THE NEVER ENDING WAY OF ORWARRIOR

This band caught my attention from the release of the Sahara album on Holy Records almost two decades ago. I knotted down this band in my notepad as a band to follow. The latest album, this one, has proved me right.

There is an own genre of progressive metal now called oriental metal or middle east prog metal. Call it whatever you want, but bands like Orphaned Land and Myrath has added a lot of spice (pun intended) to the metal and the music scene. Not at least to the prog scene.

The Never Ending Way of ORwarriOR is a heady mix of middle eastern folk music, progressive metal, symphonic prog and eclectic prog. It also takes a detour into Pink Floyd land with some long lingering songs. The music varies between pastoral quiet and huge melody pieces which mainly is in the prog metal avenue.

The result is a massive album which is hard to digest in one setting. Most of all, it is a fascinating piece of music which ties up all the ends from their other albums. It is an album that grows and grows on the listener. It is an album with a long life in a CD/MP3 player.

There is no truly excellent songs on this album. I regard this as one piece of music. But I am in no doubts this is a truly great album which deserve a lot more listener. Just like the other Orphaned Land albums. For me; Orphaned Land is one of the best prog metal bands in the scene. This album proves my point.

4 stars