Kobi Farhi of ORPHANED LAND fame has announced the world’s first Oriental Metal Compilation.

“We are all very much familiar with Swedish death metal, Norwegian black metal, Finland's folk metal and more," Farhi begins. "But how many of us have ever heard about Oriental metal? Heavy metal with Middle Eastern, Oriental tunes and instruments. How many of us dedicated their ears to the sounds of metal coming from the East? Well, here it is – the first Oriental metal compilation! Oriental metal already emerged 20 years ago when Orphaned Land defined the genre and ever since many bands were formed and joined this team, still being active today, far away from the mainstream of the metal scene.

Oriental Metal has enriched the worldwide metal scene over the past few years, made it more diverse, more colorful and powerful. Oriental Metal bands mainly consist of Jewish & Muslim metal heads. The bands sing in English, Hebrew, Arabic and several other languages, and most amazingly all these bands peacefully co-exist. Our countries may be in conflicts, our countries’ flags may carry different symbols and colors, but deep in our hearts we’re all united under the same flag - the flag of hope, friendship, brotherhood, the flag of Oriental Metal!”

The world’s first Oriental Metal Compilation features the spearheads of the Oriental metal scene with internationally renowned acts such as Orphaned Land, NILE, MELECHESH, AMASEFFER and many more… It is now available through Century Media Records and incarnates the slogan A World Of Metal perfectly.

Right in time for the release of this outstanding compilation Orphaned Land received The Turkish Friendship and Peace Award for showing the courage to cross borders and frontiers that seems insurmountable to so many.

While playing several shows in Turkey at the end of February, Israeli Oriental Metal ambassadors Orphaned Land received The Friendship and Peace Award from the Turkish government despite the two countries having no diplomatic relations at the moment, underlining the fact that music is stronger than any political or religious struggles.

Here’s the complete list of artists featured on the compilation:

ORPHANED LAND – 'Sapari'

AMASEFFER - 'Slaves For Life'

ARKAN - 'Deus Vult'

PENTAGRAM - 'Lions In A Cage'

MYRATH - 'Merciless Times'

ALMANA SHCHORA – 'Elohim'

NERVECELL - 'The Taste Of Betrayal'

KHALAS - 'Haz El Adala Mayel'

NILE – 'Kaffir'

MELECHESH - 'Grand Gathas Of Baal Sin'

AHL SINA - 'Fountains Of Muses'