Driven by Sonic Obsession

There used to be a time that the best Metal bands in the world were from the United States, Germany, Sweden or England. Today, Israel’s Orphaned Land is probably the best band around in any genre, as their mixture of styles, which include Doom Metal, Death Metal, Progressive Rock/Metal and large doses of traditional Middle Eastern music, transcends any notice of musical boundaries. I can’t express in words how much I love this band. They’re one of the few bands in whose music I can totally lose myself these days. And while previous efforts were ranging from good to stellar, ‘The Never Ending Way Of ORwarriOR’ is the album that definitively made me fall in love with Orphaned Land.

On their magnum opus (so far), Orphaned Land’s music proves to be of equal importance as the general atmosphere the album sets as well as their message of inter-religious harmony. Check out the promo photos to this album for the ultimate example. This makes the album feel as an experience as opposed to just any good album you put on. And although all tracks lend themselves to separate spins, I tend to listen to the album as a whole. Any album that is set up so ambitiously is risking to get lost in the sand somewhere, but that’s not the case here: the dynamics retain your attention, the melodies make you sing along – even to the songs in Hebrew, although I don’t speak a single word in that language – and the guitar riffs make your head bang.

Interestingly, the songs derived from traditional Hebrew poems, chants and hymns are always the ones that grab me first. Opening track ‘Sapari’ is catchy and powerful and ‘Olat Ha’tamid’ hypnotizing. What I find especially remarkable is that these melodies work so well as Metal songs. Never are you given the impression that these are songs written centuries ago, it sounds fresh and powerful. And the Hebrew lyrics are really powerful. So are the Arabic Koran texts in ‘Disciples Of The Sacred Oath’.

With an array of styles as wide as on ‘The Never Ending Way Of ORwarriOR’, it could be expected that the musicians involved build upon their instincs and experience. Although there is some truth in that statement, there’s such an unbridled passion in this music as well. It lies within Yossi Sa’aron’s soul gripping guitar solos (‘The Path Part I – Treading Through Darkness’, ‘The Warrior’), Kobi Fahri’s emotional vocal delivery (‘MI?’, ‘Bereft In The Abyss’), the overwhelming Arabic orchestral arrangements (‘Barakah’) and guest singer Shlomit Levi’s intense chants (‘Sapari’, ‘New Jerusalem’). This adds to the experience as it’s not only musically proficient, but also beautiful.

In addition, Porcupine Tree main man Steven Wilson’s flawless mix is probably what gave ‘The Never Ending Way Of ORwarriOR’ just that little extra the band needed to make this album even better than its already near-flawless predecessor ‘Mabool’. Every instrument is mixed in clearly and litterally nothing seems out of place, even in the largely arranged songs. The rough edges the band had in their early days have now vanished and frankly, it’s all for the better.

Every fan of music should hear this album one day or another. It’s one of those “albums you must hear before you die”, but it won’t show up in any lists or books that Rolling Stone or NME give you to that extent. In that case, just take my word for it. This is brilliant, border denying – not crossing, it just denies their existence – music with a passion that many Pop musicians can’t even dream of. I am very careful about calling albums perfect, but I have litterally nothing to complain about for this one and isn’t that the definition of perfect? ‘The Never Ending Way Of ORwarriOR’ is the best album of the last decade.

Recommended tracks: ‘Sapari’, ‘The Path Part 1 – Treading Through Darkness’, ‘Olat Ha’tamid’, ‘Barakah’, ‘From Broken Vessels’

Death Metal for comfort. That’s what Malevolent Creation has always been to me. At least as powerful as chocolate or ice cream when love sick, better than sports when there’s too much energy I need to unleash and not as punishable by law as smashing someone’s face in when angry. Where many Death Metal bands are wasting all their effort on being as heavy as possible, the Bret Hoffman-fronted incarnations of Malevolent Creation are almost a form of extreme Thrash Metal in their unbridled aggression, not miles away from what Possessed was doing before, just much tighter and more precise.

Prior to debut album ‘The Ten Commandments’, the Buffalo-bred band moved to Florida to join the blossoming Death Metal scene which obviously influenced them. Of course, the Dan Seagrave artwork and awesome, powerful Scott Burns production that most Floridian DM bands at the time carried only add to that. But Malevolent Creation wasn’t only the sludgy gore of Obituary or the hyperspeed blasting of Morbid Angel – in fact, there are hardly any blastbeats on ‘The Ten Commandments’ – they were first and foremost the riff based thrashing of Slayer and the riff multitude of Kreator. That is the most important quality of ‘The Ten Commandments’; it’s chock full of killer Thrash riffs.

Then there’s one line that connects the dots of every Malevolent Creation album I like and his name is Bret Hoffman. Located somewhere between a traditional death grunt and a primitive Thrash bark with the occasional tortured gnarl, he is one of the very few non-clean singers that can lift a Metal song to a higher level for me. His tone on ‘The Ten Commandments’ is a little less guttural than usual, but twice as aggressive. This combined with Phil Fasciana’s punishing riffs and great guitar tone guarantees a vicious and enjoyable listening experience.

Personally, I tend to think of this album as a little more riff-based than the rest of Malevolent Creation’s output. There are relatively little guitar solos present; the almighty guitar riff is definitely what drives this album forward. All the other instruments often make place for the new guitar riffs to be introduced, but also augment them when needed. Mark Simpson’s rapidly galloping Thrash polkas in songs like ‘Injected Sufferage’ or the neck breaking namesake of the band or the way breaks are used to powerful effect in songs like ‘Remnants Of Withered Decay’, it all seems to be in service of the riffs. And no matter how fast it goes (‘Sacrificial Annihilation’ anyone?), all remains tight and precise.

While Malevolent Creation continued to release quality Death Metal albums – ‘Retribtion’, ‘The Fine Art Of Murder’, ‘Invidious Dominion’ and especially ‘Envenomed’ spring to mind – it is the Thrashing intensity of ‘The Ten Commandments’ that holds a special place in my heart. Most of the Death Metal I listen to is the thinking man’s Death Metal like Chuck Schuldiner’s downright brilliant Death, but sometimes you just don’t want to think. You just want to rage. When you do, ‘The Ten Commandments’ is just what you need.

Recommended tracks: ‘Malevolent Creation’, ‘Sacrificial Annihilation’, ‘Thou Shall Kill!’, ‘Remnants Of Shattered Decay’, ‘Injeced Sufferage’