After a long 8 years hiatus, the Israeli outfit Orphaned Land are back with a strong album that is definitely hard to digest. Mabool : The Story Of The Three Sons Of Seven is indeed an album of incredible musical wealth and it would have been a crime not to review it. I don’t remember listening to Orphaned Land before this album. I remember reading about them in the past, but I didn’t have the opportunity to investigate them. Orphaned Land is without a doubt an innovative band as their metal shows clearly their oriental origins. Just like northen European bands such as Theni, Finntroll and Otyg have added some of their folk influences into their music, Orphaned Land does the same with theirs. That’s fine as long as you can do it, because I couldn’t see Samael for instance including some Swiss folk in their music, even though it might be funny as hell. I will not dwell too much on the lyrical concept of the story, but this tells the story of the flood, and every song reflects a different chapter of it.

Musically speaking, Mabool is an album that will definitely subjugate the less open-minded listeners. In order to emphasize on their Oriental origins, the band used a lot of Oriental, ancient instruments such as Qannun, Oud, Saz, Buzuki and oriental percussions, side by side with distorted guitars and a mix of melodic clean and growled vocals. Additionally, they used a 25 member female choir. I am sure all this must remind you of another band that showed Oriental influences in their music… Therion is indeed a band who previously mixed some of the aforementioned elements in their music especially on Deggial and Vovin, but Orphaned Land takes it a step further as their oriental influences somewhat outdo the metal edge. However it’s only for good as this album, again, is incredibly rich. Everytime I listen to it it seems I discover some elements I had previously not taken notice of. This is due to the length of the album, over an hour, and the use of all those traditional oriental instruments. Besides, the songwriting is excellent and the guys paid a great deal of attention to balance all the songs right. The Storm Still Rages Inside is probably one the most epic songs I have ever heard.

Mabool : The Story Of The Three Sons Of Seven hit the stores February 23rd, and for those who haven’t got it so far, it’s about time you get to your local store and get this album. For those who want it, the limited edition features a bonus CD that must be worth a few more bucks, as the limited first pressing of the album will include The Calm Before The Flood, a 5-track acoustic live show bonus-CD that contains songs from El Norra Alila and Sahara, as well as Mercy, a Paradise Lost cover. As for myself, I did get this one and will undoubtedly look for their previous releases.