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Omni Image
Metascore
65

Generally favorable reviews - based on 17 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
6.9

Generally favorable reviews- based on 22 Ratings

  • Summary: Joe Chiccarelli produced the Seattle-based rock group's fourth album on new label Dangerbird Records.

Top Track

Hold Me Down
And I'm in the wind. I am going to let it take me where it may. Maybe it lifts me to New Orleans, Or the dark streets of L.A. I'm in the wind, I... See the rest of the song lyrics
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 17
  2. Negative: 1 out of 17
  1. Alternative Press
    90
    As Minus The Bear stray further from the prickly, smartass math-rock of thier early days, the group seem focused on crafting the perfect album to launch them into another dimensuion entirely--and Omni, with its brainy intricacy and adventurous heart, may just be that spaceship. [Jun 2010, p.106]
  2. 80
    Omni doesn't reach the same dizzying heights that some of their past releases have attained, but it's a solid piece of work. Definitely something to keep blasting in the car for the upcoming summer months.
  3. Filter
    76
    Minus The Bear is still boasting its trademark funkadelic rock grooves meshed with electro-pop quirk, but now with a smoother and more linear structure. [Spring/Summer 2010, p.108]
  4. For the most, the album shows Minus the Bear tinkering very little with the sound it crafted on past releases. However, in the few instances on OMNI when the group does step away from its tried-and-true formula, the result features less forward-thinking experimentation and, instead, contains a larger does of '90s alt rock.
  5. Uncut
    60
    Producer Joe Chiccarelli curbs their proggy tendencies in favor of chromed-out, geometrically precise arrangements embedded with bull's eye melodic and instrumental hooks. [Jul 2010, p.115]
  6. Tracks such as "Excuses," "Animal Backwards" and, in particular, "Into the Mirror" caress the ears with hypnotic funk, yet these triumphs are only ripples against a stronger tide, as lyrically Omni is a damp blanket.
  7. It's overproduced as hell, filled with all manner of electro doodads and backmasking effects, but it also boasts an immediacy and pop smarts heretofore unheard from the band. Unfortunately, that directness applies to the lyrics as well, and they simply cannot be ignored.

See all 17 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 1
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 1
  3. Negative: 0 out of 1
  1. May 3, 2017
    7
    A less successful effort from the group, but there are some gems in there, as well. Even though some songs are set up for a full listening,A less successful effort from the group, but there are some gems in there, as well. Even though some songs are set up for a full listening, they just are not successful in that way (Animal Backwards maintaining the Into the Mirror theme but being offset a 16th note, Summer Angel starting in same key (pitch) and tempo where My Time ends). Overall, it seems like the band is trying too hard in spots (for a new sound, integrating new ideas from new members?).

    However, My Time is a solid song if you like electronics. Dayglow Vista Road is an awesome song with many layers - very unique, syncopated groove from Erin Tate on drums - and Excuses and Hold Me Down are well written tunes that don't seem to have been overladen with attempts to make them what they are not. It becomes clear on this album that Jake's voice just seems to get smoother and smoother, and the band is allowing space for his vocals to shine through (Fooled by the Night). Although the syncopation is still there, the album is essentially all in "simple" 4/4 time (minus the electronics vs. acoustic instruments in the intro of Dayglow and the unison hits in the coda), which is an adjustment for those that have lived through their discography. Less consistent album here but still some very good tracks.
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