Orphaned Land

With Jan. 26 being heavy on metal releases, fans responsed by picking up nearly 9,000 copies of Alesana's 'The Emptiness,' which was enough to propel the album to secondd on the hard rock sales charts for the week. Living Sacrifice's 'The Infinite Order' also shifted nearly 3,000 units its first week on shelves, while newbies Taking Dawn sold nearly 1,400 copies of their debut, too...

Israel's Orphaned Land will be playing four North American gigs -- two in the U.S., two in Canada -- beginning in March. They will be supporting Suidakra. The shows will be 'events,' since the band rarely is able to tour the continent. While it's a handful of dates, vocalist Kobi Farhi enthused to Noisecreep, "We hope to get more shows...

The Middle East isn't exactly a hotbed of heavy metal, and it's obviously a very politically-charged area -- and that's what most of the world sees in the news media. So it's often a pleasant surprise when an Israeli metal band like Orphaned Land pops up on our radar...