Mabool - The Story of the Three Sons of Seven

Sifting through some music that a friend had recommended me, I eventually came across this bonus CD for an album called 'Mabool', and checking it out, found a few live acoustic tracks with a good dose of middle eastern folk sound, as well as cover of a Paradise Lost song, Mercy. It sounded cool, and I remember making a mental note to try find the actual album sometime. It wouldn’t be till about a year later when I finally got hold of it, and found myself blown away.

One thing’s for sure – Mabool is definitely much more than the sum of its parts. Vocalist Kobi Farhi has a good voice, even though it’s not that extraordinary. Even his growling seems a little timid too often, like he’s never going to let loose in a full-throated roar. Axemen Matti Svatitzki and Yossi Sassi are far from being guitar heroes, the rhythm section is nearly always understated and the keyboards exist solely for the ambience and rich sound. But if I only placate you with the reassurance that the songs work, it’s one hell of an understatement.

This is a full blown concept album, telling of the struggle between Judaism, Islam and Christianity, and the urgency to resolve differences before the titular flood comes and washes all their asses away. This should tickle several people’s fancy, but the music is just so great that I find it a little tricky paying attention to any of the lyrics while it’s playing.

I’ll have to forgo a detailed song by song dissection, since most of the time, they bleed and flow into each other without you realising it. The band effortlessly shifts between heavy, complex, usually lengthy songs and shorter ambient passages, which better showcase their ethnic orchestration.The folksy feel is maintained throughout the album, even when there’s a full-blown metal section tearing out. One of the more unique parts of the album is on A’salk, where guest female vocalist Shlomit Levi is belting it out over an exotic acoustic rhythm. I can imagine some of my aunts coming in at this point and asking “When did you start listening to classical music?” and then fleeing in terror once Halo Dies erupts to life.

Truth be told, there’s hardly anything I’d change about any song. When I hear Yossi take a guitar solo, I can think of any number of guitarists who could handle it with better chops, but for the life of me, I can’t imagine anything fitting better than he’s already played. Similarly, you could probably get a vocalist with better range and power than Kobi, but no one is probably going to suit the sound better.

If there’s one thing that bothers me, it’s that the album ends up being a little too long for its own good. Yeah, I know it makes me an ingrate complaining about too much good music, but for me, the flow would have been a huge deal better if they jumped from Building the Ark to The Storm Still Rages Inside. I guess that would have been cutting a big chunk out of the story and messed up the narrative, but musically that would have been just about perfect for me.

That aside, Mabool is a truly special album, and even if it did take 6 years to make, it was worth the wait. Well, I couldn’t really testify to that since I didn’t actually wait out the 6 years; I’m just making an educated guess here. I can’t wait for the next album, where Steven Wilson of Porcupine Tree is going to be handling the production, and I’ve got to breathe a sigh of relief that they’re not going to take another half-decade to see it out.

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