Omega-The Hall Of Floaters In The Sky (1975)

Omega, are the most successful Hungarian rock band in the history of their country, which even had a great acceptance internationally. Such was their enormous success that as they released albums in other countries it became necessary to break the language barrier, leaving behind their mother tongue to sing in English. His style is a combination of the avant-garde sounds of Eastern Europe with symphonic and progressive influences, but with hints of 70's British hard rock. The result is a dark, orchestrated sound combined with extensive and well-developed improvisation. Their discography had begun in the late 1960s and the group has been around until 2020 when they released their latest album with more modern and up-to-date sounds. From 1968 to 1975: Omega released a series of albums that were basically oriented to brilliant pop rock with approaches to psychedelic sounds and some attractive ballads.
From 1976 to 1981, they released four albums oriented to space rock and progressive rock with great arrangements and a wide influence of bands with echoes of the more atmospheric Pink Floyd and the progressive hard rock of the Eloy Germans.
From this period are his albums "Time Robber" / "Idõrabló", one of his best works with space and electronic sounds, although "Skrover" / "Csillagok Útján" is the most musically diverse. In the same vein, the albums "Gammapolis" / "Gammapolisz" and "Working" / "Az Arc" followed.
One of the highlights of this band is that since 1971 they have incredibly maintained the same line-up until 2020, when they released their latest work "Testamentum" and is made up of vocalist János Kóborl, guitarist György Molnár, László Benkő, keyboardist and vocals, Tamás Mihály bass and drummer Ferenc Debreceni.
With their ninth album published in 1975, and entitled 'The Hall Of Floaters In The Sky' the band clearly begins its progressive orientation, a wonderful example of the symphonic style of this band made in the European style, largely influenced by bands leading British brands such as Yes, Genesis or PF. An album packed with synth sounds, backed by metallic guitars, polished with gritty English vocals, and packed with enough instrumental creativity not to envy most mid-seventies rock bands. This is a truly remarkable album, with hard and energetic instrumentation, full of catchy melodies and some devilishly engaging solos. Despite being recorded in 1975, its sound leans towards the typical electronic productions that would be common in the 1980s, albeit with the sensibility of the 1970s. The highlight of this album is 'Magician', which begins with muscular, chatty guitar playing courtesy of Gyorgy Molnar, or the eight-minute '20th Century Town Dweller', which balances shimmering synth lines with throbbing bass and drums. The rest follows a similar line with the powerful and melodic “Movin´World”, full of mellotrons and atmospheric sounds, or the space rock “One Mand Land” and “Never Feel Shame” both with vertiginous rhythms of great guitar riffs and huge layers of keyboards
All of their subsequent releases were packed with hard, creative prog rock of the highest class. However from 1981 the band moved towards a sophisticated electronic pop rock genre with progressive elements. However, from then on the band began to show clear signs of creative stagnation. Shortly after their twentieth album was released in 1986, Omega disbanded for good. After seven years of long silence, the band met again and recorded a new album in 1995, "Transcendent" / "Trans and Dance", a work with large keyboards and attractive progressive atmospheres that after almost 30 years, demonstrated with it that this hungarian band was still a legend in world progressive rock.