opens with an oriental choir in Latin. Very beautiful acoustic work... Then, comes a short part sung by Kobi, and the best section of the song. Three guitars solos: one acoustic, another with Spanish guitar, and acoustic again. Precious ending of this song! These guys are masters with acoustic and traditional instruments...

8. Norra el Norra (Entering the Ark): another highlight of the album. This is an Israel's traditional tune, but sounds like the rest of the album, fits perfectly with the whole record. Sung in Jewish, with very strong guitars and hen-skin maker choirs. The jazzy final piano solo by Eden Rabin is so cool. 9. The Calm Before the Flood: the first instrumental song of the album, totally acoustic. Its name describes perfectly the mood of the song, very beautiful and ethnic. At the end of the song, comes the rain, which lead us to Mabool.

10. Mabool (The Flood): maybe the harder song of the album. An orchestral opening related with the previous song. Storm, rain and thunders, and The Flood begins. The rhythm is always the same, except some breakings towards the end. But it's still totally progressive, because there's a lot of melody variations. The Uri Zelcha's bass is very prominent here. This is also the most related song with the previous works of the band. No guitar solo here, but it's not necessary because the song is totally variated and with a great structure. And the best solos are to come in the next tune!

11. The Storm Still Rages Inside: another rhythmic song, really epic, providing a perfect climax for this album. Here is also the best instrumental development of the album. Every instrument shines here, with protagonism for everyone. The music together with the sound of the sea remembers me to Savatage's "The Wake of Magellan". And this is not the only thing that remembers to Savatage, because the passionate Yossi Sassi's guitar solos are in a similar style of Al Pitrelli's ones. But, of course with the unique oriental feeling of this band. The final section, with the entering of the Spanish guitar, is another example of the ability of this band to give impressive moments.

12. Rainbow: the second and last instrumental song of the album. This song has some medieval feeling that makes it very special. Is a melancholic track, but the hope and happiness of the end of this story is also present here. This song leaves you wandering how only 6 guys and some collaborators are able to make so incredible music.

I wish also to talk a little about the history of this album. This is a conceptual record. The tale of three warriors of the light, representing the first monotheistic religions: Christianity, Judaism and Islam. These warriors try to fight against the sins and horrible acts of the humanity, but they failed in their attempt. And the humanity is condemned to The Flood. And then, appears another very well known hero with an ark... Marvellous history, and marvellous lyrics. Like I said, this album is sung in 6 languages: English, Jewish, Arabic, Latin, Yemen and Gibberish (a language invented by the own band). But the main language is English, and there is also translations to English of all the foreign lyrics, so there's no problem to understand everything. Maybe the strong religious influences of this band will not please everyone, but the way of writing the lyrics and expressing their believing is very original and they have a kind of "universal" feeling that make these lyrics and story very interesting and pleasant... Is different, for example, to the Neal Morse's lyrics, which I find a little disgusting and annoying.

Conclusion: a must for every prog lover... If you want to discover a band which really sounds to anything you've heard before, then listen "Mabool". You will find an incredible world of adventures, vast deserts, beautiful oasis, intricate oriental cities, devastation and desolation... Orphaned Land are capable to provide you so much feelings. One of the best prog metal album of the new millenium!

I can't wait to hear the next album of the band, "ORwarriOR"... Steve Wilson will produce it!!!! Is difficult to imagine something better than "Mabool", but with Wilson as producer, everything can happen... The best example is Opeth!

My rating: *****

ORPHANED LAND's second album, Mabool, is almost spotless in my opinion; I continue to be impressed every time I listen. Their style, a mixture of Israeli folk music with death metal and Western orchestral elements, is extremely original, but what's more, this band has the conceptual intelligence as well as the musicianship to pull it off without sounding in the slightest bit pretentious. I would suggest that listeners consider whether or not they will be offended by religious elements--these being drawn from the story of the Flood which is a feature of all three major Judeo-Christian religions. I also think that if you are a fan of OPETH, and particularly of Ghost Reveries and Damnation, you are especially likely to enjoy ORPHANED LAND's work. In fact, the outro of "The Kiss of Babylon" may even remind you of the outro of OPETH's "Harlequin Forest."

"Birth of the Three" opens the album with the basic premise: three warriors who hail from each of the three Judeo-Christian religions. All three of the descriptions seem fairly complimentary, and I have to wonder, was the lyricist thinking of the Narnia Chronicles a bit when he describes the Christian character as "lion wisdom"? The further you get into the album, the more you'll be in awe of KOBI FARHI's vocal versatility. With three styles at his command--Western, Middle Eastern (NOT easy because the notes are closer together than the Western semitone) and death-metal growling, it seems as if there's almost nothing that FARHI can't do...and for that, they have female solo vocalist SHLOMIT LEVI.

Easily one of my favorite tracks is "Halo Dies," which is the heaviest track as it introduces God's rage at the sins of mankind...one interesting thing I've noticed, which may be part of the Israeli cultural heritage, is a greater willingness to face this side of the Torah head-on than one usually sees in music written from a Christian perspective. "A Call to Awake" is also quite innovative, in the way its opening blends a reversed lute track with one going forward.

The second truly stunning moment on this album (or should I say, MOST stunning) is "Building the Ark," which melds Latin Gregorian chanting in with Middle Eastern instrumentation. Somebody obviously paid attention in Music Appreciation, as European music from the Middle Ages was sometimes closer in the chords used, to Middle Eastern music than it was in later times. This song is followed by "Norra El Norra," which according to the liner notes is a traditional song that has been given a metal arrangement. "Mabool" itself is very nice, but contains one of the only two awkward moments on the album, to my ears--there's a falsetto I could've done without, but I'll cut them some slack because of the chance that comes from another cultural heritage.

The third moment that stands out the most is also the longest song on the album: "The Storm Still Rages Inside." While it might lull the listener into thinking there's not much to it in the beginning, as a slower song, I think this song is the equal of songs like PINK FLOYD's "Comfortably Numb" or OPETH's "Epilogue," and even at over 9 minutes, it feels at the end as if it wasn't long enough. The album closes with "Rainbow," which musically seems like a bit of an anticlimax after "The Storm Still Rages Inside." However, since it was necessary for the completion of the story, I'll let them off the hook for that one, too.

Overall, this is a fantastic album that I highly recommend. Anyone who is a fan of prog-metal, or who is a fan of any prog with a Middle Eastern twist, should buy this immediately.

Wouldn't call it essential, but definitely worth its few spins. Some will like it, others will not, mostly because of the use of death vocals. But don't let that scare you away. They are used sparingly and their are other vocal concepts used, and different languages as well, Hebrew and Latin if I'm right, correct me if I am wrong.

Anyway, onto the music. There's a lot of substance here and a lot of crossing of genre boundaries, a big plus in my book. The album focuses on many different religious concepts, without favoring or "preaching" any specific religion. Its more about discussing the history in religious texts than it is telling you to be anything, with the title track, the Flood, having the most obvious religious base.

I find most of the songs hit or miss. Some I find boring and dull, pretty uninspiring, while others I find remarkable. And when they are of the remarkable kind, they are really amazing. My favorites are Ocean Land, with its middle eastern flavor mixed with death metal, and the title track, which is a great "journeymen" type of song with all sorts of intricacies.

If you are just a little bit open to the metal genre, you will find this album much to your liking. Definitely worth your time.

This is a concept album about the flood (Mabool), only they put their own twist on the old testament story by adding the "Three sons" to it. These three sons are the snake, eagle and lion and represent the three major religions, Judiasm, Islam and Christianity. Anyway these three sons come together as one to warn the people of the earth of the impending flood that is coming from God because of their sin. So yes, this is an album of epic proportions. This record blends several languages and vocals so beautifully as well as many ethnic instruments, orchestral sections as well as Prog-Metal. There are some growly vocals that are used to demonstrate anger, and are not used a lot.

"Birth Of The Three (The Unification)" opens with children singing until crushing riffs come in and vocals. The drumming seems to roll as the guitars grind it out in the background. Some ripping guitar melodies to follow. I love this opening song. "Ocean Land (The Revelation)" is the revelation of the impending doom that will strike the earth.The intro reminds me of THE TEA PARTY with the use of ethnic instruments until the guitar comes in. Deep throaty vocals are contrasted with the normal vocals. We then hear a scorching solo as the song ends with percussion and ethnic vocals. "The Kiss Of Babylon (The Sins)" relate the sins that man has committed against God. This is a heavy tune with angry death vocals and background synths. Normal vocals come in followed by a female vocal melody that is cool. A male takes over the same melody. 6 minutes in she really reminds me of Anneke as the song blends into "A'slk". This is a short song with her still singing with ethnic instruments including percussion. "Halo Dies (The Wrath Of God)" opens with spoken words, and as it plays out i'm reminded of GREEN CARNATION. We get some more growly vocals and the violin/guitar melody is great.

"A Call To Awake (The Quest) is where the "Three sons" go out to warn the inhabitants of the earth. This is an uptempo tune with tasteful guitar melodies.Vocals and heavy riffs follow with background synths. "Building The Ark" features ethnic instruments as choirs come in and vocals.There is some intricate, acoustic guitar and synths. "Norra El Norra (Entering The Ark)" opens with ethnic vocals and strumming guitar that are crushed by heavy riffs. A female vocal melody, synths, piano and drums follow. Nice."The Calm Before The Flood" is a solemn instrumental of acoustic guitar, synths and wind. Mankind are living their lives, unaware that their lives are about to end. "Mabool (The Flood)" opens with the sound of rain and some orchestral sounds as it starts to pour and thunder. Guitars and drums build in sound. We then hear spoken words, then vocals as guitars churn out the melody. "The Storm Still Rages Inside" opens with spoken words and the sound of water splashing as the ark rises in the water. There is such an uplifting guitar solo that goes on and on. Nice. Vocal melodies with drums and splashing water close out the song. "Rainbow" ends this ambitious work with acoustic guitar as you can hear the birds singing. Beautiful ending.

This is close to being a masterpiece in my opinion, but falls just short. 4.5 stars.

Although sparsely used by many metal bands, none of them embraced so consistently the fusion of progressive death metal with eastern folk music like the Israeli Orphaned Land did. The use of the characteristic acoustic guitars, some orchestral arrangements and operatic choral voices with female contributions, created a soaring epic ambiance, built to represent the religious Flood tragic story. Heavy guitar riffs are also spread over the album, along with some few technical parts a la Dream Theater, but, without a doubt, the band's main concern lyes within the atmospherics.

Tracks that standout are the richly textured "Ocean Land", the dynamic "The Kiss of Babylon", a great amalgam of those elements, the solemn acoustic "The Storm Still Rages Inside", the classical driven "Mabool (The FLood)" and the climatic languid "The Storm Still Ranges Inside", while the single "Nora el Nora (Entering the Ark)", sang in Israeli, soaring at times a gypsies hymn. Nevertheless lacking sometimes some substance or being too pompous, even naive, at moments, it's still a solid and creative release, with some great moments. Between 3 and 4 rating.

Israel's Orphaned Land hit big with the ambitious Mabool. The album deals with the retelling of the Great Flood through the eyes of three sons, one for each major monotheistic relgion (Christian, Jew, and Muslim). The album has wondeful Middle Eastern vibes seamlessly fused with death meal. The album features vocals in English as well as other languages such as Hebrew.

Songs like "Mabool" and "The Storm Still Rages Inside" have great female vocals, and the narrations are eerie. The number of instruments used is mind-boggling, from standard rock fare to violins and a host of Middle Eastern instruments that set OL apart from any other prog band you'll hear. Vocally, there's chanting, clean vocals, death growls, and spoken word. It's nice to hear an album that blends heaviness with atmosphere the way Orphaned Land does. They are like Opeth, only with Eastern influences.

Fans of prog metal can't go wrong with this allbum, especially if you love Opeth. It takes a few listens to fully understand the story and all of the nuances, but it is very rewarding when everything clicks. Parts of it are a little boring, which detracts from the power of the album, but, for the most part, it is a remarkably original record.

Grade: B+

Quickly wore out its welcome

"Mabool" is a sprawling and ambitious musical journey. The sticker that came on the CD says "Exotic mysticism meets Middle Eastern metal." Fair enough, I can go with that description. And yet it doesn't work for me. Though they are talented, it's just all too contrived and cheesy I'm afraid.

"Birth Of The Three" begins with a child's voice before the heavy guitar drops. Harsh and clean vocal styles will trade off, as will electric guitar with folksy acoustics, introducing the mixture of styles that will continue throughout the album. The general sound of the rock here is less extreme than some metal bands, more in line with accessible bands like Riverside and Green Carnation. Even the growl portions are not going to scare anyone off as they are more than offset by pleasant singing. "Ocean Land" features some good guitar parts and a cool chanted ending. "The Kiss of Babylon" rocks hard but also features some cool breaks with male/female vocal trades. The synths remain present behind the distorted guitar. "A'salk" is just gorgeous, a Third Ear Band style track with raga rhythms and a beautiful vocal expression. "Halo Dies" quickly becomes the standout rock track on the album with fierce growls expressing the violence of the lyrics. The complexity level rises here in the guitar/drum interplay to a Pain of Salvation level with the shifts and changes. "A Call to Awake" is probably the low point of the album, sounding like cheesy hair metal in places and not very convincing as prog metal. "Building the Ark" begins like a Loreena McKennitt song which is not a bad thing. Or perhaps the choral vocals will remind you of Therion-lite. A pleasant acoustic track. "Norra el Norra" is one of the better songs with interesting rhythm chops in the first half and piano in the latter half. "The Calm Before The Flood" is a shimmering, beautiful instrumental. The first half features a lone nylon-stringed acoustic, the second half adds strings, wind, female voice, and quiet reverb-laden electric. It's an absolute highlight. The wind and the strings lead right into "Mabool" and now we hear rain and thunder as well. Soon the strings fade and full band comes galloping back with harsher male vocals. The synths rise a bit heavier in the mix as "Storm Still Rages" begins. Nice guitar solo around 1:20 that just tears it up for several minutes. Clean vocals alternate with spoken word storytelling about the great flood. This longest track will drift towards the end adding in some pleasant acoustic and choir vocals over the heavy riffs and drums. This song is basically the big finale as "Rainbow" is more of an acoustic "outro" albeit a very pleasant one, with birds chirping over the guitar.

The CD (my version at least) comes with a second bonus disc featuring a live acoustic performance recorded in 2002. This nice document makes this package especially attractive to fans. The material is older stuff, not the music on "Mabool." This is a fair album with some nice moments but ultimately disappointed. The use of traditional instruments and many languages still could not make it compelling to me. It's an interesting album but for me it's not quite a keeper. 5/10

Ambitious and dynamic, "Mabool" is a metal odyssey from the East with a very unique sound, and should be seriously investigated for fans of heavy music. The music as a whole has a lot in common with contemporary prog-metal, at least in terms of its heavy/dexterous delivery and melodic hooks, but adds a completely new layer of sound with the inclusion of numerous acoustic folk instruments juxtaposed (often in unison) with the crunchy guitar common to the genre; it really is like being transported musically to new regions and has a very exotic feel.

The songs feature a good mix of dynamics and tones, from straightforwardish heavy rockers to purely acoustic Eastern folk music. Musicianship is solid all around, with a fine mix of choral/female vocals as well. Lead vocalist Kobi Farhi sings with a pure, heavily accented voice mixed with passable growling (be warned), which fits the music nicely. The overall effect is more than enough to make me ignore the very Biblical lyrics, since I am usually jamming along to the heavy rhythm and guitar work. A shift in sound occurs as the album progresses, with the heavy riffing transitioning into thoughtfully composed symphonics. The change is very ogranic, and adds a nice variety to what might otherwise be an overwhelming listen.

While not quite on par with some of the more well known metal giants, "Mabool" holds its own well despite a few lulls in the pacing and similar sound to the band's songs.

Recommended for those seeking a fresh sound within the genre.

Songwriting: 4 Instrumental Performances: 3 Lyrics/Vocals: 3 Style/Emotion/Replay: 4

This is an absolute amazing CD! Prog metal is way too narrow label for such richness of music, text and perfomance. Ok, there is heavy metal parts alright, but they are just part of the mix that also includes jewish folk, eastern thythms, arab chants, orchestrations, choirs and so forth. This is progressive with a capital P! The music is inspired, powerful, melodic, epic and exciting. Even some death metal growling are included. Usually I don´t like this style of singing but I must admit that in this specific case they work very well. Fortunatly most of the lead vocals are of the ´clean´ type. they remind me of the fantasitic Amorphis album Elegy.

The absolute highlights are the guitar parts, with some very fine, melodic and passionate solos. No weak tracks or fillers of any kind. It is one of those CDs you can hear from beginning to end with pleasure and awe. Progheads might like the Cd´s second part more than the first tracks, though. I really enjoyed the creative arrangements. Special note must be given to the vocals too; the use of female backing vocals, eastern chants, spoken words and choirs is fantastic. Acoustic guitars, ethnic instruments and varied percussion give extra colours to the overall sound. Keyboards are also very wel done. In fact, nothing is out of place here! Everything falls into place smoothly. Production is not spectacular, but more than adequate for this complex piece of work.

My sample has an extra CD with 5 extra tracks recorded live with acoustic instruments only. Here their folk roots are even more proeminent. Very interesting how Orphaned Land´s music works well both on the electric or acoustic format. Nice!

Not really your traditional prog metal record, but a very important and unique CD that will please anyone who is interested in sometihing new. 4,5 stars. Highly recommended!

Orphaned Land seems to me a band for which the meaning of their songs and their music is (very) important. It seems to me a band that wants to make statements. Unfortunately I'm a progressive fan who is only interested in the music and what it sounds like (a bit shallow maybe but alas). In this case I know this band is from Israel but really I don't know what their political direction is (somehow that seems important to me if you're from Israel but I could be mistaking) and in the end it's not too important if you only care about music.

With Orphaned Land it's not even possible to find out what they are all saying in their songs because it's partly sung in Hebrew and I'm not a jew (or studied Hebrew) so I haven't got a clue. And there we have the problem I have with this album, it's a bit too folky for me, not just the lyrics but also the instrumental aspect. Of course that can be interesting and it's highly original to say the least but it's not my thing.

On the other hand there are some very positive aspects too, for instance the guitar playing (Storm still rages inside !!!) and the fresh sound of the band. This album is an enjoyable listen for more than an hour but like I said I'm being poised between positive and negative elements with this album. The logical conclusion would be 3 stars and that's what it will be.

By the way: the title track is also very interesting with the classical start. Really nice.

A progressive metal band that offers a subtle attack rather than full-frontal assault, ORPHANED LAND conquer with this, their third album.

'Mabool' is a unique album. It marries progressive metal - not quite death metal, as some think - with Middle-Eastern sounds. Further, the inclusive, conciliatory lyrics will appeal to all who wish that troubled region well. This said, it takes more than interesting sounds and laudable sentiments to make a masterpiece. ORPHANED LAND may have a masterpiece within them, but this isn't quite it. The lyrics can be a little shallow and twee on occasion, and the music is often unconvincing, sounding more like a pastiche than a true western-eastern hybrid. Despite the growling vocals I'm reminded far more of DREAM THEATER than I am of OPETH or the other namechecked bands these lads are compared to. Like DREAM THEATER, some of their ideas work and some don't. The result is a rather uneven album.

This album is well worth tracking down and listening to if you are a fan of progressive metal. I can't see it as a masterpiece, and it's not quite a four-star album, but a very solid three star effort. I very much hope the band continues on to make the magnum opus they're undoubtedly capable of.

Mabool - The Story Of The Three Sons Of Seven is the third album of the band from Israel called Orphaned Land. Here we see a very special prog metal album, since it don't fall in the same categories as progressive metal, because of its obvious heavy guitars, neither falls under the extreme progressive metal, because of its also heavy vocals.However, to call this Israeli band as experimental metal is also wrong, because of 2 things: the experimentation that they are making here is not as big as this genre supposes and and they have been doing the same kind of music ever since they began the band, with obvious quality increases. The exact genre of this band is progressive folk metal, but, under the circumstances present at this web site, experimental metal will just have to do the job.

But enough about this sub-genre gibberish. Lets talk about music here. As i said before, Orphaned Land have the heaviness of metal, presented in their crushing guitars and growling - like vocals, but still have that folk feeling, presented in their melodies, that are noticeably influenced by traditional arab and jewish music , use of traditional instruments of the middle - east, lyrics in hebraic and the whole progression of the album, which (the album) have a incredible feeling of having beginning, middle and end.

To top all that, the lyrical theme of the album is about some kind of mythological birth of the three main monotheist religions and about the story of the world flood that made Noe build the arc. Very unique approach of such touchy and dangerous theme, specially on the middle east, where religious understanding and tolerance are things with such a short supply. That approach caused the album to be a concept album.

Overall Rating: Joining the terrific music, great lyrics, great theme for an album, great approach of the lyrics and with a very balanced amount of heavy and soft songs, this album is for sure a masterpiece of its own and completely deserves the 5 star rating.

I'm not a death metal fan.

I can hardly stand growling except in very small amounts and in the right places.

Turns out, Orphaned Land might not fulfill that qualification of only growling in small amounts (not that it is excessive or even a majority on the album), but they certainly do know when to put that out on the table. Mabool is a massive concept album with years of work put into it--and those years do show up in the level of quality throughout this bit. I've looked and looked, but no other band seems to be able to combine so many elements and so many layers and still have the music be completely listenable. Well, no surprise based on how I started this review, but this album toys with genius and tosses it aside to go higher up the ladder.

There is a very involved, very deep sort of story and message going throughout this album, one to do with the divisions of religions, especially the three that are tearing Orphaned Land's home area of Israel apart. And speaking of Israel, the Middle Eastern and Semitic sounds give this album a sound much more complex than simple progressive symphonic death metal. Instruments that I couldn't begin to spell take the lead throughout this release, and the album soars because of it.

Also of note are the vocals. The male vocals range from death growls to a very pleasant tenor sort of voice (I think tenor, but then, I've never been in choir). The female vocals give this album a wonderful punch that it would be sadly lacking without. Shlomit Levi, as the listing above states her name, has a powerful and chill-producing voice. Especially at the end of The Kiss of Babylon. Between the males and this lady, the band offers sweeping melodies and harmonies, such as the small choir feel of Norra El Norra. On the same level as these vocalists is the wild lead guitar, which deals in turn death and mayhem and gentle softness. The solo in The Storm Still Rages Inside lasts several minutes and still to this day does not get old in the slightest.

There are all sorts of things that can be said for this terrific release. In the end, though, it is simply a mature, intelligent, layered, complicated, and straight up metal release, not one to be missed by anyone who can enjoy some high brow metal (and deal with a spot of death growling, in maybe five of the tracks).

Orphaned Land's third album seems to have taken both the critics and regular listeners by storm with their unique mix between Progressive metal and Jewish/Arabic influences. On top of supposedly expanding the boundaries of metal genre Mabool - The Story Of The Three Sons Of Seven also features a pretty well arranged concept that lingers all throughout the album. So how could I possibly give this release anything less than my warmest recommendation? Simply because the music isn't as good as all of the above factors might make it out to be!

The album features straightforward melodic metal with a little growl and middle eastern music thrown into the mix. What I'm basically saying is that growl and middle eastern music is mainly used as a gimmick here for making the material sound more ambitious than what it actually turns out to be. I'm not really taken by this music since it isn't all that technical or ambitious in its structure, instead relying heavily on melodic hooks to keep the listeners attention. Aside from a few very beautiful melodies and the concept itself there's just not much else I have to gain from this album.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for mixing sounds and styles especially when its done to create something new and interesting. All this recording needed to do in order to fulfill this criteria was to add a prolonged jam session where the Jewish/Arabic influences would have received a few prominent moments in the spotlight. Surprisingly enough this just never happens. Instead we get tracks like Halo Dies (The Wrath of God) and A Call To Awake (The Quest) that sound like complete parodies of the metal genre. Not really a smart choice on Orphaned Land's part considering that they themselves are playing by those exact rules.

Fortunately the music gets better with time and the last 30 minutes of the album, starting with Nora El Nora (Entering The Ark), does deliver a few moments where the band's middle eastern influences actually sound natural enough for me to see them as an important aspect of the music. The song trilogy right towards the end gives the album's concept a great ending which I find a bit undeserving for the mixed bag of an album that preceded it.

To me, Mabool - The Story Of The Three Sons Of Seven seems like an ambitious album that just doesn't deliver on all of its promising components. This is something that I'm sure could have been fixed by a bit more work on blending the subparts of the band's style into a coherent and natural mix. But seeing that this album took such a hefty chunk of time to complete we might as well wait and see if the band will improve with their next release.

**** star songs: Birth Of The Three (The Unification) (6:58) Ocean Land (The Revelation) (4:44) The Kiss Of Babylon (The Sins) (7:24) A'salk (2:05) Building The Ark (5:02) Nora El Nora (Entering The Ark) (4:24) The Calm Before The Flood (4:25) Mabool (The Flood) (7:00) The Storm Still Rages Inside (9:20) Rainbow (The Resurrection) (3:01)

*** star songs: Halo Dies (The Wrath of God) (7:30) A Call To Awake (The Quest) (6:10)

Orphaned Land's third album contains quality mix of doom progressive metal and Middle East folk. Proportion of both is almost 50/50, and besides of that vocals are non-metal at all. The music is melodic, well played, but too polished (for metal).

Obviously with progressive elements in it, music too often is too poppy. Eastern power metal? But no, even not that - during all album long I feel metal elements are added more as fashion, outside attribute, but music itself lives without it. Metal for listeners who don't like metal?

Not that again. Possibly, it is melodic and exotic heavy mix for those who're searching for accessible songs ,but with some doze of heavy metal in it. I am not a big progressive metal fan, but I really like some interesting works, especially with experimental moments. This album is not from such category: besides of rare combination of Middle Eastern folklore with very conservative power metal, you will hardly find there any unusual sound or rhythm. Very comfortable conservative album with Eastern spices to attract listener.

Not bad, but far from innovative or even just interesting. And so polished!

My rating is 2,5, rounded to 3.

The calm before the storm still raging inside

Orphaned Land produces a brilliant and truly unique fusion of Prog Metal, Oriental/Middle-Eastern traditional Folk music, and even some Symphonic progressive Rock. I very much enjoy successful fusions of Folk music and progressive Rock or Metal and Orphaned Land is one of the very few bands that really pull it off without sounding either messy or cheesy. The fact that they sing in various languages (English, Hebrew, Latin and more) and various styles (clean male and female vocals as well as Death Metal growls!), it is very easy to be led to believe that the end result is a complete mess. While it did indeed sound a little bit "messy" on the first couple of listens, this impression quickly faded away and the very strong material a very well thought-out structures revealed themselves.

Mabool: The Story Of The Three Sons Of Seven is a concept album and this is one of the several things that helps keep it all together very nicely. The concept is the biblical story of the flood. The material is powerful and varied with recurring themes and many interesting twists and turns.

Even if I usually dislike growling vocals, I quickly grew to like this album a lot. Indeed, I am very impressed by this ground-breaking and unique blend of styles to create something brand new. Finding comparisons with other bands is not easy, but I instantly think of another band when hearing Orphaned Land: the great Irish Celtic Metal band Cruachan. Not because they sound similar as such - they certainly don't! - but because they both successfully fuse (extreme) Metal with some form of traditional music and giving these elements about equal space. Both also have some symphonic Prog elements. While Cruachan builds on the Irish/Celtic mythology, history and musical tradition, Orphaned Land, as I've said already, builds upon their own (they hail from Israel) cultural background in their ethnic and Folk influences. Both bands also, despite their extreme Metal background, had some kind of commercial "hit" songs (at least in their home markets); Cruachan with Ride On and Orphaned Land with Nora El Nora (Entering The Ark).

Very highly recommended!

Personally, I just can't get aboard Orphaned Land's Mabool. Despite being their most acclaimed album and hailed as a classic fusion of progressive metal and traditional music, on listening to it I can't really see it as anything other than a thin veneer of occasional Middle Eastern traditional music motifs over what is actually a fairly standard progressive metal sound, rather than a fundamental fusion of traditional music and metal as accomplished by some works of Mr Bungle or Secret Chiefs 3. It's a fun enough album, but I really don't think it's the creative breakthrough it's often made out to be.

An Israeli heavy rock, almost metal, sometimes extreme tech/doom metal (due to the presence of growl vocals), Orphaned Land have produced a powerful album that tells a Biblical story (familiar to most of us as "Noah and the Ark"). Musically, this is a masterpiece of matching music to the various chapters of the story. The mixed vocals (growls, English, Israeli [?], choral) approach, however, sometimes fails to match the mood of the scene so well as the music. The second half of the album is by far the most engaging, moving, and masterful. Definitely my favorite Orphaned Land album.

Album highlights: the choir-assisted "Building the Ark" (5:02) (10/10); the acoustic guitar based instrumental "The Calm Before the Flood" (4:25) (8/10); the heavy "Mabool (The Flood) (6:59) (9/10), and; the gorgeous melodies of "The Storm Still Rages Inside" (9:20) (9/10).

Bands like Secret Chiefs 3, System Of A Down and my favorite prog metal band FROM the Middle East ' Myrath have much a better Middle Eastern / Rock / Metal fusion sound than this. I don't find the material here very interesting and it seems like one of those paint-by-numbers type of albums. The lofty concept just doesn't seem like it is matched with songwriting quality. The songs that work best for me are the less metal ones. The growly vocals remind me of Unexpect. The occasional keyboard runs remind me of Dream Theater.

When I read about this it sounds like it should be great but when I listen to this I don't understand the hype. This certainly isn't the worst thing i've heard and there are some good moments but after 67 minutes of this it gets very tedious and well boring. If they would have trimmed this down a bit and edited a lot I might like this more but then again they need to add something to spice this up as well. I haven't heard any other albums by ORPHANED LAND but after finally hearing this release I can't say i'm in a hurry to either.