Artist: Orphaned Land
Album: Never Ending Way of ORwarriOR
Genre: Middle Eastern Progressive Metal
Label: Century Media

For a band that’s unable to perform in the home countries of their Arabian fans, due to political and military controversy, Orphaned Land is still a pioneer of the progressive metal scene in Israel. Since the release of their most renowned album Mabool. in 2004, they remain one of the only bands able to create a following and bridge the gap between the Muslim and Arabian community. It has taken six years to complete their highly anticipated and long awaited fourth studio album, Never Ending Way of ORwarriOR, on Century Media. Using traditional Middle Eastern instruments, orchestration, progressive textures while combining mid-paced death metal riffs and folk metal, their sound is almost unheard of in the states. Their album art and promotional photos remain controversial by displaying three monotheistic religions in peaceful unity, despite the ongoing battle between them.

Much like Mabool, Never Ending Way of ORwarriOR, is a concept album that is split up in a three part structure that tells a story of a hero of light, (orwarrior means “warrior of light”) that is dealing with everyday issues and is trapped in darkness. Unable to translate word for word, the basic concept is what I constructed from reading interviews the band has released because lyrical wise the album is multilingual by combining Hebrew, Arabic, English and Yemenite.

Moving on to the music, opening track, “Sapari,” fell into mediocrity but involving female vocalist, Shlomit Levi, made it more compelling. Following with, “From Broken Vessels,” immediately the keyboard struck my interests but as soon as the haunting death growls came in, I checked out. However, they offer beautiful and clean singing that left me impressed. Both “Bereft in the Abyss,” and “The Path Part I: Treading Through Darkness,” are acoustically driven and soothing melodic tracks.

Only making it through “The Path Part II: The Pilgrimage to or Shalem,” I realized I had only just finished the first of the three parts and was going to have troubles sitting through the next ten tracks. The extensive hour and eighteen minute run time seemed unbearable and couldn’t be done in one take. By incorperating unnecessary and lengthy instrumental sections, the average song lasts about seven minutes.

Starting part II, “Olat Ha’tamid,” instantly had a middle-Eastern vibe and an apparent use of traditional instruments gave them a unique sound. The use of Arabian flutes made, “The Warrior,” intruiging but the haunting spoken literature gave a cinematic feel but was frankly creepy. Thankfully, this track was in English, giving me more of an insight on the inspirational message they are attempting to convey. “Codeword: Uprising,” happened to be the highlight of the album. Matan Shmuely, shined with fast paced drumming and the chugging riffs fit with this track.

There is no way I could touch on every song or we’d be here for days. I’m sure there is a lot to take from the concept of the album but being unable to understand it, I got lost in the seemingly endless run time and the redundant sound made it tedious to listen to. I have the utmost respect for them by pushing differences aside and creating a message of hope and unity for dividing communities and religions, that in itself takes a lot of courage.

Score: 5/10
Reviewed by: Nerissa Judd

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James Shotwell

James Shotwell is the founder of Under The Gun Review. He loves writing about music and movies almost as much as he loves his two fat cats. He's also the co-founder of Antique Records and the Marketing Coordinator for Haulix. You should probably follow him on Twitter.

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