here is an review of mabool(from metalireland.com)
"One could complain that this has been too long coming. But the moment 'Birth of the Three' weaves its sinuous path, it is abundantly clear that alot, and may I emphasise alot, has gone into their massive and ultra layered new album. Their sound has certainly slickened, and gone are the rougher, more underground soundings of their past efforts, chracterised as they were by an early or mid period Paradise Lost timbre. But those days are almost gone in general, and noone would expect a band to sound stultified in their era seven years on, tepting though it is. 'Mabool' is a work of immensity. The depth of composition, the variety of instrumentation and the unashamed intricacy of the patterns and passages contained in here is heartwarming if even for its sheer proud pompousity.
Now, the typical manner of reviewing is to list some sonic comparisons, and though it's flawed and mostly lazy, it's still probably the best one is able to do. But to try and undertake such a list with this album would be to fill the volume of a telephone directory of namechecks. It would seem that Orphaned Land, while always suffusing every song with their own undeniable personality, do borrow a hell of a lot from other bands. I can here moments highly reminiscent of Steve Vai's 'Fire Garden Suite', while further digging reveals a little Melechsesh (actually quite a bit), the aforementioned Paradise Lost, very old Tiamat and damnit even a little Arcturus or late period Opeth. I guess listing like this however is redundant in trying to somehow sum up this overblown and diverse album, so just buy the thing and sort it out for yourself. What is most importnat, despite my suspicions of a little metal cherrypicking, is the band's continuing ability to write a great hook. "The Kiss of Babylon" and "A Call to Awake" are simply monstrous pieces of driving metal, consolidated permanently with some nice orchestral and keyboard workouts. Every element is executed with panache and confidence, and it seems that the geographical isolation of the band has, as with many bands of this ilk, resulted in a definitive and idiosyncratic output. This cd should also be taken as a lesson in real middle eastern metal by the blinkered legions who think Nile are the last word on the subject; listen to this beside Melechesh and you can just hear the inherent focus on the occidental that is a result of nature rather than nuture. And it sounds great. I heartily recommend this album to anyone with a progressive note in their ear, and indeed to anyone interested in big, grandiloquent and epic underground metal. In its scope, its rhythym and its quirky individuality, this has something to offer for a long time to come: maybe not another seven years though."
