Ivo's Views on the new 'Orphaned Land and Friend's album

Israeli band Orphaned Land is an odd band. They sing about the struggles of living together. nderstanding. Dialogue. Peace. Their Message might be in stark contrast with “Angel of Death” or “Hammer Smashed ace” but it is unfortunately a hot one and most importantly, and this is something that you can’t say of Slayer or Cannibal Corpse, they are being sincere. Their home is a powder keg where politicians and religious nutcases spread lies and violence across the world to push their own agenda and in a world where polarising ideas are ripping nations apart, where the words of a rational man fall on deaf ears, this band is a candle in the night. Their music reminds me that there is still hope. Anyway, the band celebrates its 5th birthday this year  but they are spending their time in the studio to work on their follow-up to 1 “All Is One”. To not let this pass by, they’ve released a small P called “Orphaned Land  riends”. As the title suggests, this is a small collection of the collaborations they have done over the years.  ith the new album in the works, it’s understandable that it’s difficult to deliver new material but still I feel the band could have made better choices. or example the first two tracks “The Beloved’s Cry” and “M I?” with Porcupine Tree’s Steven ilson are both stellar but they appeared earlier on the excellent, CLLNT live album “The Road to Or-Shalem”.  “Halon Layam Hatihon” together with ehuda Poliker is the underproduced, Hebrew version of “As I Stare at the Ocean Alone”. antastic track and I don’t think I have this one or it must be on the DVD of “The Road to Or-Shalem”. hy this track is followed by the nglish version that appeared on “All is One” is not entirely clear to me. Next up are two versions of “starabim” originally by and with the alfather of Turkish rock rkin oray. This track served as a bonus track for  the  album “The Never nding ay of OrarriOR”.  The alternative mix is a bit louder, more richly arranged and longer than the radio version. Neither version is bad but I would rather have seen a bit more variety. Again, I have no idea why it was decided to keep both tracks but it kills the mood for me. Moran Magal, a popular Israeli artist in her own right, had released a beautiful, intimate cover of the band’s “rom Broken Vessels” together with singer obi arhi. I would have loved this version here but instead we get the live version from again “The Road to Or-Shalem”. Not bad but certainly not the version that I was waiting for. The final track, a cover of “eremy”, was only released on ouTube (as far as I know at least) and for the first time I feel actual excitement. I’m not a big fan of Pearl am, too much middle of the road kinda band, but the version that OL presents here is fantastic. Original arrangements and instrumentation, louder, heavier guitars and arhi nails the vocals. So… the verdict? In 5 years the band has build an interesting discography and collaborated with many talented musicians but this little P doesn’t do them justice. Not only in terms of variety and quality but also on a “personal” level.  hy wasn’t that wonderful duet with Mira Awad included? here is Shlomit Levi? Diehard fans of the band will rejoice and have another item to collect. Personally I’m awaiting the new album. 

- Ivo VirusithShoes -