Omnia Opera - "Omnia Opera" (Delerium DELEC CD 011, 1993, CD)
From the first few power chords at the beginning of "Space Bastard" it
becomes fairly obvious that this British six-piece is operating in the
shadow of Hawkwind, yet they seem to be capable of taking that
hard-edged space rock into the fertile neo-psychedelic territory pioneered by the
Ozrics. This 74 minute CD (also available as a double LP) is a powerful
enough musically, a would-be tour-de-force that could deliver on many
levels, yet the one thing that holds it back are the simplistic dual-vocals
that rarely do much more than follow the guitar chords in mindless unison.
When the vocals ease up, Omnia Opera become a swirling hallucinogenic stew
of turbulent energy, with occasional rave-up flights into pure psychedelic
madness. Despite it's weaknesses, the album does succeed if taken as purely
psychedelic fare. Guitarist Q (yes, that's the name in the credits) delivers
that high-speed fire and pure magical gliss that harkens back to the early
days of Amon Duul II. When bass and drums find the right groove and flow
with it (as on "The Awakening" or "Each Day"), the effect is very potent.
Keyboards tend to be used (as with Ozrics) more as an ever-present
sound-effects generator than as an integral component of the musical base.
All taken, the negatives here tend to cancel much of the positives, with the
net result being an album that never quite delivers it's potential.
(Originally published in Exposé #3, p.13, Edited for Gnosis 3/25/01)
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