Originally written by Chris Redar
Let’s get this out of the way: I’m not a folk metal guy. It’s not that it’s poison to my ears or anything, but I was weaned on the more sinister teats of the metal pig. So it goes without saying that this scribe was completely unaware that Orphaned Land existed as a band, and that they have a new offering of Middle-Eastern influenced compositions in the form of All Is One. And guess what?
It’s not bad.
Orphaned Land open the ceremonies with the title track, which attempts to set the tone with a HUGE song, rife with a background choir, finger cymbals, clapping- the works. It’s quite indicative of what to expect from the rest of the album– like most music of this style, there’s a steady wind behind the sails, and the ship gets to port right on time with few hiccups. Thing is, the journey would be a little more exciting with a few surprise Kraken attacks to shake things up a bit.
That’s not to say it’s completely thrill-free, however. “Fail’” has an excellent spoken-word bit from vocalist Kobi Farhi that is accompanied by the perfect riff for the content. He also growls here, as opposed to the dry mid-range utilized throughout most of the other tracks. It’s an interesting curveball to drop nearly in the middle of an album centered around a more positive outlook. (Without touching too much on the subject, lyrically the songs focus on religious beliefs and the hope of harmony amongst different-minded people.)
There are also moments that focus on the Middle-Eastern instrumentation as opposed to the guitars, and these prove to be highlights of the album. “Shama’im” is nearly devoid of traditional riffs or the generally pounding drums courtesy of Matan Shmuely, and yet it’s one of the most stirring tracks. Farhi’s voice, while generally serving its purpose, is stunning when sung in his native Israeli tongue.
That’s about what you’re going to find in the way of variety, however. This is one of the trickiest parts of reviewing music: How many different analogies can you make to mask the phrase, “It’s good. Not great, though”? There’s nothing so overtly bad about All Is One that will make you rush to the doctor to flush your ears, but there’s also more than a couple of moments where you forget you’re listening to an album. It may or may not have happened more than once that a track needed to be restarted because a certain someone wandered off to have a cup of coffee mid-song.
So is this thing worth checking out? For fans of this genre of music, absolutely. There’s enough going on both in the foreground and background to set this apart from other releases of its ilk. Other folks are certain to find something of value here, though it may be a tad straightforward for those walking the left-hand path.
It’s good. Not great, though.
