XV - EGY ÉLETRE SZÓL

More computer generated music from Omega. While the production was first rate on this 15th studio album for the band there are really no suprises here especially for those familiar with their two previous albums Babylon ( 1987 ) & Trans and Dance ( 1995 ). It seems that since the comeback of the band with the Nepstadion concerts back in September 1994 Omega were content to rest on their previous laurels, wisely performing mostly material drawn from their 60`s and 70`s repetiore during shows throughout the `90s. Omega just seemed to be wearing a bit thin with the ambient soundscape approach on this one, although there are some areas of the work which deserve some analysis.

Once again, as on Trans and Dance due to "over-synthing" the guitars are neglected to the point where plenty of opportunities are lost to exploit guitar effects especially on "Orult emberek" one of the more upbeat tracks where we only hear breif moments of false hope of any guitar developments and for most of the album guitarist Gyorgy Molnar seems to lurk in the shadows. There is one remarkable guitar led instrumental track "Ezredfordulo" accompanied by pulsating synth effects. It has a bit of a "new age" sound to it as does my favouriteon this album, " Boldog angyalok ". It has a nice nylon string guitar intro leading into a brooding harmony of synths which give it a rather haunting effect. The album is sung entirely in Hungarian and will perhaps appeal more to speakers of that language particularily on the concluding track "Legenda" which features spoken words over a nice nylon string guitar passage which builds up into a nice finalé with a full choir and the ubiquitous synthscapes.

Although I would have to call this new age prog, the combined synths and guitars do give the album a nice texture but there isn`t really anything new and exciting here. Unfortunately I was unable to find any Hungarian translations to the text so i can`t really offer any comments in this area. Nevertheless not being able to understand the beautifully sung lyrics gives the album a little bit of mystique. Add ½ star.

The worst thing about a music album is perhaps total lacking of purpose and goal. Even the most obvious commercial mainstream music products have their purpose - to entertain, produce fun and dance and let people feel good, at least for a short period.

What OMEGA did on this album is waste of time and plastic. Egy Életre Szól (A Story of Life) is not original music, it is not commercial, not offering any radio-friendly hits (the closer to this being Isten tudja), it is not particularly creative or groundbreaking, it is not progressive, experimental or even gay or funny. It is pathetic, boring, unfocused and lazy. Even the modern technolgy and computer programming did nothing to make any sense of this album. Long-time worn-out hard rock cliches and cheesy ballads are simply very bad.

Megszentelt világ and Ezredforduló are two tracks that come close to decent rock songs, but that would be about all. To be avoided at all costs!

PERSONAL RATING: 1,5/5

P.A. RATING: 1/5