How many here didn't 'get' Mabool on the first listen?

[Oded]

This record took a while to give up its treasures. Where I instantly loved Sahara and El Norra Alila, Mabool at first didn't move me so much. "It's good," I thought, "but not their best."
It's taken me repeated listens to get it. And now I think it's fantastic. Is it their best yet? Too soon to say-- let a few years pass.
Did anyone else take a while to love/understand the record, or was it instant love?

 

[The Metal Pigeon]

no - mabool was completely instant for me. Sahara actually took quite a bit of time, but the renditions of certain songs on the acoustic cd that came with mabool made me get into them easier. Mabool really is their best thing ever. Until the next I hope haha.

 

[Folklore]

I was immediately infected too

 

[obay bringer of light]

well, I'm a visiual person, I liked the cover alot.
for me -most of the times- I like the songs for it's first 15 secounds, if I didn't like it, I need alot of time to love the album.
well, some songs (infected) me from the first time like Norra, El Norra , the Birth of the Three, Ocean Land, The Flood, those at first, after several weeks I founded the great parts in the others.

el norra alila didn't fit me well, and I didn't get along with it yet, for loose.
but Sahara is great, check the beginning of the songs they are great, that's why I like Sahara in it's entire and I join every secound listning it Sahara, Sahara Storm, Blessed by thy Hate, Seasons Unite.
well I like all the acoustic songs, and the oriental ones ...

and that's for other bands and music as well ...

 

[UnConscious]

Mabool didn't strike me at first either. i thought El Norra Allila was better. Maybe it's that I didn't like progressive metal a lot. The wider usage of oriental wind instrumets in El Norra Allila might have been effective, too. But now I agree that Mabool is a masterpiece in the history of metal and I think it's their best so far.

 

[obay bringer of light]

yeah, Mabool is a masterpiece indeed, Kobi said once: it's a seven years cooked album, it's great.
composing music which has many instruments needs a lot of knowledge about these instruments, it needs and imagination to compose such music, and sometimes when you don't play an instrument (like Cello for OL) it's even harder.

that's why this album is a masterpiece.

 

[Morticia NL.]

I loved it from the very first note I heard. It started with the first song- those crashing first seconds were like lightning striking in my ear- and I could not stop listening till the whole thing was finished. It brought tears to my eyes in some parts and a smile of joy in other parts- there is so much pure emotion in the music. It's crashing aggressive guitars& growling ( birth of the three,the kiss of Babylon) on the one hand and beautiful,fragile, haunting melodies ( the piano at the end of Norra el norra- my god!, the acoustic guitar in the calm before the flood, ocean land) and singing ( A salk, building the ark) on the other hand.
And after listening to it for over a year, I still think that it is one of the most wonderful things I ever heard.
When Eden asked me what I thought should be different, I replied: not one note is out of place, it's perfect.

Love at first sight does exist!

 

[The Metal Pigeon]

I think my favorite song from the album is Norra El Norra, but my favorite 'moment' on the album is during "Building the Ark" when the line "Thy servants are we..." kicks in, the extended vocalization on the word "Thy" is extremely powerful - I don't know if it was intentional or it just came out that way but its one of the greatest vocal parts I've heard, probably ever. Good work on that heh.

 

[obay bringer of light]

Shalomit in A'salk sang like she is a bird from heaven, THE most wonderful voice I've ever heard.

 

[LANTHWICK]

well ,the very first , i didnt like the record , for i wasnt used to kobe s clean voice ,but later on , i adored it ,and after 7 years of disconnection it s the least the band should creat , a MASTERPIECE now the focus is for the bands world tour ,and after comes he hard task , a new record ...good luck guys

 

[ViCyniC]

It was the 2nd listen for me to be convinced that this album needed more listenings.

 

[Hitori]

I loved it from the start... it's the only album I've listened by them so far but I like it a lot. If the others are even better then I'm very impressed

 

[Strychnos]

I got about 50% of it first time around. It grew on me afterwards.

 

[JayKeeley]

From the beginning, I knew it was brilliant. I scored it 8.75/10.

Three months later, I raised the score to 9.5/10.

In time, this album will probably become a 10/10 (probably after I see OL at ProgPower).

 

[guardian26]

I was turned onto this band by a friend and was immediately "WASHED AWAY" by it. Loved it. Love it still.

 

[Morticia NL.]

Yeah-like you said> sometimes someone passes it on to you. I remember being at a friends house and I wanted for him to hear the album, cause I was sure he would love it! So Ithought I would play him an excerpt of every track. But right after the first track- about 1 minute into it- his jaw dropped to the floor, he sat down, turned up the volume and got us some tea. We sat side by side listening to the whole of the album, just smiling at one another during some passages, nodding in total agreement and awe.
After that he said- it's brilliant, now I can understand about your obsession with this album!

 

[AdamCymru86]

At first listen I thought it was good but Sahara was better, I then gave it another listen straight after and started getting into it, eventually I listened to it 11 times the first day I had it, by about the 7th listen it hit me how awesome of an album it actually was.

 

[Tabletwister]

Mabool brought a wave of feelings to wash my soul...a storm of tunes to clean my ears...a desert of thoughts to warm my mind...from Sahara to El Norra Alila and from there to Mabool my soul took a unique path of building my character and thoughts.
Teached me how i could be an openminded person and how love should be spread towards everything on this world.

...The Storm Still Rages...

 

[Orphaned Matti]

Rock on brothers. Hail metal.