Omega

The most successful Hungarian rock band in history, Omega is one of the rare bands to have been known outside in his country. The legend has it that as albums were released in other countries it became necessary to brake the language barrier. Their music is a combination of Eastern European prog with a bit of symphonic and a bit of psyche prog. The result is a dark orchestrated sound combined with extended improvisation. Combining the compilation CD's 'The Beaty Sixties', 'The Spacey Seventies', 'The Progressive Eighties' and 'The Heavy Nineties', this 4CD-set covers four different era's of the legendary Hungarian band's career. All the four CDs contain English and German language songs only and are packaged in exclusive digipacks.

When The Omega Syndicate burst onto the scene in 2004 with their exhilarating debut “Analogue Waves” they quickly made quite an impression and many friends into the bargain. In a UK scene often accused of being lacklustre and amateurish, The Omega Syndicate have flown in the face of any such criticism with their exciting and dynamic fresh sounding take on the traditional Berlin School sound. Although they are creating long tracks with synths, sequencers and Mellotrons, what they produce is wholly original and while it can be said firmly and squarely to be “Berlin School”, it doesn’t always sound like a clone of Schulze or Tangerine Dream.

More than 50 million records sold, LP productions in Hungarian, German and English, tours and festival appearances throughout Europe and Japan, at least 50 cover versions or adaptations of the world hit "Gyöngyhajú lány" - Omega are Hungary's number one rock export. In 2022, the band will be celebrating its 60th stage anniversary, making it one of the longest-serving rock formations in the world. On St. Nicholas Day, December 06, 2021, singer and founding member János Kóbor passed away due to the coronavirus. Now the Omega albums from the well-known and successful Bacillus era will be rereleased originally and completely on CD, vinyl and digitally.

Debut Hungarian album of Omega is a curious early release of the band where they acted as Hungary's answer to The Beatles. Mixing psychedelic and beat pop with hints of folk, this album only shows the bits of what would later follow.
The most successful Hungarian rock band in history, Omega is one of the rare bands to have been known outside in his country. The legend has it that as albums were released in other countries it became necessary to brake the language barrier. Their music is a combination of Eastern European prog with a bit of symphonic and a bit of psyche prog. The result is a dark orchestrated sound combined with extended improvisation. Their discography actually starts in the early 60's, and goes in till today in a more modern register.

The most successful Hungarian rock band in history, Omega is one of the rare bands to have been known outside in his country. The legend has it that as albums were released in other countries it became necessary to brake the language barrier. Their music is a combination of Eastern European prog with a bit of symphonic and a bit of psyche prog. The result is a dark orchestrated sound combined with extended improvisation. Their discography actually starts in the early 60's, and goes in till today in a more modern register.

200 Years After The Last War (1974) only shares the title track, a metaphoric piece about birth control in a totalitarian system, with the original legendary banned Hungarian version "200 évvel az utolsó háború után". The almost 20- minute "suite" on side A, originally released on OMEGA 5 in 1973, combines various influences from which the Hungarians developed their own style at the time: Blues, early Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple.

The second Hungarian album is much better than the amateurish debut, but the sound and style of the band is still not fully developed. Traces of psychedelic pop beat in "Petróleum lámpa" are being ever more informed by the burgeoning heavy rock guitar and organ riffs in "Túzvihar". The best compositions, the all-time favourite love ballad "Györgyhajú lány" (shamelessly copied and plagiarised by many, including the German metal legends Scorpions) and the powerfull, with excellent solo guitar, heavy stomping title track ("Ten Thousand Steps" in English), are at the same time the most progressive ones. The gatefold cover desing is very good showing the legacy of psychedelia.
The most successful Hungarian rock band in history, Omega is one of the rare bands to have been known outside in his country…

"Testamentum" is the 2020 conceptual farewell album by the legendary band from Hungary, which has been active since the early '60s in genres s.a. beat, psych and progressive heavy rock. Omega's (ex-)members Laszlo Benko and Tamas Mihaly as well as legendary sound engineer (and co-founder) Laszlo Nemes sadly passed away recently.

The most successful Hungarian rock band in history, Omega is one of the rare bands to have been known outside in his country. The legend has it that as albums were released in other countries it became necessary to brake the language barrier. Their music is a combination of Eastern European prog with a bit of symphonic and a bit of psyche prog. The result is a dark orchestrated sound combined with extended improvisation. Their discography actually starts in the early 60's, and goes in till today in a more modern register.

Omega was not only very successful behind the Iron Curtain but also had a large following in the West at that time, as they recorded their albums in English for the international market, especially in the 1970s. "Time Robber", "The Hall Of Floaters In The Sky" and "Gammapolis" are classics of progressive rock today, all of them were created under the direction of Peter Hauke in Frankfurt / Main. It was also Hauke who brought the band back into the studio in 1981 to record another English-language album called "Working". The album consisted mainly of tracks from the Hungarian album "Az arc", which was made in the same year. The songs were translated into English with the help of Tony Carey. Another masterpiece came about with “Working”, as well as Omega's last English-language album up to 1996.