Customer Reviews

Omega Conspiracy

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4 star:		(5)
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One of the most inspiring things to happen in Metal in recent years has been the sudden increase of band reformations. Long dormant and presumably defunct outfits are sprouting up from one corner of the globe to the next, among them the once vaunted AGENT STEEL.
Omega Conspiracy essentially picks up where the band left off a decade or so earlier. I can clearly remember my first experience with Agent Steel; having heard them on a Metal radio show in 1984. I caught the band live in a show a year later and found them highly energetic and talented songwriters. Fans of the band were undoubtedly peeved over the band's disappearance but having to wait all these years for a return to the scene has been well worth the wait. Omega Conspiracy is far better than I could have expected given the lengthy hiatus.

With a healthy measure of sci-fi inspiration the band have crafted one nifty Power/Thrash album that is far less melodic than I would have expected. In fact, Omega Conspiracy is downright nasty at times. The vocals are the strong, long-range shrieks you'll remember from the glory years and the musicianship is as good as its ever been (maybe better). The band let their aggressive tendencies rule the day though they find it in their hearts to squeeze out at least one Thrashy ballad and it is it ever good! What strikes me most about this album is it's overall feeling - spacey, angered and emotionally draining in parts. No matter how you slice it, this is a remarkable album and one I've been recycling through my player for months now. I'm personally very happy that one of the trademark names in Metal is back in business and long to hear a lot more from their creative minds.

I've always liked this band. It's glad to see that they reformed for the most part. Different lead throat this time out in Bruce Hall who's got the high pitched screaming voice down. Solid mid-paced speed metal straight from the mid-eighties. It may not be the most complex or loved style of music anymore, but I still dig it. Nowadays bands try to outdo each other or sound so off the wall and over the top, it's hard to discern the greats from the mediocre. Thank goodness for the simple hard hitting stuff. Guitars, bass and drums you can easily identify and listen too. These guys are still subscribing to the alien conspiracy theory as you can tell by the cover and song lyrics. Good cover of a classic Priest tune, "Beyond The Realms Of Death". Hail!

I'm admittedly new to this whole resurgent power/melodic/classic metal thing going on, but I DID cut my teeth in the mid-80s on the genre stalwarts like Helloween, Maiden, Priest, Savatage, etc. What the hell does that have to do with Agent Steel?

Well I bought the album just a little bit ago as I got back into the music I loved, and this one came recommended heartily. With good effin' reason! The best way for me to describe this album is absoluting galloping, punishing Maiden on uppers. There is not a single weak moment, and all fans of speedy, melodic POWER metal must own this album. It is essential to any collection. Plus, they sing about aliens and employ a variety of Anthrax-like anthemic shouts throughout some of the songs. What more could any self-respecting metalhead ask for? Get all of this.

a very good album. most of theses songs were just played on a recent tour, and for any metal fan this a worth while purchase. the singer has a voice of queensryche but the style of music is that of armored saint, slayer,etc... An album that you will want to purchase for sure.

If you like old Queensryche and old Fates Warning you should buy this. It is quality metal. The singer sounds like Tate/Adler/Dickenson, the guitars are tuned low, the production is crystal clear. Every song is good, there are no fillers.

Killer album. Not as great as Order of the Illuminati though. Singing is a bit suspect at times, but better than most other thrash singers by far. Few songs have a NUmetal vibe, while the others are old school thrash. Very talented group. Possibly the best thrash guitarists there are. This and the fore mentioned ablum are solid, these two would be the ones to get IMO. Fast, heavy and melodic. Intro to Know You Master is brutal. I'm glad I found this band and are tops in my book.

I dont know as much about Agent Steel as someone who remembers them when they came up, but back in 93/94 I was at a friends apartment & he had this one song I forgot the title-it goes ''metal attack coming from space''Ahhh, Rager it was that was on this Metal Blade compilation from '87 he had that ''Death'' was on.& I loved it! I was already wicked into Priest Megadeth & I remember spending like an hour trying to figure out the dangerous guitar solo to the Steel tune & I felt kind of bad about putting all that wear on my friend's tape deck! I still cant play the solo-those guitarists must sure have listened to Y Malmsteen's rising Nausea to the ground! Once I got home I looked around for A steel's music at record stores & the clerk would be like ''duh I doono-who're they-we only have Nirvana & Alice & Chains'' type of attitude-well thanks-that was why I never got to explore A.S. but last summer I found ''Omega Conspiracy'' & absolutely loved it! amazing guitarwork/musicianship & everything else! Thanks to Amazon I have ''Illuminati'' from '03 coming my way & I cant wait!! These guys are sadly underrated & they can stand up to any other metal band no question! I wish theye'd reissue their 1980's albums in a big way-lets pray they do!!I'm sure the die hard metal head will love this album.Oh, last night I managed to dig out my old crusty cassete tape with that old A.S. tune Rager went thru the frikin ceiling hearing it!!-A.S. RULES!!!!

A SOLID EFFORT BY THE BOYS .THERE IS NO ONE KILLER TRACK BUT MORE SOLID THROUGHOUT WHICH IS NOT A BAD THING.MR.GARCIA IS STEADY BOTH AT LEAD AND RIFFING AND SADLY OVERLOOKED AS ONE OF THE BEST.HEAVIER THAN THEIR EARLIER RELEASES BUT TRUE TO THE CLASSIC SOUND OF AGENT STEEL.SOME VERSIONS HAVE THE BONUS COVER OF PRIEST'S "BEYOND THE REALMS OF DEATH"=CHECK IT OUT!

I have to admit, I am a complete newbie to this whole 1998 and on power/speed/classic/Euro metal thing going on...but thank GOD Maiden got back together and I busted out the old CDs. I've gone on this maddening buying spree and Agent Steel's Omega Conspiracy is one of the tremendous albums I've picked up recently. Right now, I'm 9 songs through the album and it is simply, well, punishing. The first thoughts that came to mind were this is like Maiden on uppers.

Vocalist Bruce Hall really brought Bruce D to mind, but the album is yet so different. They nail all kinds of styles and beats here, but never stray too far from the classic speedy power style I love! Heck, dig the Anthrax-like anthemic shouts that populate a bunch of the songs. The crunching riffing is also just phenomenal. It's thrash, melodic heavy metal, progressive...it's great! Get all of this.