OMEGA 6 - NEM TUDOM A NEVED [AKA: TűZVIHAR/STORMY FIRE]

'Nem Tudom a Neved' (I Don't Know Your Name) is a wonderful album by Hungarian Hard- Rock/Proggers Omega. Hungary is my folks' home country, so it's cool to hear and actually understand (most of) the lyrics from a non-English band, and most of the music here is superb, even with it's under-production. The vocalist, Janos Kobor, sounds great when he sings Hungarian although he seems to struggle a bit on the English releases. The title cut features a catchy riff with a fast shuffle rhythm, and some sensational (undeniably Wakeman-esque) mini-moog playing from the talented keys-man Laszlo Benko. A simply amazing track to start the album. 'Addig Elj !' (Live Till Then') is more in a pop/rock style with the most engaging playing coming from the keyboardist, a feature of most of the songs here, and that gives the music it's most prog appeal. 'Egyszemelyes Orszag (One Person's Country) is similar to the previous track.

Side two starts with an excellent keyboard riff, and heavy guitars and a catchy bluesy progression - 'A Buvesz' (The Conjurer) is full of searing guitar work from Gyorgy Molnar. 'Az Egben Lebegok' (The Hall of those Fluttering in the Sky - of which the English release of this LP is based) is a sympho-prog track with acoustic guitar and string synth. 'Mozgo Vilag' (Moving World) is a fantastic track, and another prog masterpiece off the album. The arrangement is perfect, with great progressions and masterful symphonic keyboard work. The last track is my favourite off this album, 'Huszadik Szazadi Varoslako' (Townsman of the Twentieth Century) and features more stunning keyboards, tastefully sung vocals, the rhythm section of Ferenc Debreceni (Drums/Perc) and Tamas Mihaly (Bass) almost telepathically lock together and throughout, this composition displays excellent dynamics. What a way to finish the record !! Whilst not particularly complex prog, Omega are a band who should please fans of Uriah Heep, Birthcontrol, Jane etc.

The sixth Hungarian album brings the first true masterpiece of OMEGA progressive rock, a phenomenal title track Nem tudom a neved. An excellent and easily recogniseable and catchy guitar riff and plethora of Moog synths make this composition rank amongst the best in prog music, in general terms. Unfortunately, the rest of the album suffers from inconsistency while the two following songs are hardly more than obvious hard rock fillers. Still, the second side of the album regaines a momentum a bit, sticking back to a more sophisticated prog territory, while the last song Huszadik szazadi varoslako (The 20th Century City-Dwellers) is every bit as good as the opener, having very nice heavy-symphonic sound. Some CD reissues contain a bonus track, a new version of Tuzvihar, which is a spoiler if you ask me.

PERSONAL RATING: 3,5/5

P.A. RATING: 4/5

''Omega VI. Nem tudom a neved'' is an important album in band's career, a transition from more straight rock oriented sound to their most progressive period (Omega VII - Omega IX). Like most Omega albums it shows band's ability to create nice memorable melodies. IMO the album highlights are songs like ''Nem tudom a neved'' (the band usually plays it in concerts till now), aggressive ''Tûzvihar'' (Stormy Fire), wonderful ballad ''Huszadik századi városlakó'' (20-th Century Towndweller) and ''Mozgó világ'' (Moving World).

Not the strongest ever, but unique voice of János Kobor deserves a special mention. It is an important part of Omega instantly recognizable sound, probably even more important than László Benkö's keyboard wizardry and György Molnár's guitar playing.

Recommended.

Note. Better try to find this original CD, because remastered version of the album, called ''Tûzvihar - Stormy Fire'', in general sounds better, but contains mono version of the song ''A büvész''.

Entering 1975 Omega would get back on track with their regular releases for the Hungarian market, which were released via the Pepita label.Following an extremely prolific period the next album to come was ''Omega 6-Nem tudom a neved''.This was again a collection of tracks, which were also displayed in a number of English albums with slightly different titles, this time though they would make up for a work sung entirely in Hungarian.

Mid-70's was definitely the band's most incosistent period, the collection of different sounds resulted an uneven album, where apparently there was no particular direction.Seeing this one as a collections of pieces, ''Nem tudom a neved'' is a pretty decent album with Benko now focusing on the sound of synthesizer for his keyboard parts.It becomes clearly that the very short tracks follow a Hard Rock vein with straight riffing, some bluesy influences and even some 60's Psych/Pop leftovers in the vocal parts, while the lengthy cuts have much more to offer.For example the title track is still grounded in a Hard Rock enviroment, but the sharp sound of synth flashing and the occasional entries on spacious moods adds some sort of diversity to this piece, while ''A buvesz'' has a certain Teutonic vibe akin to ELOY with its slow guitar moves.The 3-min. ''Az egben lebegok csarnoka'' is a welcome suprise, a laid-back smooth delivery with symphonic keyboards and harsichord in the process in a romantic climate, supported by excellent vocals.''Mozgo vilag'' is beautiful, a melancholic approach on Teutonic Prog akin to NOVALIS and GUILDENSTERN with big time orchestral keyboards and strings and heavy yet crying guitars.Same goes for ''Huszadik szazadi varoslako'', which is less symphonic but equally progressive with the soft guitar lines, the odd synth lines and the harsichord meeting the poetic vocals and an emotional atmosphere.

As close as it gets to the German scene, an amalgam of Teutonic-like sounds with spacious keyboards, hard guitars and underground symphonic overtones, held down by a few forgettable Hard Rock tunes.The progressive tracks though are pretty enganging and the album is easily recommended.