ISRAELI METAL BANDS THAT AREN’T ORPHANED LAND

Friday, February 5th, 2010 at 11:00am by

With Orphaned Land’s new album, The Never Ending Way Of ORwarriOR, coming out Tuesday on Century, now seemed like a good time to take a look at some Israeli metal bands that aren’t as well known. Ready? Here we go…

  1. WINTERHORDE: There’s something kinda funny to me about an Israeli band with the word “winter” in their name, ’cause I’ve been to Israel in the winter, and while it can certainly get chilly there, it’s still a million times more preferable than, say, being here in NY when there’s a snow storm (as there is apparently going to be tonight… swell.). To look at Winterhorde’s blown-out, barren press photos and listen to their symphonic, epic, blackened melodic death metal, you’d think they came from a land that isn’t, y’know, the desert. But whatever; I actually really dig this band. Guitarist Barakk knows how to write and execute a fun solo, and the music isn’t exactly original, but it’s still pretty rockin’. And like I said, it’s also pretty EPIC. Check out Winterhorde here.
  2. DIRK DIGGLER: Yes, there is an Israeli grind band that took it’s name from Mark Wahlberg’s porn moniker in Boogie Nights. The band’s members also take their stage-names from characters in that same film – namely Brock Landers (vocals), Chest Rockwell (guitars), and Rollergirl (drums… although don’t get your hopes up, the drummer is not actually a girl). Anyways, the band makes able-bodied, if not very distinctive, grindcore. I could see them making something killer in the future, but they’re not quite there yet. You can check out Dirk Diggler here.

Alright. As if I even had to ask… feel free to suggest more Israeli metal bands in the comments section below.

And next week, I’ll have a special Jew on Jew interview with Orphaned Land’s Kobi Farhi!

-AR

  • Douchebag

    Both of them suck.

  • Zoker

    THE FADING: http://www.myspace.com/thefading

    I don’t know if they are well known…

  • joshkid

    You guys never posted about an awesome Israeli metal band by the name of: BETZEFER
    Their album Down Low is groovy as fuck and just kicks way too much ass!

    their myspace is slightly fucked up because they split with Roadrunner :-(
    http://www.myspace.com/betzefer

    heres some music vids:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqGoCa22DfU
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_u1SPWmHJjQ

  • Shvansershtook

    oy vey, pretty bad stuff.

  • Swissdude

    Well, Betzefer are quite enjoyable.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Rik-Powell/286400508 Rik Powell

      Seconded.

  • noam

    what about Palestinians bands are there any left after last invasion?

    • Douchebag

      Well played.

    • Biff_Tannen

      Hah ! You read my mind and took away my zinger ! Israeli bands spread out every year and displace bands from their native lands !

  • iolanach

    Are Melechesh considered a Israeli band? What about Blackfield? Two excellent ones.

    Amaseffer ain’t bad either.

  • http://thenumberoftheblog.wordpress.com/ groverXIII

    Seriously, how the fuck do you forget Melechesh?

    • Biff_Tannen

      Because Melechesh isn’t really an Israeli band. They were started there, but the main guy in the band left Israel years ago due to persecution by Jewish authorities….theyve been operating out of the Netherlands for the better part of the last decade.

  • Trux

    No Salem ??… FAIL !!!

    • http://www.metalmaniacs.com Mike Riddick

      Salem! Around before any of these bands…

    • Bicro

      THANK YOU!

    • Malacoda

      yeah, Salem really really really needs support.

  • reznik

    Orphaned land are ok I cant see there music going down well in america

    • Douchebag

      Because they’re jewish I guess.

  • Picard

    Just like Trux and Mike Riddick said: Samel. But maybe it was a reference too much obvious.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Rodney-Wilder/42003558 Rodney Wilder

    Very eager to read the interview with Kobi! I’ve only been waiting for this album since, well…since the release of their last album (that’s way too long in record-release chronology).

    While I have no bands to suggest, I appreciate the two you offered up. I’m always open to more metal from the Holy Land.

  • Robert

    No Amaseffer? WTF?

  • AATHD

    These bands should do Skrewdriver and Absurd covers!

  • Brian \m/(-_-)\m/

    yeah so firstly, as a few people have mentioned, go check out amaseffer, those guys kick ass.
    http://www.amaseffer.com/
    http://www.myspace.com/amaseffer

    also, for a good female fronted israeli metal band, check out distorted. cool band from bat-yam, female clean vox, male growls. very good stuff
    http://www.myspace.com/distortedband

    the female lead from distorted left and started another band called system divide, which also kicks ass, but a different kind of ass.
    http://www.myspace.com/systemdivide

    ENJOY

  • simplyhorrible

    listen to xenolith…
    http://www.myspace.com/xenolith
    and like i said before…they’re so damn good, i shit YOUR pants.

  • Itheus

    Jewish bands. Neato.

    Can your next segment please be about Morman bands?

  • http://www.myspace.com/ozerkatz metalANDsnakes

    incredible grindcore – http://www.myspace.com/wxcore (they changed their name to, they:swarm, for a while but changed it back. after they put out an EP that sucked.) they are pretty fuckin awesome though. i saw them years ago in tel aviv at a massive metal festival and they were the only band that really caught my attention. http://www.myspace.com/wxcore

    • noam

      “sounds like:the engine of a D9 truck over the rubbles of your fucking home” what kind of a fucking idiot can write something like that, if he’s from Israel.

  • Biff_Tannen

    For anyone who is interested, here is a pic of WINTERHORDE’s lead vocalist

    http://www.jrbooksonline.com/jew-bwa-ha-ha.gif

  • dapriate

    i’ve heard of melechesh before, but i’ve never been real big on black or thrash metal. but recently i’ve been sifting through all kinds of metal, opening my mind for once. so i decided to give melechesh another shot. Ammaazing. currently downloading ‘emissaries’ on iTunes

  • Facebook User

    Bishop of Hexen
    Creepy, melodic black metal, seems very Burton-esque at times

  • SuckaloMaximus

    I suggest Amaseffer. Epic as hell. They wrote a concept album about Moses and the exodus, how metal is that?

    http://www.myspace.com/amaseffer

  • http://translate.google.com/translate?js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=1&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fjimnardea.blogli.co.il%2F&sl=iw&tl=en Jim

    Not metal but grindcore: D9

    http://www.d9band.com/
    http://www.myspace.com/d9violence

    They’ll tear your soul apart!

  • israelizach

    check out Whorecore -
    http://www.myspace.com/wxcore

  • http://www.masterful-magazine.com/ Choronzon

    Ayat – nuclear black/punk from Lebanon.
    Bilocate – excellent dark/doom from Jordan. http://www.myspace.com/bilocate
    D9 – hardcore/grind/power-violence from Israel. http://www.myspace.com/d9violence
    The Knell – doom metal from Jeruzalem. http://www.myspace.com/theknell
    Silent Path – black/funeral doom from Iran. official site: http://www.ekoveefrits.com/silentpath.htm
    Tyrant Throne – death metal from Jordan. http://www.myspace.com/tyrantthrone

  • fuck religion

    Israeli? Don’t you mean Jewish? Oh no hang on, Jewish means followers of Judaism doesn’t it and isn’t related to race. On no hang on. it’s both. No. Oh I’m confused. Pick one and run with it for fuck’s sake.

  • Nick

    Well, since Salem, Ammaseffer, Distorted and System Divide (although this one’s iffy) have all been mentioned already, which I’m glad to see, I have only Acropolis and Betrayer to add at this point. And yes, there is another Betrayer from Canada, as well as a handful of other Betrayers out there in the world.

  • Alon Wendel

    Actually, there are many great metal bands from Israel.
    Missing in Action
    Desert
    Atra Virgo
    Acropolis
    Xamavar
    Ferium
    Phantom Pain
    Godwrath
    Arafel

    And the list goes on and on…

  • http://rapidshare.com/files/347614331/Spawn_Of_Evil__Israel_.rar Ralf nuchmann

    Some dude from Israel gave me a CD of some Israeli death metal band with their discography (as i understood – its his band).
    You can also find it in here:
    http://rapidshare.com/files/347614331/Spawn_Of_Evil__Israel_.rar

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Dor-Rosenthal/1357314170 Dor Rosenthal

    I’ll have to recommend Betraytor, oldschool thrash that kicks your ass to the other side of the room:
    http://www.myspace.com/betraytorband

  • elad

    orpand land sucks i hate them they preformed at the metallica concert in isreal i was there and they sucked