After two years, and for the third time in four years, Omnigone has announced a new album. Omnigone continues to dominate as California’s East Bay’s preeminent ska punk band, carrying the torch from Link 80 and Operation Ivy, and carrying it well, continuing to ensure that the East Bay is not just a location but also a sound and a message. The newly announced album is 14 songs, and is spear-headed by the single “Corpse of Corporations”.
“Corpse of Corporations” is 2 minutes and 15 seconds of powerful ska core, with standard fast paced ska guitar riffs, excellent breakdowns, Adam Davis’s trademark power screams and aggressive vocals, and incredibly fast drums at times. The backing vocals in this song feel like a bit of an evolution in Omnigone’s sound, and the instrumental bridges between verses add a little more texture. The solo behind the screams of “We Defy You” adds more metal and hardcore than I was expecting, given the more ska-centered rhythms of the verses.
Lyrically, the song is what you might expect if you’ve been listening to any of Omnigone’s previous albums and paid attention to the song title. “We are being bought and sold” by our politicians to corporations and profiteers. “We defy you” is not just a statement of fact, it is a command to all who have not yet awakened to see that we are the pawns and the products whose data is bought and sold as commodities and whose labor is exploited. But we still have the power to fight back. This is a call to exercise that power while we still can.
Omnigone has a specific hardcore ska punk style, and every album retains that specific style while their songwriting continues to improve. This song could easily fit on any of the last few albums, but those albums were both incredible. There is a growth in the songwriting, but it is also incredibly familiar. I expect much of the album to feel the same, but the world is also even darker today than it was two years ago, and I expect that reality to be reflected in the lyrics. There were at least three major tonal changes in this song, and I like that aspect of the song; it breaks the pacing and tempo and draws more attention to the lyrics. The song features an impressive guitar solo, and a dominant bass line that sucks you in. This feels like the best work Omnigone has put out, even as there are countless songs on other albums that I love. I can’t wait to hear more.
Take a listen to “Corpse of Corporations” below, and look out for the new album Turn Up The Fear on August 14th.
Written by Gimp Leg
