Progressive metal is a broad fusion music genre melding heavy metal and progressive rock, combining the loud "aggression" and amplified guitar-driven sound of the former with the more experimental, cerebral or "pseudo-classical" compositions of the latter.
Orphaned Land is an Israeli metal band formed in 1991. They are known to combine Mizrahi and Maghrebi Jewish, Arabic, Turkish, and other Middle Eastern and North African musical elements, with metal, as well as from Sephardic music, and other sounds from the Mediterranean. They have also included "metalized" versions of various pityyutim in all of their albums since El Norra Alila. The band are considered to be the pioneers of oriental metal. Orphaned Land have gone through several lineup changes over the years, but have retained two founding members of the band, Kobi Farhi (vocals) and Uri Zelcha (bass). They are joined by Matan Shmuely (drums), Chen Balbus (guitars/saz) who replaced co-founding member Matti Svatizky in 2012, and Idan Amsalem (guitars/bouzouki) who replaced co-founding member Yossi Sassi in early 2014. Their lyrics promote a message of peace and unity, particularly between the three main Abrahamic religions. The name "Orphaned Land" comes from the lyrics of a Yehuda Poliker song and reflects "a paradox" to the term "Holy Land." Four of their six albums are concept albums relating to the concept of Light and darkness.
Salem is an Israeli extreme metal band, pioneers of the oriental metal movement and of the Israeli heavy metal scene in general. Much of their lyrics and music deals with political issues concerning the Jewish people and Israel, most notably the concept albums Kaddish (1994) and Collective Demise (2002).
Hadag Nahash is an Israeli hip hop and funk band, founded in 1996 in Jerusalem, which makes leftist political statements in many of its protest songs.
Chartzufim or HaChartzufim was an Israeli political satire television programme in the vein of Britain's Spitting Image. It ran from 1996 to 2001 on Channel 2.
Kobi Farhi is an Israeli musician, lead singer and founder of Oriental metal band Orphaned Land.
Sahara is the first full-length studio album by the Israeli metal band Orphaned Land, released on November 25, 1994 by French label Holy Records. The 2002 digipak re-release of the album features three bonus tracks: "Above You All", "Pits of Despair" and "The Beloved's Cry " and edited cover art. The songs "Seasons Unite", "The Beloveds Cry", "My Requiem", "Orphaned Land – The Storm Still Rages Inside..." are all from the demo The Beloved's Cry.
El Norra Alila is the second full-length studio album by the Israeli metal band Orphaned Land, released on July 18, 1996 by Holy Records. It is the band's first concept album. The album was reissued as a deluxe edition in July 2006 as a 10-year-anniversary for the album and contains extras; the song "Disciples of the Sacred Oath" and video clips of "Ornaments of Gold" and "The Evil Urge".
The Never Ending Way of ORwarriOR is the fourth full-length studio album by the Israeli metal band Orphaned Land. The album was released on January 25, 2010, after many delays. In Hebrew, the word "or" (אור) means "light," thus ORwarriOR can be translated as "light warrior" or "warrior of light", representing a conceptual hero of the battle of light versus darkness. The Never Ending Way of ORWarriOR is Orphaned Land's third concept album and is about the battle between the darkness, a place of questions, and the light, a place of answers. The band related the concept to lighting a match in a dark room; without the match one cannot see anything, but with it one can see more, including the answers to the questions one has about the room before having lit the match. In this regard, "the warrior of light," the answers to unknown questions, is one's inner light, and not some messianic figure, and that to awaken the ORwarriOR, one must use their inner light to enlighten their inner soul, and find the answers they seek. This is an analogy to the band's belief that "there isn't any difference between you and your enemy." The album was mixed by Steven Wilson of Porcupine Tree. It is the last album to feature guitarist Matti Svatizky who left the band in 2012.
Amaseffer was an Israeli progressive metal band which was formed in 2004 in Tel Aviv by drummer and percussionist Erez Yohanan, and guitarist Yuval Kramer. A year later, a second guitarist Hanan Avramovich joined and completed the line-up. This is also when the band got its name "Amaseffer" - from Hebrew "Am Ha'Sefer" - People of the (holy) book; a name from the Old Testament for the Israelites and later for the Jewish People. The band's music genre is considered progressive metal, but it contains a mixture of rock, metal, world music and Middle Eastern touches.
Slaves for Life is the debut album by Israeli folk/progressive metal band Amaseffer, released on 6 June 2008 in Israel and 24 June 2008 worldwide, by InsideOut Music.
Yossi Sassi, born 5 February 1975) is an Israeli guitarist and producer who merges traditional and contemporary music. He is the inventor of the "bouzoukitara" musical instrument. He is known for pioneering oriental rock, as well as being the main composer, arranger, and co-founder of Orphaned Land, an Israeli progressive metal band formed in 1991. He also formed the Yossi Sassi Band/The Oriental Rock Orchestra. His debut solo album, Melting Clocks, got him voted "Top Newcomer of 2012" by Rock Hard magazine readers. His 2016 album Roots and Roads was submitted for Grammy Award consideration.
All Is One is the fifth album by the Israeli oriental metal band, Orphaned Land, which was released on June 24, 2013. It is the first album to feature guitarist Chen Balbus who replaced the co-founding member and guitarist Matti Svatitzky in 2012. It is also the last album to feature the co founding member and guitarist Yossi Sassi who left the band in 2014.
Shlomit Levi is an Israeli singer. She is a member of the folk metal group Orphaned Land, performing on their albums Mabool (2004), The Never Ending Way of ORWarriOR (2010) and Unsung Prophets & Dead Messiahs (2018). She currently performs with American guitarist Bruce Burger as the world music duo Shlomit & RebbeSoul.
The Night Siren is the twenty-fourth studio album from English guitarist and singer-songwriter Steve Hackett, released on 24 March 2017 by Inside Out Music.
Unsung Prophets and Dead Messiahs is the sixth studio album by the Israeli oriental metal band, Orphaned Land, and was released on January 26th, 2018. It is the first album to feature guitarist Idan Amsalem who replaced multi-instrumentalist and lead guitarist, Yossi Sassi, a founding member of the band, in 2014.
Ross William Jennings is a British progressive metal singer, most known for being a founder member and the lead vocalist of the bands Haken and Novena. As of 2023, he has released seven albums with Haken, one with Novena, three with Redados and one solo album.
North of South is a Spanish metal project led by multi-instrumentalist Chechu Nos. Officially founded in 2017, it is focused on the release of studio albums, and has not performed live to date.
IGNEA is a Ukrainian melodic metal band formed in Kyiv in 2013. The band mixes different heavy metal subgenres, the main of which are melodic death metal, symphonic metal, progressive metal, and oriental metal.
