THE NEVER ENDING WAY OF ORWARRIOR

After the epic Mabool and a long break (6 years!!) OL returned with their best and most matured work IMHO. This is a masterpiece in any way. The production, the music the whole package is truly exceptional.

So this is progressive metal with folk elements, a lot of experimentation with oriental instruments, melody with growls, their usual style. You may call it global or even eclectic metal, anyways this is their music, full of colors and moods. The two main pillars of this is metal and middle east music. And for the first time the blend is perfect, everything is part of the song structure and the acoustic string parts are not interludes of the heavy parts. This was visible in Mabool but now it is perfect.

I never do song by song review. After each spinning there was a different song that got my attention. But the one that always wins me is the epilogue, the last song. Simple and brilliant.

I am not a great and loyal fan of Steven Wilson but I must agree that he is genious in many ways. His contribution in this release is visible and positive but never overshadows the band's ideas. It just gives it a boost.

There is a lot to say about their religious ideas. I will only say that I agree with their idea of unification regardless of your religious beliefs. I am not an expert in middle east or in history generally, I only see it in a humanitarian way. And I agree that music unites.

This is 2010's best effort in its genre and maybe one of this year's best albums in prog music overall.