THE HALL OF FLOATERS IN THE SKY

First of all, check out the really cool artwork on the cover of Omega`s fourth album recorded in the English language at Chipping Norton studios in the UK in 1975 just as the band was gaining international popularity with an anthology also being released on Passport Records in Canada that same year.

Four of the six tracks were previously released in Hungarian on the Nem tudom a neved (Omega 6) album. One Man's Land is a reworked track which appeared under the title Unfaithful Friends in Hungarian on the controversial Omega live LP in 1971, entitled Elo.The real treat here, though is Never Feel Shame, the only track the band did not do in Hungarian with some very trippy moog and vocal at the midway point. Get ready for some really heavy synths mellotrons and organ. String arrangements added later give the album even more depth and work beautifully with the keyboard parts. Although the guitar remains for the most part supportive the bass is given some nice treatments and has a nice warm fat sound to it which will be noticed from the opening track. The only drawback on the album is the almost impossible to understand vocals a problem on many of Omega`s English recordings. Nevertheless, the album is moody and passionate. Not really a concept album but the songs seem to fit together in a way not only musically but with environmental issues and survival in a 20th Century world themes being explored. Lyric sheets would have been welcomed with Omega`s English albums of the `70s!

Arguably their proggiest album with all the ingredients of early `70s progressive rock. Although not as complex as contemporary Gentle Giant, Focus or Jethro Tull recordings the album should definitely find a certain amount of appeal for these audiences.

Movin´world After a majestic heavy rock introwith unbelievably muffled vocals (I gues it´s the recording this time), a lyrical piano passage follows and the passages repeat again and the track concludes with a keyboard driven outro. Great mood and melody on this one as well. 5 stars

One man´s land An ordinary rocker with average melody. At least it´s up tempo and it features good guitarplaying and keyboards. 3 stars

Magician More of the same. But the melody is better. Overall it soounds too formulaic and conventional, with just a moog part to make it more interesting. 3.5 stars

The hall floaters in the sky A short acoustic mostly number with a clumsy melody. No great instrumental passages, and the vocals are so-so. 2 stars

Never feel shame A great rocker with Floydian influences. A fine melody and dramatic feel, the band plays really tight as well. Especially nice are the ikeyboards/moog parts that interfere with the more rocking passages. 5 stars

20th century dweller In the vein as the previous track, although this one would fit on a Uriah Heep album from the early seventies. Nice vocals, again the spcey keyboards feel and sense for dramatism . Gyorgy Molnar plays some fine guitar leads as well, especially the first one is awesome, with a good feel for build up and gradation. 5 stars

Overall rating: 4 STARS

EXCELLENT ADDITION TO ANY PROG MUSIC COLLECTION

The second album on this website I rated, but never reviewed.

I hold this album very dearly. I got hold of it when I was 16 or 17 and had it on LP. I was captivated by the wonderful cover. And when I played it I immediately fell in love. I played a lot of Camel and Marillion back then, so they keyboards on the album were a feast to my ears.

The production by Peter Hauke is outstanding. The guitars and drums sound heavy, wich made this the hardest rocking progrock album I had back then.

Back then, I had never heard of Deep Purple or Uriah Heep so I thought Omega were kind of unique in their heavy approach to symphonic rock.

I can't give this one 5 stars, because I don't really care for the title track, but that's a short track anyway.

The rest of the songs are heavy, crunching, organ/guitar riff driven symphonic rock with a spacey feel and lots of instrumental sections. The band really was on fire on this album. And it's an absolute must for anyone who wants to hear heavy symphonic rock in the vein of Camel, Uriah Heep, (early) Eloy, (early) Queen etc, Manfred Mann's Earth band (mid seventies).

Hungary's premier rock group, Omega have incredibly featured the same five-man line-up since 1971(!). They have issued both English-language and Hungarian-language albums over the years, in the process originating from humble late-sixties beat-and-psych origins to, by the mid-seventies, fully-fledged progressive rock concept album creators. The most successful of all Hungarian rock and pop groups, and even finding an audience abroad, Omega's lengthy career simply can't be summed up in a paragraph or two, their output prodigious in the extreme. Issued in 1975, 'The Hall Of Floaters In The Sky' is premium Omega circa their progressive phase, a good place to start for the curious and a wonderful example of full-steam-ahead symphonic-style prog done European-style yet obviously heavily influenced by the likes of Yes, Genesis and even Todd Rundgren's Utopia. Featuring plenty of jagged synthesizer blasts, topped-up with metallic guitars, burnished with gritty English vocals and filled with enough instrumental invention to make most mid-seventies rock groups blush with envy, this is a truly remarkable album, though don't expect any cultural Hungarian tweaks or traditional East European folk-or-zydeco influences; this is harsh, hard and energetic music filled with catchy melodies and some fiendishly inventive solo's from the groups five-man line-up. Being from 1975, it leans more towards the electronic- sounding production that would arrived with the 1980's, though a 1970's sensibility still lurks amongst the album's six entrancing tracks. Best of all are 'Magician', which powers up via some muscular guitar histrionics courtesy of axeman Gyorgy Molnar, and the eight-minute closer '20th Century Town Dweller', which balances shimmering synth lines with throbbing basses and some truly chest-thumping percussion licks. Whether this is a good example of the work of Omega in general is a good question; this critic, although a fan of 'The Hall Of Floaters In The Sky', is in no position to answer as much of the group's work is simply inaccessible to Western audiences. That said though, if their other 'key' albums of the 1960's and 1970's are anything like this impressive opus then Omega must be one hell of a group. This is tough, creative and classy progressive rock and fans of all types of the genre are urged to investigate immediately. And what about that cover art. Hungary eh? Who'd have thought... STEFAN TURNER, STOKE NEWINGTON, 2013