Nowadays it seems almost everybody in the progressive rock scene would like to release an album with only two tracks on it. One track on each side of a vinyl album so to speak. The first one that I came across was The Good Man (2024, see review) by Alex Carpani. After that Steven Wilson came with The Overview (2025, see review). And now Antony Kalugin, our friend from the Ukraine, released with Karfagen Omni, an album which is split up into two parts as well. It has been a long time since I reviewed an album of Karfagen myself. In 2011 I reviewed Lost Symphony (see review) and before that all the releases that came out as well. It didn't mean I lost track of the music created by Kalugin. I am still up to date about what he and his projects are releasing. But at the time I thought it is time for other reviewers to shine their lights on those albums made after Lost Symphony. The album title OMNI comes from the Latin word omnis, meaning "all" or "universal". According to Antony this perfectly reflects the spirit of the record—bringing together incredible guest musicians, blending genres, and creating a limitless musical experience. Well he is right about that. Because for this new release he managed to get a stellar line up of guest musicians. Moreover he came up with some excellent music which is sometimes a mix of different musical styles on which the sky is the limit. An album such as OMNI only asks for a detailed review in my opinion. Because so much is happening on the 45 minutes of music divided into two parts. So here we go! The album starts with OMNI Part 1and is 23 minutes long. The opening tune has the title Omni Overture and is an instrumental. At first you think you are listening to Between The Lines taken from the Duke album made by Genesis in 1980. But here Kalugin sets you on the wrong foot and soon we are in Karfagen land with strong guitar and synthesizer parts. Without noticing you are already in the second track. Storyteller (Part 1)features the wonderful voice and fretless bass parts of Richard Sinclair. With his typical voice you think you are listening to a Canterbury band such as Caravan. But also Camel comes to mind. The track also features strong contributions of John Hackett on flute and Michel St-Pere (Mystery, Huis) on guitar. And again without noticing you are already in the second track. Whispers From The Past is more mellow and features next to Antony himself on vocals Bartosz Kossowicz (Quidam, Collage) on additional vocals. It evokes musical memories of guitar players such as Anthony Phillips and Steve Hackett. And again without noticing you are already in the next track. The Spark is more up tempo and features the strong vocals parts of Per Malmberg of Salva. He is also responsible for some guitar and bass parts. But it is Max Velychko who is doing all of the excellent guitar solos I guess. Antony himself treats us on some excellent synthesizer solos himself. And again without noticing you are already in the next track. Masterplan has some strong vocals by Antony himself and his wife Olha Rostovska is helping out her husband with some strong backing vocals as well. On this up tempo piece with mellow parts some beautiful synthesizer parts can be enjoyed all the way! And again without noticing you are already in the next track. Mirror Of Souls ends the first part of OMNI. This short instrumental sounds like classical music or a movie soundtrack. John Hackett does great playing on the flute next to Daniel Ilyin on electric violin. OMNI Part 2 is 22 minutes long and opens with Unchained. It features the very strong vocals of Jean Pageau, the lead singer of Mystery. Therefore it isn't so strange that a comparison with this band on this composition is easily made. But it is not Michel St-Pere on guitar who shines here. No again it is Max Velychko that lets his guitar speak. And again without noticing you are already in the next track. The Cards We Play starts with some fantastic flute playing by John Hackett before Marco Glühmann enters. Of course with a voice like this it is easy to compare it with a song done by his own band Sylvan. For this tune Michel St-Pere was asked again to do some great guitar parts. Also here again Antony's wife shines again on backing vocals. And Antony himself did some great synthesizer parts as well. Next up is You And I. It features strong lead vocals done by Bartosz Kossowicz and Michel St-Pere does some great guitar parts again. Richard Sinclair contributes here again with some excellent fretless bass parts. And again without noticing you are already in the next track. Storyteller (Part 2) ends the second part of OMNI. It has of course some similarity with Storyteller (Part 1).Again it features Richard Sinclair on fretless bass and lead vocals. However this time around he shares the lead vocals with Kalugin. This duo vocal part is very strongly done and rather enjoyable to listen to. Of course again the typical Sinclair vocals makes you you think you are listening to Caravan. Michel St-Pere and Kalugin makes sure there is enough to enjoy music wise. Again some great musical parts from them can be heard. Finally some words about the cover design. Again Krzysztof Wiśniewski delivered some outstanding art work like many of the bands earlier releases. I guess a strong progressive rock album needs some strong art work as well. And Kalugin understands this very well. With OMNI Antony Kalugin and his Karfagen (with many guests) released one of the best albums of 2025. No doubt about that. Every track on this "Symphonic Art Rock Suite" (subtitle of the album) is a musical highlight. So much variety on this musical score. Therefore the album can be considered as a true masterpiece. Everything is just perfect on this 45 minutes long disc. Maybe it is a bit short with the total time of music. But if you know how many albums Kalugin releases in a very short amount of time it still is long enough. It is without any doubt one of the best albums Antony has written and recorded so far. It doesn't mean all of his earlier albums are less music wise. Oh no. Not at all. Everything this musicians releases is of a very high level. But with OMNI, the picture is just perfect. Not as single note or tune too much. It all comes together on this album. So thumbs up for this excellent multi-instrumentalist. The five stars are well deserved. Highly recommended!!! ***** Henri Strik (edited by Tracy van Os van den Abeelen) Where to buy? |
