1. Welcome To My World 2. With These Words 3. My Best To Be 4. A Toast To Mankind 5. As Winter Falls 6. The Calm Before The Storm 7. In The End 8. Only A Dream 9. Rooms Of Anguish
For too long, San Antonio's Power of Omens have wallowed in obscurity, their talent going sadly overlooked among progmetal fans. But finally, their fantastic sophomore release, "Rooms of Anguish", is available here.
I am in the unique position of not only knowing of this band's music, but even sort of knowing the band themselves. I met guitarist Dave Gallegos on a forum a couple of years ago, and have spoken to him several times. As such, I have done my best to help promote these guys, and get the word out, and Dave was even nice enough to give me a free t-shirt, as well as a signed copy of this CD. He's a real class act, if ever I've met one, and he and the rest of the band deserve all the attention they can get.
So anyway, onto the music. Power of Omens are strictly speaking, a "progmetal" band, but if you're expecting your typical "chugga chugga, meedley meedly" Dream Theater wannabe band, you are way off. These guys have a really cool and fairly unique sound, opting instead for highly complex rhythms, multi-layered melodies, and even a healthy dose of flamenco guitar. Sure, the Dream Theater influence is there, but they're far from a ripoff.
In addition to being an all-around cool guy, Dave is also an incredible guitarist. He's not your typical super-shredder, instead focusing more on rhythmic style and complexity. In addition to killer chops, he's got great melodic sense, and his expertise in flamenco guitar (showcased beautifully on the amazing instrumental "The Calm Before the Storm") adds a great sense of eclecticism to it all. The rest of the band is amazing as well, especially drummer Alex Arellano, who sounds at times like the mad illegitimate offspring of Terry Bozzio.
As has been mentioned before, this is insanely complex music, and not for everyone, but I think these guys do a great job of keeping everything focused, for the most part. They are great songwriters, as well as musicians. Witness "With These Words", beautifully marrying insane rhythms with a great melodic chorus; or "My Best to Be", with its thick layered melodies, huge, epic guitar solo, and shimmering keyboard patches. "As Winter Falls" and "Only a Dream" are a bit softer, showing the band's warmer, simpler side.
If there's any complaint I could make, it would be that the two epics, "In the End" and the title track, feel a bit long-winded and at times less focused than the rest of the album. Each song has its fair share of great moments, make no mistake, but I just feel that they could both benefit from a bit of trimming here and there. Also, frontman Chris Salinas is heavily derivative of Geoff Tate (it should surprise no one that he's also done time in a Queensryche tribute band), but he's so good at it (unlike so many other vocalists, who just butcher the style completely), it's kind of hard to complain.
Overall, I'd say that these guys are true torch-bearers in the progressive metal world. They're already head and shoulders above the competition in this genre, but if they continue as they have, they have great potential to be even greater still. Keep it up, guys. I'm with you all the way.
masterful prog-metal. Submitted on: 2006-07-25
Power of Omens is the pinnacle of prog-metal -- quite likely, it is perfect for some listeners but unbearable for others. To get an idea of what this band sounds like, imagine if Queensryche had started listening to Yes, Triana, and Atheist instead of Pink Floyd, they might have wound up like this. They have a true Geoff Tate clone for a singer -- i know this has been said idly about prog-metal singers before, but this guy ACTUALLY is a Geoff Tate clone. I swear, when I first heard this band back with their debut album, I thought Geoff Tate had gotten his act together and joined an epic, intense prog-metal band! The music is spectacular -- it's too bad circumstances prevented this band from getting more exposure. Songs are mostly around 8-10 minutes, with a 20-minute epic to anchor the finale. Music is heavily influenced by tech-metal but it does a very good job absorbing the soaring, memorable vocals of good prog-metal with music that is wholly unique and well mapped onto the general approach. The music is hyper-technical, like Spiral Architect technical, but there is nothing like these guys. the balsy vocal melodies are much superior to the norm in this field, the music tight and well structured, rife with long instrumental passages showing solos and interplay. I mentioned Triana above, which is because the band has a fairly unique flamenco influence which appears throughout their music. And the drummer, Alex Arellano -- stylistically, he can be described as Mark Zonder on crack -- and speed and anything else that makes you fast and crazy. His drumming is ultra over-the-top, but it fits in context -- he never slows down (even when the rest of the music does!!), and even after all these years, all the great drummers i've heard, i cannot understand how he plays these drum parts. Most interesting of all, he has a very 'jazz-like' approach to engaging the other instruments throughout the songs. Rather than rocking or grooving, he steps into the tech-prog-metal maelstrom with the guitars and goes beyond rhythmic backing to a genuine force of nature within the music itself. Plus, the band has another thing that makes them special among technical prog-metal -- really memorable melodies! how often does one listen to a band of this sort and say, "damn, these boys can write SONGS!" (and believe me, i am a total whore for sheer prog-ness). Amazon only seems to sell their second album here, _Rooms of Anguish_. I also recommend their incredible debut, _Eyes of the Oracle_ -- it's even better, believe it or not, and it has the greatest progmetal epic i've ever heard, "Test of Will" -- which blows "A Change of Seasons" off the map and is probably one of my all-time favorite songs. recommended highly! very highly. don't let this excellent band wallow in obscurity forever.
Sorry guys, couldn't get into it. Submitted on: 2005-08-08
Man, I thought Messhuggah was complex, sheesh!! Here is the question: is it possible to be too progressive and technical? I wanted to like this album, I tried very hard to like it even, but in the end just couldn't. This is obviously not for everyone. If you like prog metal that is a bit more palatable check out Symphony X, no disrespect to those who enjoyed this album at all, it was just far too challenging for me.
Unique style and technical drummer!!! WOOHOO!!! Submitted on: 2005-02-01
I am not a drummer but what got my attention on this cd was the drummer. This guy is amazing!! He pushes the limits with his playing! he creates for the part instead of just playing the same old stuff. The production was poor but still the music was great. Individualy the guitars were not an attention grabber although the acoustic parts were cool; and the vocals were to ear piercing.
Overall the style of the band is unique, I recommend it!!
disapointed Submitted on: 2004-12-30
I was disapointed when i listend to POO for theses reasons. 1. The vocal. A high pitched "geignar,nasal" singner within a wide vocal range. 2. Yes technical drumming, but he seems to always soloing. I'd like more beat here. Looking at the entire album he seems to play the same thing, same way. 3. No good compositions and production. I'm a fan of techmetal from Death to Symphony-X,
by Spiral Architect to Cynic. But, i could not see why people are so interested to it. I'll try to give it more and more listen, if one day i change my idea about it, i'll make you know.
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Finally!
masterful prog-metal.
Sorry guys, couldn't get into it.
disapointed