Orphaned Land is a progressive metal band that has been around for almost 25 years now, founded as Resurrection in 1991. The band hails from Israel and mixes metal riffs with influences from Islamic and Jewish music. The band has always stressed in their lyrics, directly and indirectly that they strive for unity across people, regardless of religion – be it Islamic, Jewish and Christian – a message expressed again in the title of their 2014 album All is One.

All Is One cover

I give you the title track of that one as Track-of-the-day today. Enjoy, it’s an eclectic mix for sure!

Note: This will be the last real ‘track of the day’ – from next week onward, I’ll do two instead of 7 per week, one from a relatively unknown or new band on Monday, and one from my personal favourites or a well known band on Friday.

At various points in time, John Mitchell (singer, songwriter, guitarist, producer – genius perhaps?) was working with Frost*, Arena and KINO – and now he strikes again with a solo project, Lonely Robot. Strike, double strike – I got the album (entitled Please come Home) in today, and it is amazing. I got a pre-listen of some tracks during an internet radio show some time ago, and pre-ordered on the spot. Actually, I’m happy to have ordered it twice (by accident) so I could give one copy away to someone to learn about what Lonely Robot is.

I need to listen more to give a full report on the album, but this track – the only one available online at this time – gives a good indication of what to expect. Great instrumentation, rock, symphonic, interesting guest musicians – it’s all there for the taking. So, here’s God vs Man, enjoy it as much as I’ve been doing all afternoon.

Audio hosted with permission of Unto Us (and provided by them as well - thank you!)

The British ensemble Unto Us describe their music as ‘original, prog-tinged’ rock, and rightfully claim jazz, metal, folk and classical influences. This track of the day These Four Walls is one that shows the immense variation such influences can bring into a single composition. Strings, piano, piercing keyboards and the voice of former Also Eden singer Huw Lloyd-Jones makes it a real treat.

A review of the album will appear here and on Background Magazine in a couple of weeks! Enjoy – and be surprised!

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One of the albums in my stack of pending reviews is Exposed Undercurrents by Swedish project Pocket Size Sthlm, a project consisting mainly of  composer and guitarist Peter Pedersen. He compares his way of working to that of Kevin Ayers and Syd Barrett, i.e. composing his own music and relying on cooperation with other musicians to get it recorded.

At first listen, I was surprised to find ’70s rooted psychedelic prog, with hints of old Pink Floyd, but also a bit of Canterbury here and there. This one needs more listens before I can review it, but the opening track Halo (Portrait of the Artist as a Composer) makes a great track of the day. Enjoy – and maybe relive the 70s for a moment.