Rooms Of Anguish

Power Of Omens | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 4, 2004)
• Original Release Date: February 18, 2003
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: MetalAges Records
• ASIN: B00022AECA
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #164,221 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

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

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars masterful prog-metal., July 24, 2006

By 

Lord Chimp (Monkey World) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rooms Of Anguish (Audio CD)

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.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Technical Prog Heaven!, August 27, 2004

By 

E. Lopez "IndieProg" (los angeles, Ca. USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rooms Of Anguish (Audio CD)

This Tech Prog Metal album by Power of Omens is incredible. Chris Salinas has more range and power then any other voice in Metal. Alex Arellano is known to some as the greatest drummer, his cymbal work is just jaw dropping. David Gallegos goes from Tech Metal guitar to flamenco seemlessly, and Chris Herring shows amazing skills.
although this album isnt for everybody, its a must for musicians and tech metal fans. it is a good way to measure how far you have gone to master your instrument.

recommended is Power of Omens first album, Eyes of the Oracle. although hard to find, it is well worth it. In my opinion, Eyes of the Oracle is the greatest Tech Prog Metal Album ever

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Unique style and technical drummer!!! WOOHOO!!!, January 31, 2005

By 

James Kaiser "JamesK" (NY,NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rooms Of Anguish (Audio CD)

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!!