Steven Wilson recently played keyboards and mixed the fourth album by Israeli progressive metal band Orphaned Land. For those who have never heard the band, they are perhaps best described as what Opeth might sound like if they had come from the Middle East instead of Scandanavia. The music has a similar scope and degree of layered sophistication. But the sound of Orphaned Land is very much inspired by their roots, sung in English, Hebrew and Arabic, and featuring many traditional middle eastern instruments. The album The Never Ending Way of ORwarriOR is an ambitious and impressive 75 minute conceptual piece combining heavy music and breathtaking beauty. It is released by Century Media in several editions on 9th February 2010 in the US and 25th January 25th in Europe. The band is preparing to launch a series of introspective webisodes documenting the making of the album and the first album trailer can be viewed now at the band's official YouTube page. This clip features some commentary from Steven Wilson and the band mixed in with live performance footage from Tel Aviv.
