OMEGA – Journey To The Far Side Of The Sun (retail)
New albums from British label Z Records come out mostly lacking a proper press kit. Take this “Journey To The Far Side Of The Sun” from OMEGA as example.
The album was recorded some years ago and a real hype was created by the label about this up and coming UK band, it was released in very limited copies, then deleted and seems now put on circulation again. Finally, there’s literally nothing about the band to be found on the Z Records site!
Anyway, the band in question consists of Lee Small (Phenomena, Shy) on vocals, Vince O’Regan (Legion, Bob Catley, Eden, Kooga, Pulse) on guitars, Ged Ryland (Arabia, Contagious, Ten) on guitars & keys, Steve Mercy (Holy Rage) on bass and Andy Pierce (Escape UK) on drums.
As you see, all seasoned and talented musicians from the British Melodic Hard Rock scene.
Recorded at KRT Studios in Wolverhampton and produced by Small & O’Regan, “Journey To The Far Side Of Sun” – and in fact the band Omega – is a concept written by Small during many years.
Omega’s sound is pretty classic hard rock with a bluesy overtone, but remains quite melodic thanks to the haunting vocals of Small and the infectious solos of O’Regan & Ryland, the latter providing keyboards too as embellishment.
I do like an album with an intro and here an atmospheric synth ushers in the opening number, ‘The Day the Earth Caught Fire’, which then fairly bursts out the speakers and romps along in fine fashion.
‘Fire With Free’ opens with a Queensryche style plucked guitar before another pleasing riff kicks in and I’m reminded of Crown of Thorns on this song.
The title track has a modern feel to the riff and some progressive touches on the verses. That modernity and a darker side is also evident on the following track, ‘The Abyss’.
‘Witching Time’ provides another flavor, being a slower number with a fine riff and hook whilst ‘Black Diamonds’ moves the gears up again. There’s a quite strange layered vocal on the first part of this song, but it’s pretty original.
‘Save’ features another strong guitar performance from O’Regan and a super beat before the album closes with the heavier track on the record, titled as the band name, ‘Omega’.
“Journey To The Far Side Of The Sun” / Omega is a very interesting album / project.
All musicians here are pros, it’s quite well recorded and produced, and the artwork of the album is also an eye catcher.
It is not an ‘instant’ record, it takes a couple of spins to get into the material – but it’s surely one to check out.
The album has turned quite hard to find, at some stores fetching high prices.
01 – The Day The Earth Caught Fire
02 – Fire With Fire
03 – Journey To The Far Side Of The Sun
04 – The Abyss
05 – Night Train To Cairo
06 – Pandora
07 – Witching Time
08 – Black Diamonds
09 – Save
10 – Omega
Lee Small (vocals)
Vince O’Regan (guitar)
Ged Rylands (guitar, keyboards)
Steve Mercy (bass)
Andy Pierce (drums)
BUY IT !
www.amazon.de/Journey-Far-Side-Omega-2011-11-15/dp/B01K8KQC3K
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