[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtYVMRT3HOs[/youtube]
Metal Insider contributor Anthony Maisano is listening to a different metal album that was released on that day every day this year. 18 years ago today, Israeli’s Orphaned Land released their sophomore album El Norra Alila.
These guys hail from Israel, and they really have a unique style of metal. This is their second album. It uses a lot of Middle Eastern sounds. A lot of drums and flutes from that area of the world, and things like that. All of these new, and different sounding instruments really keep a listener interested in what else the band has coming. The album credits list so many instruments that I haven’t even heard the name of before. There are some really cool sounding riffs throughout the album that add in maintaining interest.
The singer does a lot of….spoken word stuff, and tries to sound threatening or mystical, but ends up just sounding bored or fake to me. He does this more often than he actually sings, too. When he actually sings, and sometimes fully grows, I enjoy it, but this album could have REALLY cut back on the spoken word narration. A good amount of times throughout the album, I felt like the guitars were out of sync with each other, which was a little distracting to the ear.
Favorite Tracks: “Like Fire to Water,” “Of Temptation Born,” “Whisper My Name When You Dream.”
When this album was good, it was really good, and when it wasn’t, it was really forgettable. The singer needed to actually start, you know…singing, and it would have improved a lot right there. Overall, there seemed to be a lot of experimental filler tracks on the album that weighed it down instead of solid tracks all around. If you like hearing new and unique instrumentals with some occasionally really cool metal, give this a listen. It’s certainly not a consistent release in my eyes, but it’s one I’d check out to hear the great tracks yourself.
