Omega - the Prophet

This disc recently got delivered to my mailbox:



Anyone familiar with them?

http://www.hrrecords.de/high_roller/sites/release_detail.php?relno=CD279

"The wrath of the gods is coming down on you, but why do you still smile"

I read about Omega in the NWOBHM thread here at these boards, and decided I needed to own this album. I saw The Prophet, their one and only album, was about to be re-released so I preordered it and just this week got to give it my first listen. And I am stunned! This is amazing music. My portable player says I've given it 8 listens the last two days since I ripped it and put it in there for work commute, and that's not even as many listens as I've given the CD spins. With good headphones this thing really comes alive.

Doomy NWOBHM, somewhat Sabbathy, but maybe even more inspired by Deep Purple's Child in Time. With keyboards and a great lead guitarist. I don't know how many actually bought the LP back in 1985, but these guys really sound good to my ears, so I wish they'd gotten to record another one. The Dark reminds me of early Lake of Tears. Shadows of the Past, the Prophet, Yesterday's Children are epic, awesome tracks that conjure up images of 70's prog rock and plenty of NWOBHM goodness. You could even imagine some of these instrumental breaks being on an Iron Maiden album.

"Drive Me Cray" and the Beatles cover sound a bit off and I guess those were included as a desperate attempt to get some commercial attention. "Day Tripper" is actually a nice song, but that's because of the fun guitar sound. What happens when you take away that only thing that is good about it and make it all hard and edgy? Well, nothing. It's uninspiring. After a dozen listens, I now just prefer to skip these tracks.

The best is saved for last though, The Child is a masterpiece that you have to hear to believe. A little bit of Deep Purple, plenty of originality and a lot of great musicianship.

So the album only has 5 songs worth hearing? Well, no worries, they are all long and excellent. And as a bonus, there's a 5 song demo tacked on to the end of the album. I'd actually dare call something as great as this just another "demo". It's in great sound quality and the songwriting is amazing. Those songs are even better than the songs on the album! Yeah, you get "the Child" twice, but there's enough differences between the 16 minute demo version and the 9 minute album version to justify having both, and even despite that (and the two filler commercial tracks), you still have nearly an hour of awesome music.

I recommend you all order this album now that it's available. From what I understand, the Prophet used to be a rare collector's item. Now you can get the entire back catalogue of the band in one disc!

I posted a review of this a couple of years back here if I remember correctly. But yeah, The Prophet is a great, great record, definitely one of the best NWOBHM albums.

Dave the Boss wrote:

I posted a review of this a couple of years back here if I remember correctly. But yeah, The Prophet is a great, great record, definitely one of the best NWOBHM albums.

... which I discovered by your thread. Amazing and unusual album within the restricted (imo) genre.

Interesting.

Worth checking i guess.

Well, the write-up certainly sounds promising. Sure wish there was a track or 2 posted so I could actually hear something from it.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

Well, the write-up certainly sounds promising. Sure wish there was a track or 2 posted so I could actually hear something from it.

http://bit.ly/16IkU7o

Good morning, Big D.

SpectreFate wrote:

MetalGuy71 wrote:

Well, the write-up certainly sounds promising. Sure wish there was a track or 2 posted so I could actually hear something from it.

http://bit.ly/16IkU7o

Good morning, Big D.

I've got no time for that. I'm an American. I demand immediate satisfaction. I wait for nothing.

Thanks, though.

Well, I checked out one song...'The Prophet' and it's ok I guess.

Way more mellow than I expected. Almost sounds Roger Waters-era Pink Floydian. Not a bad thing, just not what I expected at all, especially for a NWOBHM band. I'd hope there's more upbeat stuff on it.

I'll resurrect this just to say this is one of those obscure and forgotten bands that stand above the pack.