OMNIO

"Omnio" is a dark, melodic album with a crushing wall of guitar sound guaranteed to please fans of metal and guitar-based prog rock. The mood is mostly dark, spacey, and quite hypnotic.

The 15 minute opener starts with lovely yet tense strings that lead into the first of many monster chordal assaults, some slow and lumbering, some chugging at maniacal speeds. There are nice transitions that do not sound forced. The vocals consist of a male/female team who are both decent, dramatic, sometimes even operatic in sound. Occasionally the heavy rock stops and you move into calm waters where acoustic guitars and strings clear the air-these moments are very nice and provide a well rounded experience. And the melodies in these quiet portions are very beautiful. This is really a great song that is accessible to all prog fans, not just prog-metal fans. "I am your flesh" begins with more dual-guitar chug. They love to layer the guitars and let them twirl over each other which gives the album a unique sound-very powerful. The drumming is plenty competent but I agree with another reviewer who noted that the mix seems a bit strange on the drums. This track is OK but probably the least interesting and most predictable to me. "Kairos" is next and this is a short vocal track that is really lovely and haunting. Next comes "Weeping Willow" which continues the vibrant guitars while the early vocals are softly delivered over piano and are hard to understand. The song picks up speed to a good clip and coasts until the 7 minute mark when it gets better with a softer prelude to a nice guitar solo. The long title track is last and begins with a spacey sequence giving way to acoustics and strings again. Lovely. This song is another stunner on par with the opener: lots of movement, lots of changes, passionate vocals, interesting chord changes, beautiful lead work, creepy psych passages. What a great closer!.

So in summary this album is bookended by two tracks that are just absolute stunners, and together they comprise most of the album. I can easily recommend the album on the strength of those two songs. However I believe that "Flesh" and "Willow" are well below the quality of those two songs. They do not sustain their length and are less interesting and far less adventurous. The short breather "Kairos" is somewhere in between. So not a masterpiece in my eyes but still mostly excellent.

The booklet features some nice artwork and the complete lyrics.

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