Nothing Lasts Forever Posted January 18, 2024 By RyanAdams_NRT, Staff Reviewer
What You Need To Know Project 86 has been a staple in the Christian hard rock and metal scene for 20 years. They have announced that their time in the music world is ending as a band and launched a crowdfunding project to fund their last album, which was so successful that the band split efforts to make a two-part concept album, OMNI, which is finally released in full.
What It Sounds Like
Andrew Schwab, the lead singer, and writer, shared on the As The Story Grows podcast that he had believed he had a nodule that prevented him from performing with such aggressive vocals that he tried in earlier Project 86 music. In 2020, he saw a specialist who opened his vocals, and now he unleashes the most intense metal vocals Project 86 has ever seen.
In addition to incredible vocals, the band's instrumental prowess has only grown in intensity to match Andrew. However, OMNI as a whole also features a variety of creative elements hardly seen before. Fans will hear electronic/futuristic parts throughout the record, just like Part 1. In a preferred change, there are fewer conceptual interlude tracks/pieces in Part 2 than in Part 1, lending to an onslaught of heavy Project 86 music.
Spiritual Highlights OMNI is conceptual, so some of the biblical basis previous Project 86 records have is generally less obvious. This post-apocalyptic, sci-fi theme is foreign in lyrical content. The main plot revolves around technology that allows man to merge with artificial intelligence to become immortal.
The lyrics are visual and narrative in nature. The longing for immortality, or more so to be something greater than ourselves, is a universal experience. This event and pursuit reveal man's corrupt nature more than ever before; the plans for godhood are ruined, and disaster strikes. There are moral and spiritual lessons to be learned from the storyline of OMNI parts 1 and 2 beneath the surface.
Best Song
Each song in a concept album is a part of a larger storyline. A few songs stand out on OMNI Pt. 2. "Complete The Circle" is a more direct narrative of the OMNI story, with the tyrannical antagonist declaring, "To upgrade we must dismantle/to remake we first destroy." This futuristic story's message is all too real throughout history: the reckless, careless progress of humanity without God is a world without peace or love. Another song that complements the story is the single "UltavioleNt." This song's lyrics portray victims of a world like this, people who feel paralyzed in terror.
Last Words OMNI is a magnum opus of Project 86 and Andrew Schwab. It is a package for long-term fans and plenty for newer fans to love. With Parts 1 and 2, OMNI will be a musical project that will echo in the minds of many fans for years to come, a showcase of musical expertise in balancing narrative, musical, and lyrical talent.
