Recent Reviews

November 2024

October 2024

September 2024

August 2024

[ More Music Reviews ]


Orphaned Land: The Never Ending Way
Orphaned Land The Never Ending Way of ORwarriOR new music review

Orphaned Land: The Never Ending Way ...

Progressive Metal
Rating: 3.0/5.0

Century Media
www.myspace.com/orphanedmyspace
www.orphaned-land.com
Review: Miguel Blardony,  03.21.2010

Man, weird album. The truth is this writer wasn't all too impressed by what he's hearing from Israel's eclectic metallers Orphaned Land and their far-too-cheesy latest, The Never Ending Way of ORwarrioR. (What the hell is an 'ORwarriOR'?) It actually took a solid month of listening and honestly, the hype surrounding these Israelis seems a bit far fetched. Playing a fusion of Middle Eastern flavors and heavy metal, Orphaned Land subscribe to the virtue of having no boundaries in their music; no wonder the bloated album.

For those who've never heard of these guys, much less listened to them, TNEWOO drugs your senses with Oriental ambience, exotic flourishes and oh, half baked extreme metal. Problem is, past the boring opener Sapari the even more laborious From Broken Vessels gets its fair share of eight minutes and so on. Cr*p. Worse, the whole album unravels ever so slowly, which means Orphaned Land's latest should not be digested bit by bit. Do this, and you'll probably hate it. To no one's surprise, there's a concept running through each song and unless you make a serious effort savoring TNEWOO in its entirety, you just won't be singing the band's praises.

Memorable tracks are scarce since Orphaned Land's soundscape is far too lush for any particular piece to stand out. There's a bit of death and thrash metal though, usually boring, as they are mere strands in the gynormous cross cultural fabric that's the story of ORwarriOR. Perhaps the best approach to Orphaned Land is staying preoccupied while the album plays in the background, remaining a distant diversion. In fact, this method proves very effective as the music seems to enliven the dormant part of your brain not engrossed with whatever it is your doing (i.e. tweeting, downloading porn, or engrossed with Mass Effect 2).

However, despite its fluffiness, Orphaned Land succeed at creating a vibrant world music album. But a prog release? Er, not so much. TNEWOO can be painfully tedious, it's almost torture. Anyone wanna hear about Dubai's finest, Nervecell?

CraigHartranft.net - New fiction, crime fiction by Craig Hartranft

Note: All Amazon advertising in this review first benefits the artist, then Craig Hartranft also receives a residual. Click, and thanks for your support.

In Short

However, despite its fluffiness, Orphaned Land succeed at creating a vibrant world music album. But a prog release? Er, not so much. TNEWOO can be painfully tedious, it's almost torture.

Find A Review

Alphabetical Index

a b c d e f g h i j
k l m n o p q r s t
u v w x y z #
New & Notable
Read the Lionville: Supernatural Album Review

eviewing my archives, I was pleased to find that I have had the privilege to review every Lionville since their self-titled debut in 2011. Formed by Stefano Lionetti, a songwriter, singer and guitarist based in ... [ Read More ]