Best Metal Videos of All Time
Number 1: All Is One—Orphaned Land
1: All Is One—Orphaned Land (Israel) Total Score = 12
Scoring rationale: music 10 + 1 for audacity +1 for overall bravura and message = 12 points (douze points…;-)!
Caveat:
As I write this, the conflict in the Gaza strip is still ongoing. Now I hasten to add I made this top ten before this latest Gaza conflict broke out. Unfortunately, the horrifying acts taking place there make this song and video all the more urgent. Make no mistake, I hate both Hamas and the relentless retaliation of Netanyahu and his troops. I can only hope that clearer heads both in Israel and Gaza and in the wider world at large eventually prevail, while we mourn all those that are killed and try to help those that are wounded and displaced. At this point, I have no easy solution, just a growing feeling of despair. It’s why I am a donor of Médecins Sans Frontières—they help the wounded irrespective of political preference. Find your charity of choice and support them.
Having said that, about “All Is One”:
Wait what? The moment you think this video’s over the top, it goes even further over the top. In the best metal tradition. If you must pull all the stops, then pull them with all your might.
Alright, but the production values aren’t the greatest. Well, we can’t all be Rammstein, and what this video lacks in production values it makes up with sheer bravado, titillating tongue-in-cheekness, and exquisite Middle-Eastern over-the-topness.
Middle Eastern over-the-topness? Is that a thing? God pointing at you from the burning bush? Singer Kobi Fahri like Jesus1 wearing a crown of thorns on a throne with massive horns in front of a huge gun barrel where each of he bullets have sacred symbols? Moses opening the Red Sea to the sound of pumping metal2? Sword-wielding belly dancers? Muslim women temporary lifting their veil to sing “All Is One”? Same for a devilish woman? Same for a woman wearing virgin white? Singer Kobi Fahri like Mohammed in black with a group of muslim women bearing a large book3? Orphaned Land owns this, and then some.
Alright, some major cross-references there. But what about the music? The song is great, too. Acoustic strumming together with hand-clapping that we poor westerners associate with Middle Eastern rhythms preluding a heavy metal monster riff, massive choirs, a soaring verse crowned by a superb chorus. To top it off, an epic solo on a double-necked guitar4 that doesn’t outstay its welcome5. And summoning it all together in the last thirty seconds—grand finale style—both in the music and the video, finishing it off while leaving you gagging for more.
Don’t say: Idealistsic metal songs will never change the world6.
Do say: Better the over-the-top madness of “All Is One” than the relentless idiocy of both Hamas and Netanyahu killing indiscriminately.
Do say, again: In an alternate world, Orphaned Land would have entered the Eurovision contest for Israel in 2013 with a 3 minute version of “All Is One” and won7.
Do say, finally: Every single metal fan in the world should play this song at full volume until there’s peace in the Middle East8.
🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘
Although I do have a great tour shirt depicting Ozzy Osbourne hanging from the cross. Wear it when the Jehovah’s witnesses come pounding on your door—they’ll be gone before you know it;
With pyramids in the background;
The Qur’an, one would surmise;
Which makes this Rush fan very happy;
Timing is everything;
Not on their own, but it’s the accumulation with other genres, with so many like-minded spirits that counts;
Finnish metal band Lordi won in 2006 while there are literally countless metal songs that are way, way better;
Not gonna happen, I know, but nevertheless: “You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. I hope someday you’ll join us and the world will be as one”;