Year: 2018
Kind: Full Length
Label: Century Media Records
Tracklist:
1. The Cave
2. We Do Not Resist
3. In Propaganda
4. All Knowing Eye
5. Yedidi
6. Chains Fall to Gravity
7. Like Orpheus
8. Poets of Prophetic Messianism
9. Left Behind
10. My Brother’s Keeper
11. Take My Hand
12. Only the Dead Have Seen the End of the War
13. The Manifest - Epilogue
Band:
Kobi Farhi - Vocals
Chen Balbus - Guitars, saz
Idan Amsalem - Guitars, bouzouki
Uri Zelcha - Bass
Matan Shmuely - Drums, percussion
Technical team:
Jens Bogren - Mixing
Tomas Lindgren - Mastering
Metastazis - Artwork
Shlomit Levi - Female vocals
Steve Hackett - Guitars on “Chains Fall to Gravity”
Hansi Kürsch - Vocals on “Like Orpheus”
Tomas Lindberg - Vocals on “Only the Dead Have Seen
the End of War”
Contacts:
Website: http://www.orphaned-land.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/orphanedland
Bandcamp:
Press
Contact: Arne.Jamelle@centurymedia.de (Europa) / kelly@rightanglepr.com (EUA)
E-mail:
Text: Marcos “Big Daddy” Garcia
 |
| Plato |
Before we can
get started with this review, some patience is needed from the reader. This
isn’t a common review, so a long introduction must be written, and some
concetps must be made clear for all.
When one deals
with Science and Philosophy, no one can deny the importance of the Greek
philosopher Plato (428/427 B.C. - 348/347 B.C.) on the format and canon of all
knowledge we have today. One of his greatest works is the Allegory of the Cave, a mental experiment that can be found on his
book “The Republic”. With a simple
argument, Plato shows that a person
that born and grew on the darkness of ignorance and that is constantly induced
with fear (inside the cave), if someday confronts what makes he/she fell fear
(a new reality, the coming of wisdom), leave ignorance behind and see the world
as it really is (out of the cave), but suffers in the process (the pain in the
eyes due the light). But if he/she tries to get back and help his companions on
captivity (those that were born and raised on the cave along with the one that
was set free), they won’t recognize their sad state and will throw the blame on
knowledge (light) for the bad effects that they see on the one who is free
(now, after being able to see the light and reality, his eyes can’t see on
darkness anymore), so they’ll fight to stay in ignorance, and even will kill
all those who try to bring them out of their illusion that they live in.
 |
| Socrates |
Many attribute
the creation Allegory of the Cave to the experience of Plato witnessed as his master
and friend, Socrates (another great philosopher that made great contributions
to our knowledge), the same one who freed many from the darkness of ignorance,
and had the ignorant ones against him.
Socrates was
accused of three crimes:
1. To not
believe on the Greek costumes and Greek Gods (an accusation that keeps the
religious status quo and the traditional conservative thought);
2. To join
forces with evil gods that likes to destroy cities (another accusation filled
with religious feelings and political temporal power);
3. To corrupt
the youth with his ideas (on this accusation, we can see clearly how some want
to keep the status quo of ignorance, because it’s on young people that lies the
hope for a better future).
His accusers: Anytus (a rich Merchant, representing
the politicians, a powerful and influent man on Athenian society), Meleteu (an unknown poet and writer of
tragedies, the official accuser, but nothing demanded that he was a respectful,
skilled or fearful man, but just someone to sign the accusation, the
representative of the poets and seers), and Lycon (an obscure rhetoric, who had small importance and authority
on Socrates’ condemnation, the
representative of the class of speakers and rhetoric teachers). The
condemnation: to be exiled with his tongue severed (to now seduce people with
his ideas), or to die. Socrates
preferred the second path.
 |
| Dr. Martin Luther King |
Some asked for
his death with mean interests, the blind people followed their words like they
were orders, and the wise master, light bearer of knowledge, has died.
If we all stop
and think, how many times we read about this very same thing on the books, or
saw on the news or TV documentaries, since the world was young and men started
to engrave his memories for the future generations?
Another example:
for all those who read the books of Exodus,
Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, the same ones you find on the Bible and
Torah, how many times the people of Israel wanted to give up on their journey
to the Promised Land and go back to the slavery on Egypt (from where they were
free)? How many times they didn’t try Moses’
patience, and even JHVH/Adonai’s
patience as well? Rewriting: how many times they didn’t want to go back into
the darkness of ignorance, to serve as slaves once more? A life of freedom and
knowledge demands constant daily efforts, and we must leave behind our comfort
zones.
In this sense of
thoughts, it’s easy to see and comprehend that men like Mahatma Ghandi, Dr. Martin Luther King, o Jesus histórico, Muhammad
Anwar el-Sadat, John F. Kennedy, Yitzhak Rabin, and even Antônio Conselheiro and many others
were assassinated because we aren’t able to leave the darkness of ignorance and
to embrace a life with knowledge, and in this way, create a better and peaceful
world for all. We can say that they are unsung prophets for the world, and dead
messiahs for all our lack of understanding.
Going even
deeper on this matter, if you pay attention on daily international news, and
take a look on social networks like Facebook and others, you’ll see how hatred
can be seen on them. It’s an armed resistance against the light. We prefer to
stay on the dark instead of being free!
 |
| Mahatma Gandhi |
Here on Brazil,
you’ll see fine examples on the peoples pleas for a military intervention on
government after the failure of democratic government full of corrupt
politicians and their allies, the absence of protests against the corrupt
actions of the government, and even the hatred turned against LGBT people, afro
descendants, against women and many others… We blame each other and hate each
other every day, and on the greater part of time, we even can’t see or understand
the roots of this evil. We hate all those who try to open our eyes with light, and
WE DO NOT RESIST AGAINST HATRED, we
don’t make any opposition to the real source of ignorance, and we just omit ourselves
or assimilate these feelings, trying to make them up as a good thing… And
making no opposition to these feelings, we share the guilty of the blood of the
innocents that is shed every single day. We prefer to speak about (both on bad
or good way) disposables celebrities on the media to know who was Socrates or Plato, we know more about the guys on TV or computers’ screens on
reality shows than Science or the sad news of cruelty on the world that demands
our attention and actions! We are alienated from the true world, trapped into
the darkest caves, addicted to ignorance and violence against each other!
The Allegory of
the Cave was created to show the effect of education or the lack of it on our
nature, and how it’s important and precious education and knowledge are
precious. In this point of view of our analysis, we see Plato in a new light,
not only as a refined philosopher, but as a prophet. The Allegory of the Cave
becomes a prophecy for all humanity. Even being written 2500 years ago, we can
see how the cave is real in our days.
And this long theoretical
was needed to introduce the readers to the main conception the permeates “Unsung Prophets & Dead Messiahs”, the
six and newest release from Israeli quintet of Peace mongers of ORPHANED LAND.
 |
| Muhammad Anwar El-Sadat |
To the older
fans, a question remains: how the band sounds without the guitarist Yossi Sassi, one of the founding
members who left on 2014?
I’ll speak
honestly: the band hasn’t changed that much as many could expect.
Their main genre
that we all know is the same. The Middle East melodies and elements fused with
Metal weight and some aggressive parts that comes from other Metal genres is
the same, just being a little more dense and melancholic due the album’s concept.
What we can say is that the band used again some elements that we heard on “Mabool” and “The Never Ending Way of ORwarriOR”, as the harsh guttural voices
and some crushing melodies. But as well, we have that refined work on musical
harmonies, excellent orchestrations, female voices, opera choruses as we heard
on “All is One”. And the dynamics
between guitars, bass guitar, drums and vocals is excellent, and the regional
instruments used fits lovely on the songs.
So we can say
that on “Unsung Prophets & Dead
Messiahs”, ORPHANED LAND explored even more their musical genre, as we
could expect.
To build a sound
quality that could fit in an album with all these musical layers is a very hard
work. But the band on the production, along with Jens Bogren on the mixing and Tomas
Lindgren on the mastering, created a lovely and perfect sonority for the
album, a true and perfect jewel, sounding in an amazing form both on the harsh
and aggressive parts of the songs and on the melodic and introspective ones.
All the details and arrangements are clear, and everything was planned with
extreme care.
.
 |
| Itzhak Rabin |
Another excellent
point that deserves our comments is the artwork. The light colors used fits on
the album’s lyrical conception, and the art created for the cover shows the
main idea of the cave and the manipulation, but as a sign of hope, the clenched
fist of resistance comes from a book, so the true resistance comes from
knowledge. The freedom comes from education.
Musically, “Unsung Prophets & Dead Messiahs”
is far denser a melancholic that “All is
One” (that had a musically accessible insight), and it is complex in a way
that any of their albums dared to be. But don’t worry: it’s not so difficult to
hear and understand as well. It’s their most courageous work to date, breeding
new musical possibilities for the band. Curiously, in some moments, you hear
some “beep” sounds, the same kind of beep you’ll hear on censored videos and TV
programs, called “bleep censor”, that the band used purposely on some songs, to
create the right atmosphere that anything can be said, because the caves of
many would be destroyed (what some sects of politics, media and religions
wouldn’t like at all), and in a free interpretation, freedom of speech is
another illusion of the cave. And one more thing: on this album, the band’s
message becomes universal; anyone can see himself (or herself) on the songs.
This Masterpiece
of music demands that each song must be analyzed separately. The album deserves, believe me.
The first song
is “The Cave”, where we can find
contrasts of melancholic and melodic moments with some aggressive parts
(showing a great work of Kobi on the
vocals, very good choirs and amazing guitars). We can see many citations, and
the most iconic is from Plato, “One
can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark, the real tragedy of life
is when men are afraid of the light”, the reality of the cave that the lyrics
deal with.
“We Do Not Resist” is the next, the song for a lyric video, filled with extreme vocals and
a harmonic atmosphere (the harsh tunes shows an uncommon diversity, something
difficult to hear), and the bitter theme of the lyrics is our alienation, when
we adore gossipmongers and forget the hard reality of our brothers worldwide.
 |
| Jeremiah |
The beauty of
the Middle East melodies mixed with orchestral embodiment of “In Propaganda” seduces the listener. The
lyrics are showing the modern outfit of the chains and the cave’s illusion: the
media propaganda.
“All Knowing Eye” is a lovely, charming and melancholic song, with the first half using acoustic
musical instruments and on the second electric ones dominates, but always
keeping the melodic feeling. It’s a painful and sad lamentation for all those
Prophets/Messiahs that came and failed to enlighten us all, and the song bears
a melancholic language, bearing the same spirit of the prophet Yirmeyahu, or Jeremiah.
Filled with
traditional regional rhythms of Middle East is “Yedidi”, a more simple song. This one is an adaptation of a work
from the Spanish Jewish physician, poet and philosopher called Judah Halevi (1075 -1141), celebrated
as one of the greatest poets (both on secular and religious works), and who was
killed briefly after he arrived on Holy Land, on the Crusader Kingdom of
Jerusalem (a legend say that he was singing a “sionid” whe he was killed after
being run over by an Arab horseman as he arrived in Jerusalem).
Filled with
melancholy and Progressive Rock touches along with orchestral elements is the amazing
“Chains Fall to Gravity”, and where
a guitar solo is played by Steve
Hackett, GENESIS guitarist (maybe he is paying back the appearance of Kobi on his last solo album, “The Night Siren”). On this song, the
language seems a lot with the same prophetic style of writing used by Yešayahu (the biblical prophet Isaiah). This song shows the process of
the one who leaves the cave, be enlighten by wisdom and become a new
Prophet/Messiah to the world.
 |
| Isaiah |
The first song
of the album used as a Single, maybe “Like
Orpheus” can be described as the most accessible song, filled with an amazing
work from Chen and Idan on the riffs. Of course, we must
speak about the elegant touch given by the voice of Hansi Kürsch, BLIND GUARDIAN’s
singer to the song. Orpheus is a mythic
harp player who could calm down beasts and monsters, and his music could even
give some comfort to the tormented souls of Hell, to where he went to look for his
wife, Eurydice. Obviously, Hell is
the greatest cave of all, and you can read about this Greek myth for yourself.
Reciting the
teachings of Plato once more, the
beautiful and short “Poets of Prophetic
Messianism” is led by very good harmonies, charming female vocals and oriental
melodies. One of the most iconic quotes of “The
Republic” is here: “Anyone who holds a true opinion without
understanding is like a blind man on the right road”. The task of the
Prophet/Messiah is to free people of darkness and illusions, so can you tell
how many of them were killed on their sacred mission?
Uria and Matan are showing one of their finest moments
on the rhythmic session on “Left Behind”,
a song where heavy tempos, solid melodies and orchestral instruments. Here, the
ones who are in the cave wish to be free from their torments and fears. The
dazzling testimony of the Prophet/Messiah feeds their hopes.
 |
| Janusz Korczak |
Dense harmonies
mix with Oriental/Progressive tunes and whispering voices on “My Brother’s Keeper”. The Prophet/Messiah’s
earns to return to the cave and free his former companions. “I
exist not to be loved and admired, but to love and act. It is not the duty of
those around me to love me. Rather, it is my duty to be concerned about the
world, about man” is a charming quote of Dr. Janusz Korczak (07/22/1878 or 1879 - 08/05 or 06/1942), a famous Polish-Jewish
educator, children’s author, and pedagogue, whose ideas are present on modern
day educational system. He was brutally murdered with his students on August,
1942 on Treblinka Extermination Camp. He could have escaped, but refused to run
away and leave his students alone.
Showing again
fine melodies from Middle East regional rhythms mixed to orchestral moments and
fine guitars, “Take My Hand”, is one
of the most exciting songs of the album. It’s the teaching of the
Prophet/Messiah, the teaching the can set free the cave inhabitants, where he
claims to all to take his hand, for he will guide them to the light.
 |
| George Santayana |
“Only the Dead Have Seen the End of the War” shows great tempo changes, a harsh and aggressive
atmosphere, and where the chaotic and insane guttural voice of Tomas Lindberg (AT THE GATES’ vocalist) show that this song is to be aggressive, a
fux of raw energy for the live shows. The song’s title is a quote of the
Spanish philosopher and poet George
Santayana (12/16/1863 - 09/26/1952), and because he wasn’t married or had
apparent heterosexual relationships, as well as for his open friendship with bisexual and
homosexual people, became labeled as these in a time where LGBT people suffered
many persecutions. This songs reveals the fear and hatred of the imprisoned for
the Prophet/Messiah, because the tribulations caused by freedom and knowledge
is confused as a bad consequence of his teachings. They accused him, then kill
the Prophet/Messiah, and in this way he won’t “fool” them anymore, as they become
ignorant and imprisoned once more. In some moments, the language reminds some
of the Salms.
 |
| Victor Jara |
Closing the album,
this art masterpiece in musical form, comes “The Manifest - Epilogue”, another dense and heavy song, with a
melancholic atmosphere filling its musical arrangements. Two quotes are lovely:
one from the Torah (“You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither you are free
to desist from it”); and the other is “Canto que ha sido valiente Siempre
será canción nueva”, or “Songs of bravery will always be new songs,
forever”, from the Chilean teacher, theater director, poet, singer-songwriter,
and political activist Víctor Jara (09/28/1932
– 09/16/1973), that caused an artistic/musical revolution on Chile, and who was
taken prisoner, tortured and murdered briefly after the coup d'état of 11
September 1973 (yes, this date seems to have a kind of bloody curse on it) of general
Augusto Pinochet (again, yes, here
on South America, we have a long and sad history with bloody dictators, even
with some people asking for the coming back of dictatorship here in Brazil). His hands
and fingers were smashed as the army soldiers asked him to play his guitar, and
then a shot in his head took his life. His body was displayed at the entrance
of Chile Stadium for other prisoners to see, and discarded later outside the
stadium along with the bodies of other civilian prisoners who had been killed
by the Chilean Army. His body had 40 marks of bullets, and his body received a quick
and clandestine burial in the general cemetery before his wife, Joan, fled into exile. This song
narrates that the future Prophets/Messiahs can’t stop, and even if it take
several centuries, the cave will be gone, the darkness will be utterly
destroyed by the light. Our hopes for a better future will not die, and will go
on as an inheritance for the generations to come.
If the readers didn’t
realize, every historical figure that was shown on this review are some anonymous
Unsung Prophets and Messiahs that are dead due the hunger of power, lust for
riches and all the others who want men entangled in darkness of ignorance
inside the cave. Or even the ignorant ones who wish to stay in the dark comfort
zones. Once more: knowledge demands efforts, and living in the light is a
constant daily struggle.
 |
| Historical Jesus |
As the travel
from Egypt to the Promised Land crossing a desert for long years…
As the changing
of behavior with children, and understanding that they are human beings…
As the opposition
to a bloody tyrant, because fear enslaves the men…
As accepting
people as good ones, no matter the ethnicity, sexuality or other things,
because we are all living in the same world
As to go against
the weapons industries’ interests, and make the rivers over blood that exist
throughout the world run dry…
As searching the
understanding between longtime enemies that already forget the reasons of war…
As promoting the
Light of knowledge that dissipates the darkness of ignorance…
The message of “Unsung Prophets & Dead Messiahs” is
clear for us all, and besides the dense, melancholic and bitter content, it is
as well a calling for us all. The hope still shines… The Prophets and Messiahs,
enlighten by knowledge, still born between us,. We only have to hear their
speech and sermons, and the blindness and slavery of the cave will disappear…
Embrace your freedom, for it is yours…
All that is left
to say is: “Unsung Prophets & Dead
Messiahs” is one of the strongest names to be chosen as the best album of
the year. And it can become a classic on Metal in the future. Perhaps, it’s one
of the finest albums of Metal on the last 20-30 years.
“He who wants to
change the world should start by changing the education system” (Janusz
Korczak).
“The world will
not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without
doing anything” (Albert Einstein).
Grade: 100+%
