Ominus – Ominus

On paper this album should be the epitome and apogee of Goa trance, the peak of mount Kailash if you will, seeing as it is by a "supergroup": Cello, Dara-Lee and Miranda. They go for full on grinding dance floor power here and they certainly achieve that. However, they don't really achieve anything else. There are nice individual tracks (I like "Shape Shifter") and plenty of nice moments here and there and it is well produced, but this album lacks a coherent vision and ends up being too dance-floor orientated and kind of empty. For me, these artists put out better, make that much better, material on their own. ~*~

"We Mean You No Harm" has some interesting drum programming, but that interest quickly fade away as with more or less all goa-trance albums at that time this also pumps the bass in the same pitch all the way through.

I certainly had a serious bias towards wanting to like this release since I am a big fan of Encens and Miranda, but after listening to it 2 different times on two different occasions, I did not find any resonance with any of the tracks. A certain "Spirit" was missing in this release for me.

Not going to agree with Eiko on his take- I personally think Miranda added something to the projects she worked on- that Encens and Semsis and Aeternum sound flat in comparison to their collaborations with Miranda and this album is a prime example. Also worth checking is her first collab with DJ Anti as Psychlopedia.

Ominus = Encens + Miranda.

Personally I think both Encens and Miranda sound better alone. That's not to say this is crap, it just doesn't sound all that special. This album sounds a lot like Miranda's other albums, especially with that strong kick, except it's less melodic. If you didn't like her "Phenomena", which was released in 1996 and somewhat better, you probably won't like this either. It's hard music. It's full of hard sounds and they don't really do anything special or pull together. If this was released any later than 1997 I'd rate it down. This album also reminds me a lot of UX's "Ultimate Experience" in 1997, but that album had much more interesting sounds, structure and tracks.

Every now and then you stumble over an album from the old days that you've only gotten acquainted with now. And you wonder; would my record collection look much different had I discovered this album when it was released?

Ominus' selftitled album is but a dazzling psychedelic trance voyage from the golden era. Everything you connect with it. Upbeat, melodic, innovative, and with so much going on even today it sounds cutting edge. When was the last time you heard shuffle beat psytrance that felt like, hell yeah!!? Opening track We Mean You No Harm pulls that off with standing ovations. Toxic Brainwaves follows up with a straight 4/4 goa track but packed with different melodic sections, all danceable, all creative and all fun. Like Astral Projection on a creative day. Plus the energy, less the straight forwardness. Bliss. Tribalistic supplies the 3rd homerun, a track both deep and simple, and psychedelic as hell. Track 5 Acid Tester is another dancefloor bomb packed with melodies, energy, speed and freaky samples. You can dance, or you can trip. Or you can do both! Ominus supplies something for the feet as well as the mind. Mindnumbing. With Shapeshifter Ominus cools things a bit. You go deep for a second, but Physical Encounter to the rescue. Trippy, melodic, insisting, you're bound to the floor again and when Mindbender nails the coffin with a another dancefloor bomb I am left with only one question:

This album is almost 10 years old and thus eligible for an "essential" sticker, but is it up to me to give such a mark considering I'm only hearing it now? Well, then, I'll give it a highly recommended, bordering essential mark. No, damnit, this gets a 5/5 mark!!

Nine years behind at least I'm on it now ... ;o) And this ROCKS! Big time !!