STEEL PROPHET — Omniscient (review)

Album · 2014 · US Power Metal

2/5 · 2014-07-10
adg211288

Omniscient (2014) is the eighth full-length album by US power metal act Steel Prophet. It's been ten years since the band's last full-length album Beware (2004). Beware looks to be a bit of an oddity in the group's back catalogue, as it is the only full-length not to feature usual lead vocalist Rick Mythiasin, who has returned to the fold for Omniscient.

Strangely, I hadn't actually heard of Steel Prophet until the promo of Omniscient came my way (maybe it's because of the ten year gap). It's certainly one of the more intriguing promos I've received this year though; not only is the cover art quite striking (though it screams technical death metal at me rather than power metal) but the song-titles tend to be eyebrow raising (666 is Everywhere (The Heavy Metal Blues), Aliens, Spaceships and Richard M. Nixon and 1984 (George Orwell is Rolling in His Grave) being the most prime examples) and there's a pretty big claim about the band thrown up as well - that they are the originators of progressive power metal. Not being familiar with them previously I can't really confirm nor deny such a statement, but it is a pretty bold statement to make and one that I think does not reflect the contents of Omniscient. This is power metal, sure, and it does have the occasional progressive twist to it, but occasional is the key word here. Still, albums not being what they say on the tin is nothing new, this is isn't necessarily a problem.

What is a problem though is the incoherent nature of the release. I can usually rely on the Cruz del Sur Music label to serve up gold in the fields of power, traditional and doom metal but this latest offering from Steel Prophet on their power metal roster sounds like a major mishit. Supposedly a concept album, the lyrics are marred by attempts at humour and seem too random in general to form any sort of story, with themes covering the September 11th 2001 attacks, science-fiction, and a cover of Queen classic Bohemian Rhapsody. Maybe it would come clearer if Rick Mythiasin's vocals were easier to follow, but the biggest killer of this record is that his performance is quite erratic. There are times when he shows himself capable of delivering some really kick arse USPM but at other times his delivery sounds more quirky and even irritating. The return of the more well known vocalist to a band is usually something to celebrate but having looked up a couple of songs from their earlier album Messiah (2000) I have to say that Rick Mythiasin sounded much better on those than he does on Omniscient.

While not enjoying vocals is the biggest killer on a power metal album for me, I can't lay all the blame for my lukewarm feelings for Omniscient at Rick Mythiasin's feet. The music itself tends to have the same inconsistency issues, though it is to a lesser degree. There's definitely some solid and enjoyable power metal here, in fact the on tracks 911 and Transformation Staircase everything comes together pretty well for the band, but most of the time the album just seems quite bland and restrained for the genre, with some parts even being boring. In fact their Queen cover proves the most consistent part of the release. I'm not particularly a Queen fan but honestly I've never heard anyone do something that Freddie Mercury originally sang justice and that's also true here.

I don't demand innovation in every power metal album I hear, but I do expect to the music to have a great energy to it and I rarely get to hear such on Omniscient. The album is inconsistent to the point of being messy.