Band: Orphaned Land
Genre: Folk Metal (Middle Eastern Folk)
Album: Mabool: The Story of the Three Sons of Seven
(2004)
Track Listing:
01. Birth
Of The Three (The Unification) 6:57
02. Ocean Land
(The Revelation) 4:43
03. The
Kiss Of Babylon
(The Sins) 7:23
04. A'salk 2:05
05. Halo
Dies (The Wrath Of God) 7:29
06. A Call To Awake (The Quest) 6:10
07. Building
The Ark 5:02
08. Norra El Norra (Entering The Ark) 4:24
09. The
Calm Before The Flood 4:25
10. Mabool
(The Flood) 6:59
11. The
Storm Still Rages Inside 9:20
12. Rainbow
(The Resurrection) 3:01
Total playing time 1:07:58
Perfection:
that's what the Israeli folk metal band Orphaned Land
achieved with their truly marvellous album "Mabool". Definitely the best and
richest LP in the folk metal subgenre, this concept album was the end result of
many years of musical experimentation and learning by the band's members (their
previous work is from 1996).
Musically,
"Mabool" deals with two main influences: melodic death metal and traditional
middle eastern music. From the former, you will hear some great death metal
growling by lead vocalist Kobi Farhi, heavy guitar riffing, melodic soloing and
keyboard orchestration and leads. The traditional elements are a lot more
prominent, including folk chanting, non traditional instrumentation (saz,
buzuki, oud and traditional percussion), acoustic guitar interludes, choir,
talked passages and many many more.
Lyric-wise,
"Mabool" is a concept album about the mythic story of the universal flood sent
by god to wipe out evil from the earth. What makes it really interesting is
that the band blended different believes and story aspects based on the three
Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam). The use of Hebrew along
with English as main languages gives a different touch to the
listening experience as well.
Unique
mesmerizing music, an enjoyable story told in twelve outstanding songs and a
fresh feeling of originality; what else could you possibly ask from an album?
Download "Mabool" here
Song: Ocean Land (The Revelation)
"Before eyes that are blind no more
A sight unseen that tears the soul
All we ever loved and known
Into mass graves is what we're shown"
"We see an ocean once was land"
And so they come to understand
This place where man used to be born
Will be man's water throne
"All that was magical, beautiful,
will be gone"
These measures call for divine intervention
"All the achievements of man,
one will stand all alone"
One the survives the final selection
"The sand in the hourglass,
moves so fast, slow the sand
And nothing that mankind has strived for
will be all in ocean land"
The rain will fall then
Filling the dried land
"Here are we servants three,
flesh and blood
Poor and weak,
hear thou speak of the flood"
It must be a sign
A massage from God's hand
