i got the new album at last. at first listen i was not so close to the stuff, to be honest. after several tries i became addicted to mabool. my favourite track from the cd is ocean land. in my opinion it is the biggest hit of ol ever after seasons unite. the album is very progressive in some cases and the good thing is; this time the general sound is really cool. this progressive side of ol was corrupted by the chaotic sound in el norra alila, but this time you the guys succeeded to give the right feeling. what i expected and what i can't face is; the oriental side. i dreamed of more folkloric instrument orhchestrations but it is far more less than what i expected, it is still very native but i mean it is less than i imagined. may be you the guys didn't want to spoil general sound with lotsa native instrument usage, dunno. saz use is very cool. it is so close to my culture at least it's the main instrument in turkish folk music. another point that kicks ass in the album is the melodic singings (both male and the female ones). melodic vocal lines of ocean land and the female/male vocal parts in the middle of the kiss of babylon just kills. it is amazing. in my opinion the flag song of the album is norra el norra. it attracts me as fast as el meod na'ala from el norra alila. i have a suggestion, it is risky for a foreigner fan not to understand what is told in the lyrics, but hebrew fits better than english to your sound and this language is so nice to my ears. more usage of this language might be very nice in future products. now i am waiting;
1- to handle the limited addition of the album in double cd format.
2- to see orphaned land live in turkey again with a better sound system (it would be great to see ol in rock the nations summer festival 2004 in istanbul)
3- not to wait so long once more to hear the next album.
good luck guys
