#4 - Top of 2018

Orphaned Land - Unsung Prophets and Dead Messiahs (Century Media)

After a 5 year break following the critically acclaimed "All is One", Orphaned land returned last January with another masterpiece from the land of milk and honey. Coupled with the aforementioned "All is One", the band has veered away from the more prog wanderings of "The Neverending Way of ORwarrioR" and their middle-eastern influences are once again prominent to the compositions presented. However, they wear these older influences on their sleeve and one can hear prog leanings in "Left Behind" and "Chains Fall to Gravity", while "We do not Resist" and "Only the Dead Have Seen the End of the War" bring to mind the very early days of the band while re-enforcing that style through a more diverse approach, Kobi Farhi (vocals)  remains at the top of his game while the rest of the band also delivers on every possible metric. There are a number of notable guests on the album with Hansi Kursch (Blind Guardian) lending his voice on the power ballad "Like Orpheus" and Thomas Lindberg (At the Gates) joining in for the aforementioned "Only The Dead Have Seen the End of the War". Finally, Steve Hackett (Genesis) joins in for the probably best bit of the album in "Chains Fall to Gravity".  Overall a sensational middle eastern experience, drawing influences from all over the range of previous outings of the band and distilling it into something new and fresh.


97.5/100


Below are the lyric video for "We do not Resist" and the music video for "Like Orpheus".