Orphaned Land

Band Info
Origin	Bat Yam/Petah Tikvah, Israel
Years-Active	1991–1996, 2001-present
Genre(s)	Oriental Metal, Progressive metal, Melodic death metal, Death Doom, Progressive Death Metal
Label(s)	Century Media, Holy Records
Associated Acts	'
Homepage	https://www.orphaned-land.com
Last.fm	'

Orphaned Land is an oriental metal band from Israel. Formed in 1991, Orphaned Land started as a general death doom/melodic death metal band, but began fusing middle eastern music into their sound, predominately of Mizrahi Jewish origin. They have released six albums, thus far (four of which have been concept albums), having evolved their sound into a more progressive metal sound over the years. They have been described variously as progressive metal, melodic death metal, death doom, symphonic metal, folk metal, oriental metal, progressive death metal, and simply death metal, as well. They are considered to be the pioneers of oriental metal, and indeed coined the term, as well. The band has achieved significant success in the Middle East, North Africa, and the Islamic world, however due to their location in Israel, the band is viewed as taboo in these countries, as well as the metal genre in general, which has led to issues such as a fan from Egypt being imprisoned for listening to Orphaned Land and a belly dancer from Lebanon getting death threats from the Hezbollah after performing with Orphaned Land at Hellfest. Their later albums deal with lyrical themes about peace and unity, frequently referencing the three Abrahamic religions. While the name "Orphaned Land" comes from a Yehuda Poliker song, it "reflects a paradox" to the term "The Holy Land," another name for their home country of Israel, which the band members reject as being "holy" due to the conflict within the region. Once the middle east may find peace, Kobi Farhi, the band's lead vocalist, states they would either disband or rename themselves "Holy Land."

History:

Orphaned Land formed in 1991 under the name "Resurrection" as a standard death metal band. While they claimed that their initial goal was to sound like At the Gates, Morbid Angel, Death, Decide, etc., singing about topics like "death from radiation decay," but realized that they were "from a different place," the "source of all the monotheistic beliefs," and decided to write lyrics that reflected this, and combined their music with "folk-rhythms." They thus changed their name to Orphaned Land in 1992, feeling this name better suits the more melodic direction towards which they were heading, and dubbed this new style "Oriental Metal." This new style would be a fusion of melodic death doom and melodic death metal with middle eastern rhythms and melodies, and a progressive edge. They released a demo entitled The Beloved's Cry in 1992, and released their first full-length album in 1994 with Sahara.

Orphaned Land's first professional logo

They released El Norra Alila (a fusion of both Hebrew and Arabic that can be translated to "God of Light, Evil of the Night," and is also a play on a Mizrahi/Sephardic piyyut [Jewish poem] asking God for forgiveness, recited during Yom Kippur, Judaism's holiest holiday) in 1996, which would become a prime example of fully-developed oriental metal, and would also be an early example of progressive death metal, as well, while retaining its death doom and melodic death metal origins; although it is also often referred to as a doom metal album, as well. El Norra Alila incorporates many Jewish prayers and liturgical poems, and frequently utilizes Jewish modality, and Hazzanic vocal structures and Hebrew cantillation, while also using Arabic rhythms and instrumentation. This is a concept album about the balance between good and evil and incorporates themes about Judaism and Islam. This album would thus act as a precedent to the band's next two album which also deal with similar themes and incorporate similar musical elements. Their first two albums were released by Holy Records, a label based in France.

Orphaned Land's ORwarriOR-era logo

Shortly after the release of El Norra Alila in 1996, Orphaned Land went on an indeterminate hiatus. Kobi Farhi states that in 2001, he received an email from a Jordanian Arab fan in which he attached a video showcasing his a tattoo of Orphaned Land's logo (designed by the band's bassist, Uri Zelcha, for which Kobi states he modeled as the woman on the pole) on his arm. Heartwarmed and shocked by this, believing that Israelim and Arabs are essentially at war with each other, Kobi "gathered the band again" to get out of hiatus, and began working on the "very long" album they had started before going on hiatus.

In 2002, Orphaned Land played three live shows entitled "The Calm Before the Flood," a portion of one of which would be included as the bonus disc in the deluxe version of their third length album, Mabool (and twenty years later, in 2022, it would get an independent digital release) as well as an EP with the same name that includes three non-metal tracks and twenty minutes of live footage from one of the concerts.

In 2004, Orphaned Land completed Mabool - The Story of the Three Sons of Seven, their third full-length album, released by Century Media. All of Orphaned Land's subsequent releases will have been released by Century Media as well. Mabool ("Flood" in Hebrew) tells the story of the band's interpretation of Noah's ark, introducing three angels to the story who represent the three Abrahamic religions; although the story is an analogy for the conflict in the middle east, as the angels fail to convince mankind to get along, and thus God summons the flood . The album took more of a progressive metal approach than their previous albums, utilizing power metal riffs and more expansive song structures, instead of the death doom sound they had before, and it was met with universal acclaim.

In 2008, Orphaned Land was featured in the documentary Global Metal.

In 2010, the band released the The Never Ending Way of ORwarriOR (Light warrior in both Hebrew and Arabic) and the cover art uses a font that spells out this name simultaneously in English, Hebrew, and Arabic. It is a concept album about the battle between light and darkness, similar to El Norra Alila, except on ORwarriOR, the darkness represents a place of questions, since you cannot see in the dark, and the light represents a place of answers, since light allows you to see more of what's going on. More specifically, the album is about a metaphorical "Warrior of Light," who is not the messiah, but the inner self. The band relates the concept to lighting a match in a dark room; without the match you cannot see anything, but with it you can see more, including the answers to the questions you had about the room before you lit the match. Therefore, the listener must use their inner light to enlighten their soul to find the answers they seek - the band uses this concept as an analogy to their belief that "there isn't any difference between you and your enemy." This album was produced and engineered by Steven Wilson, who also played the keyboards on it.

In 2012 there was an online petition for Orphaned Land to be awarded a Nobel Prize for their commitment to allowing the Arab World to listen to their music despite bans on such a thing from Arab League countries.

In 2013, Orphaned Land released All is One. Despite the lighter and more accessible sound of this album compared to their previous releases, the band considers All is One to be their darkest album, thematically. All is One took a less progressive and more straightforward approach, and was devoid of any extreme metal influence, instead opting for a lusher and more orchestral/symphonic sound.

In 2017, Kobi Farhi received a phone call from Steve Hackett of English progressive rock band Genesis, in which Hackett requested a guest appearance from Farhi on his upcoming solo album The Night Siren, and offered to perform a guitar solo on Orphaned Land's next album. In 2018, Orphaned Land released their sixth and most recent album, Unsung Prophets and Dead Messiahs. This concept album returned the band to a more complex progressive metal sound, while retaining the orchestrations the band introduced in their previous album, yet reintroducing the extreme metal elements of their earlier releases. It is Farhi's "protest album" with anti-government sentiments. The concept references the ancient Greek story of The Cave by Plato, which tells the story of a man who is afraid to leave the dark cave and face the light of the outside world and it is used as an analogy to describe how knowledge is the source of good and ignorance is the source of evil. Aside from Steve Hackett, other guest performers on this album include Thomas Lindberg from At the Gates and Hansi Kürsch from Blind Guardian. Noa Gruman's (from Scardust) choir Hellscore provide the choral vocals on this album. The band won the "Video of the Year" award at the Progressive Music Awards 2018 for their music video, Like Orpheus, the leading single from Unsung Prophets and Dead Messiahs. The video is based on an Israeli Arab girl who went to a Behemoth concert in Tel Aviv and got a picture with their singer in her hijab, but her parents have since banned her from associating with the metal world.

Line up:

In Mabool and the Never Ending Way of ORwarriOR, Schlomit Levi, a Yemenite Jewish Israeli singer and Kobi's vocal coach in the early 2000s, performed the female vocals on the album and during live shows in Israel, and she returns in Unsung Prophets and Dead Messiahs. In All is One, Mira Awad, a former Israeli Arab Eurovision contestant provided the female and Arabic vocals. The band's current keyboardist for live shows is Sharon Mansur.

Current members:

• Kobi Farhi – lead vocals (1991–present)
• Uri Zelcha – bass (1991–present)
• Chen Balbus – rhythm guitar, piano, Bouzouki, Saz, Oud, xylophone, backing vocals (2011–present)
• Matan Shmuely – drums, percussion (2007–present)
• Idan Amsalem – lead guitar, bouzouki,backing vocals (2013–present)

Former members:

• Matti Svatitzki – rhythm guitar (1991–2012)
• Sami Bachar – drums, percussion (1991–2000)
• Itzik Levy – keyboards, piano (1991–1996)
• Eran Asias – drums, percussion (2000–2004)
• Eden Rabin – keyboards, backing vocals (2001–2005)
• Avi Diamond – drums, percussion (2004–2007)
• Yatziv Caspi – percussion (2004–2007)
• Yossi Sassi – lead guitar, oud, saz, bouzouki, cümbüş, backing vocals (1991-2014)

Timeline:

Studio albums:

• Sahara (1994)
• El Norra Alila (1996)
• Mabool - The Story of the Three Sons of Seven (2004)
• The Never Ending Way of ORwarriOR (2010)
• All is One (2013)
• Unsung Prophets and Dead Messiahs (2018)

Demos:

• The Beloved's Cry

EPs:

• The Calm Before the Flood (2002)
• Ararat (2005)
• Sukkot in Berlin (2015)
• We Do Not Resist (2021)
• The Calm Before the Flood (The First Ever Acoustic Concert 18.08.2002) (2022)

Live/Video Albums:

• The Road to OR-Shalem: Live at the Reading 3, Tel-Aviv (2011)

Collaborations/Splits:

• Sentenced/Orphaned Land (2005)
• Kna'an (with Amaseffer, 2008)
• The Peace Series Vol. 1 - Khalas / Orphaned Land (2021)

Compilations:

• Orphaned Land & Friends 25th Anniversary (2017)
• The Forbidden Tracks (2019)
• Resurrection: The Very First Years of Orphaned Land (as Resurrection, 2021)
• 30 Years of Oriental Metal - Anniversary Album Collection (2021, Box Set)

Singles:

• Sapari (2010)
• New Jerusalem (2010)
• Estabarim (2010)
• BaKapaim (with Yehuda Poliker) (2012)
• All is One/Brother (2013)
• Brother (2013)
• Shama'im (2013)
• Like Orpheus (2018)
• We Do Not Resist (2018)
• Chains Fall to Gravity (2018)
• Brother / Let the Truce Be Known (Stripped Remixes) (2022)

Music/Lyric Videos:

• Norra El Norra (2004)
• Ocean Land (2004)
• Sapari (2010)
• Brother (2013)
• All is One (2013)
• Freedom (2014)
• Let the Truce be Known (2014)
• Like Orpheus (2017)
• We Do Not Resist (2018)