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ol02.jpgMilos club, Thessalonikki, Greece.
January 15th  2005
Kazablanka concert hall, Istanbul, Turkey.
January 29th  2005
Orphaned Land

With their album  Mabool, Orphaned Land has managed to do what no other band from their home country has managed to do before: put Israel on the map of metal lovers. The release of their third full lenght album “Mabool” through Century Media saw them getting some of the best press the world over, I have ever seen for a metal record.


Orphaned Land

Their music can be described as the perfect blend of progressive melodic death metal(think Opeth) and oriental ethnic influences (think The Tea Party and Dead Can Dance) combined with  seemingly odd genres such as middle eastern folk music and even jazz. In addition to guitars  they use traditional  instruments such as oud, bouzouki and saz. They have succeeded in building a bridge between Israel and the rest of the Middle East and Europe. This is exactly what the band stands for: seeming contrasts which blend perfectly. Something which also becomes apparant through their own description of their music as "a tango between God and Satan".

Music
Since there was little chance ( at the time) of hem playing a city, or even country near my home in Holland, I decided to go up to Greece and Turkey to see their shows. Judging by the lines that were in front of the venue in Istanbul, I can say that they are already well known overthere. Orphaned Land have played in Turkey two times before this show, so the crowd already knew what to expect from them. The intro of the song Mabool slowly came in with the sound of rain and thunder, then the strings were joined by live guitars and the festivities started! It was an excellent choice for the start of the night, because this song showcases all the different sides to the band. Straight after that came an old favourite: Of temptation born, followed by the “cannot stand still” rhythmns of the Kiss of Babylon. When they arrived to the duet that is The beloveds cry, everyone was eager to know what version would be played this time. See, what Orphaned Land often do is change the orchestration of songs which they have been playing for some years already, to make them sound fresh and new again to the crowd.

The sound was slightly better in Thessalonikki, but pretty good all together. You could hear all the seperate instruments - which is vital to a band like this, who use a lot of different sounds/ instruments and who have a lot of bandmembers performing together on stage at the same time. The setlist was well balanced, as they played songs from their first album right through to the last one, there was not one favourite track missing here.

Performance
Lights were not great in this venue, but who cares when the crowd is singing jumping and headbanging in the same rhythmn as the band is doing on stage? These guys and girls were going mad! Yossi, their leadguitarist, may be a gentle and calm person off stage, on stage he is a maniac, playing like his very life is depending upon it and who is always looking for interaction with the audience. Meanwhile Kobi is the perfect frontman, his charisma and presence on stage are enormous and he delivers the songs with such passion- cheering on the crowd all the way through the set. Meanwhile the bassplayer Uri, guitarist Matti and drummer Avi ensure the steady pulse of the songs keeps going. Yatziv, the percusionist, provides them with the exotic, oriental sounding drum rhythmns so characteristic for their music. The feminin touch came from a replacement singer in Thessaloniki, it was Miri from israeli band Distorted who did an excellent job. In Istanbul we were delighted with the presence of vocalist  Shlomit, who features on Mabool. She proves that a small woman can have a huge voice. Last but not least is Eden, his highlight was the jazzlike pianosolo he played at the end of Norra el norra, behind his keyboard. They were a very energetic band on stage and the crowd reflected this with even more enthousiasm. It was a perfect harmony of crowd and band which got to have a grand finale in the turkish coversong Estarabim- assisted by the performance of a belly dancer to top it all off, everyone was singing, clapping and dancing along to it. The Mabool (= flood) washed over all of us and swept us off our feet!

Setlist Istanbul
Mabool+ Of temptation born
The kiss of Babylon+ Seasons unite
Birth of the three
Aldiar Al Mukadisa- medley
Like fire to water
A neverending way
Orphaned land
Ocean land
Find yourself, discover God
El Meod Na’ala
Ornaments of gold
The beloveds cry+ The storm
Norra El Norra
Estarabim (turkish cover- played in Istanbul)
Ach Elada Sagapo( greek cover- played in  Thessalonikki)

The same set was played in Thessaloniki, with the exception of 'Halo Dies', which was only featured in the Thessalonikki show . For this song they need two growl vocalists and the assistance was given by Paul, the singer of Dutch band Thanatos, who were the  support act for that night.

Rating
Music: 9
Performance: 9
Sound: 7,5
Light: 5,5
Total: 8 (7,7)

Matti2.jpgol04.jpgYossi4.jpg
ol03.jpgol01.jpgUri1b.jpg

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