Omega (Asia album)

Omega
Studio album by Asia
Released 23 April 2010
Recorded October 2009 – February 2010
Studio Liscombe Park Studios, UK
Genre Progressive rock
Length 56:38 [note 1]
Label Frontiers
Producer Mike Paxman
Asia chronology
Phoenix
(2008)Phoenix2008		 Omega
(2010)		 XXX
(2012)XXX2012
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]
Lords of Metal92/100[2]

Omega is the twelfth studio album by British progressive rock band Asia, released in Europe on 23 April 2010 by Frontiers Records.[3] It is the second to feature all four original members (Geoff Downes, Steve Howe, Carl Palmer and John Wetton) after the reunion in 2006.

"Finger on the Trigger" was previously recorded by Wetton and Downes's side band Icon for their second studio album.

Title meaning and cover artwork

John Wetton explained the album title: "The title 'Omega', as any fan of the band will tell you, is 'very Asia' (as is the album, by the way). It no more means 'final' than 'Alpha' means 'the first' (which it wasn't). It's a great sounding/looking word, and a bookend to 'Alpha'. In many ways, musically and conceptually, the two albums share commonality".[3]

As with many of Asia's releases, the cover artwork was created by Roger Dean. The white tiger on the front cover indicates that 2010 is the Year of the Tiger in the Chinese calendar.[3] The tiger face also resembles the emblem of a former publishing company named Paper Tiger Books in which Roger Dean was involved in the 1970s.

Critical reception

Bret Adams of Allmusic, in a three-and-a-half-star review, concluded that "Phoenix has better songs overall than Omega – probably due to the initial excitement and creative surge spawned by the reunion – but Omega satisfies, and longtime fans will enjoy it", and called the album "Asia being Asia".[1]

Omega was named as the seventh-best album of 2010 by Classic Rock Presents... Prog magazine.[4]

Track listing

All tracks written by John Wetton and Geoff Downes except when noted.

No.TitleLength
1."Finger on the Trigger"04:30
2."Through My Veins" (Steve Howe, Wetton)05:08
3."Holy War"05:59
4."Ever Yours"04:04
5."Listen, Children"05:56
6."End of the World"05:39
7."Light the Way" (Howe, Wetton)05:09
8."Emily" (Digipak 1st pressing bonus track)05:12
9."I'm Still the Same"04:43
10."There Was a Time"05:58
11."I Believe"04:42
12."Don't Wanna Lose You Now"04:45

Credits

Charts

Chart (2010) Peak position
French Albums (SNEP)[5] 158
German Albums (Media Control)[6] 56
Japanese Albums (Oricon)[7] 29
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[8] 47
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[9] 55
UK Albums (OCC)[10] 135

Notes

  1. ↑ The length is indicated for the regular 11-tracks edition (without tracks "Emily" and "Drop a Stone").

References

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