MABOOL - THE STORY OF THE THREE SONS OF SEVEN

An Israeli heavy rock, almost metal, sometimes extreme tech/doom metal (due to the presence of growl vocals), Orphaned Land have produced a powerful album that tells a Biblical story (familiar to most of us as "Noah and the Ark"). Musically, this is a masterpiece of matching music to the various chapters of the story. The mixed vocals (growls, English, Israeli [?], choral) approach, however, sometimes fails to match the mood of the scene so well as the music. The second half of the album is by far the most engaging, moving, and masterful. Definitely my favorite Orphaned Land album.

Album highlights: the choir-assisted "Building the Ark" (5:02) (10/10); the acoustic guitar based instrumental "The Calm Before the Flood" (4:25) (8/10); the heavy "Mabool (The Flood) (6:59) (9/10), and; the gorgeous melodies of "The Storm Still Rages Inside" (9:20) (9/10).