12. Power of Omens -
Eyes of the Oracle & Rooms of Anguish Genre: Progressive Metal
For fans of: Geoff Tate style vocals
What makes this special: Great Texas prog band that just never got the break it needed before their bassist died.
This is the greatest fluke in my collection. I bought the album sight unseen based on the name of the band, because my nickname since I was 10 years old was "Omen" or "Bad Omen". Well, I lucked out on two fronts. One, they play some great progressive metal, and two, I didn't have to shell out a large sum for a used copy like you do now for
Eyes of the Oracle. Power of Omens also just happens to hit my sweet spot in terms of music, I like complex compositions with a lot of things going on at once, which is why this and Clockwork (#18 on this list) rate so high for me. But where Clockwork had a brighter tone, Power of Omens has a darker more sinister tone, which they do a great job with blending and complementing Chris Salinas high register vocals. You might remember we discussed Chris back at #49 when discussing Zero Hour, this is where he got his start.
Musically,
Eyes of the Oracle is like a darker, much more complex version of awesome-era Queensrÿche, whereas
Rooms of Anguish has a sound that draws more Spanish influence. Hopefully you guys can find them on spotify or something, because I've always enjoyed this band, and not just for Chris Salinas. I'd love to see the other guys in the band do something again.
Tracks to try: Word on a Line, The Fall, Test of Wills, My Best to Be..., As Winter Falls, Only a Dream (yes, I picked some long ass songs. Deal with it.)