20 years, two decades, one fifth of a century, this is quite a lot of time, and quite enough. It is even more than enough to charge another festivity on one's way. It all happened in the city of cities, although I know that some of your will claim different, but still Tel Aviv has its charms, here and there.
 

As for the event in question, since its first posting on Facebook Events, I have I have been expecting it, a triumph that I had to see in my very eyes. The hard touring ORPHANED LAND are back home, and while "vacating" in the holy land, they hosted one of their biggest celebrations, since the release party of their latest album "All Is One" last summer. Back in 1994, these guys released their debut album, "Sahara", via the French label Holy Records. Without a doubt, at least from my point a view, the band's most prolific album no matter the sales' statistics of the other release. Furthermore, "Sahara" opened up the band's uniqueness to the world while consorting with the old thoroughfares of extreme Metal. It has been 20 years since the album's release and right there, in the night of April 17^th of 2014, the Israeli followers of the country's most successful Metal band felt that the storm still rages and the nostalgic "Sahara" echoes rose again and in full, never to be forgotten.

Playing in front of a capacity crowd made out of nearly every fold in the Israeli society, from young to old, the considered ordinary folks to the extreme Metalheads, ORPHANED LAND prepared the best of what their discography and extra ideas could muster along with the whole setlist of the "Sahara" album, a moment of truth set in the course of the history of the Israeli Metal.
 

Kicking off with the highly beloved "All Is One", out of the latest album by the same name, lit the fire that swept through Reading 3, the music always inspiring with its orchestral elements, which were projected by sample recordings, a part of the show that served the band well through the set, ORPHANED LAND set sail. In a way I found their form to be different than previous shows, which were rather more on a theatrical note, yet still preserving that same epic posture that was no less than heavenly, even with their stage stance being utterly simplistic. Chen Balbus, which has been stepping up his role as lead guitarist after the departure of the longstanding founder Yossi Sassy, displaying a terrific solo to the soon to be classic, piercing shrapnel straight to the far depths of the soul. The intro of "Barakah" led to "The Kiss Of Babylon" had ORPHANED LAND stepping up the pace and the extremity of their efforts, swarming the venue with bolted Metal combustion, a swallowing epic tune, immensely captivating, especially when played live. Right there it was evident that fired up Metalheads brimming the pit up front cried out for war with the attribution of the one the band's heaviest of numbers, skillfully played yet Kobi Farhi's vocals got lost a bit in the mix from time to time along with Balbus' guitar efforts that were barely noticed to being overrun by the samples. On the other hand, none of the shortages lowered the audience's blazing feedback to what they were witnessing and listening to, cheering hard with a sea of hands and devil's horns to the headbanging rhythms. The roughly soothing "The Simple Man", frankly not one of my likeable tunes out of the band's new era and in a way the audience joined my same reaction to it. The tune mainly relied on the samples of acoustic guitars and mandolin to enhance its delivery, yet accompanied by those aspects, ORPHANED LAND heightened the song's influence on your truly just a tad bit to be enjoyable, especially with Farhi's vocals that sounded much better than on the studio album. Throughout their shows in Israel, ORPHANED LAND has always been paying a tribute to local artists and their works, and this show was no different. Their first two guests were from a local Israeli Rock band called BEIT HABUBOT. Introducing the distinguished guests was accompanied by the arrival of "Brother", out of the "All Is One", a song considered to be a major hit here in Israel, made it up the charts in one of most influential radio stations. I found the song's performance to be top quality, musically it was virtually the same, but the vocalic effort was a thing of class. Once again the lead guitar effort faded away as it was almost nonexistent; however, the experience was still good. Letting the two guests take the lead in one of their own hits, "Shir Beiparon" (translated jaggedly as "A Song In A Pencil"). Originally it is one of the band's strongest songs, but ORPHANED LAND capitalized on the pristine version and gave their whole for it.
 

And then so it began, the spot on the setlist that I was truly waiting for, the full presentation of "Sahara", the ultimate debut, the commencement of the band's road to their highly persuasive success. Prior to launching "The Sahara Storm", the band invited their original Keyboards' player, Itzik Levi, which was one of the band's members when the album was founded and recorded. The song's harmonic riff, applying the old school feel, penetrated the air waves followed by stunning keyboards, rattling my skull like crazy. This was my ORPHANED LAND right there, as I have always perceived it, not that the current version has been acceptable, but when the convergence of the British Doom / Death of PARADISE LOST along with the blackened greyness of the early 90's AMORPHIS took its hold, I was there with open arms. Nearly playing it as displayed on the album, ORPHANED LAND emblazoned their followers, especially Matan Shmueli that showed what a true beast behind the skins is. With "Blessed By Thy Hate" around the corner, the band invited another of its older members, Sami Bachar, which was a part of the band's first two albums. Laying a thick screen of Black / Death and Doom, the band revived one of their extreme tunes. Bachar reintroducing his worth on the drums playing those assorted rhythms, which appeared to be with ease. However, when it comes to stage performance, touring guitarist, Idan Amsalmem felt anemic, barely showing any sign of energy on his part. Nonetheless, the song's state of mind wasn't anywhere ruined. "Ornaments Of Gold", remembered by many mostly due to its captivating melodic outro that has also been serving the band in their farewell notes each show, played for the first time in years, rupturing the place with a mother load of aggression. As it was played I felt more alive than ever before when it comes to an ORPHANED LAND show, simply amazing. "Aldiar Al Mukadisa", the semi instrumental effort, inflamed the front rows with chants out of the Biblical scripts in Hebrew along with various Arabic chants welcome the devastation of devouring Metal prominence, what a performance. "Seasons Unite" greeted one of the band's oldest vocalists, of their RESURRECTION days, Oren Balbus, the big brother of the band's current guitarist, Chen Balbus. Oren was once also the vocalist of ETERNAL GREY, earlier signed to Season Of Mist. If I wanted toughness I had it right there in front of me, sheer Death Metal meaty riffery and crushing rhythms, the vocal duet of Balbus, which is one hell of a tough growler, and Farhi was off the charts, devouring the frontend with a massive moshpit. However, once again it was hard to notice the lead fretwork due to the mix or other technical problem that wasn't solved. And then it was silence, an emotive note, lowering the gears into a tendered sing-along as "The Beloved's Cry" caressed Reading 3 with its majestic nature engulfing the sweaty fans in the front end of the venue. As Farhi stated, this is the only love song ever written by ORPHANED LAND. The audience actually filled in the vacant spot of a female singer that usually sung partial verses, and also held up quite nicely on the chorus. Within this dramatic romanticism, Chen Balbus was more or less noticed with his solo, gladly the distorted guitaring was subdued for a little.  "My Requiem" plunged the quixotic vibe to a spiritual old school Finnish type Doom Metal fragment with various Black Metal infringements, a mighty heavy classic and I believe that it was the first time for me to notice its presence live and of course the bludgeoning moshpit that came with it. For the final epic of this magnificent release, "The Storm Still Rages" was administered to the hungry fans. The local producer, Yishai Sweartz was invited to the stage to share growl vocals for this final chapter. This rather catchy tune, prolifically played live as I witnessed, grasped molesting extremity along with Middle Eastern ingredients that had enough juice to keep its end result as unordinary. Sweartz's vocals had some impact on the song, adding depth to Farhi's rather high register growl notes. Displaying amazing playing abilities but the entire crew, showing a neat stage posture, not too dominant but not dormant either, ORPHANED LAND paid their respects to one of their golden creations. The Sahara mischief was over, but only for that day.
 

"Sahara" reintroduction might have ended, but I never mentioned that the show was over. Soon after the outro for the "The Storm Still Rages", the band went a bit forward in time to play the haunting "El Meod Na'ala", surely one of the best Metallic chants in Hebrew I have ever listened to. Idan Amsalem amazingly played the Bouzouki, setting the tone for the lead section, clearly a magnificent trait on the instrument. Afterwards it was time for another extra special, just like the band has been known to provide. Though I haven't listened to it earlier, but the cover for PEARL JAM's "Jeremy" had me really excited. I kind of like the original tune, yet ORPHANED LAND's perception, along with a guest guitarist that came on board, which has been one of this version's creators, was ultra-sonic, taking the song into different levels of expertise. The vibe also showed on their energetic performance on stage, Middle Eastern or not, something clicked with that tune. With what appeared to be near the end of the road for this show, "Ocean Land" came out storming the audience with an intense headbanging to the massive riffs and rhythms for this amazing song, always a pleasure to check out live. The catchy "Sapari" headed out next, like a massive blow on the head, well performed like times and times before, simple an astonishing song, vibrant and electrifyingly charging. Inviting another local act to the stage in the image of the local singer Rif Cohen, a different kind of version of "Let The Truce Be Known" was delivered, an impressive duet with a kind of a soothing touch that was quite appealing. To commemorate Cohen's work, ORPHANED LAND Metallized one of her hit songs, also quite an attraction on the local radio stations here in Israel, "J'aime", sung in French, was rather pleasing, can't really admit that I like the original tune as it is rather repetitive, but the Metal flavor eased up the journey through the tune. Cohen tried to overdue herself at times to fit the Metal image, but still she was very good. "In Thy Neverending Way", the sing along number smelled like the end, however, I believe that everyone knew that ORPHANED LAND had just a tad bit to show. After a short encore, "Norra El Norra" along with the magnificent outro section of "Ornaments Of Gold", finished one hell of a show.

Setlist
1. All Is One
2. Barakah / The Kiss Of Babylon
3. The Simple Man
4. Brother
5. Shir Beiparon (Beit Habubot Cover)
6. The Sahara Storm
7. Blessed Be Thy Hate
8. Ornaments of Gold
9. Aldiar Al Mukadisa
10. Seasons Unite
11. The Beloveds Cry
12. My Requiem
13. The Storm Still Rages
14. El Meod Na'ala
15. Jeremy (Pearl Jam Cover)
16. Ocean Land
17. Sapari
18. Let The Truce Be Known
19. J'aime (Rif Cohen Cover)
20. In Thy Neverending Way
21. Norra El Norra
22. Outro: Ornaments Of Gold
 

Clocking for nearly two and half hours, packed with goods and extras, it was another neverending road towards ORPHANED LAND's glory. There has never a dull moment in Israeli Metal history, this band is the foundation of magnitude, creativity and a spectacle to notice.  Once again I have been fortunate to attend such an honorary show for a milestone in the band's career. I would like to thank Kobi Farhi for once again letting Metal Temple cover the band's show, and to my dear colleague, Alexandra Zeevy for the spectacular photos. So, till next time, perhaps in August?