| PROJECT 86 is back and in a big way. The band will release the double album OMNI in two parts. OMNI Part 1 arrives on March 24. Pre-order it here. OMNI Part 2 will arrive in the fall of this year. “‘0 > 1’ is a nasty, rabid, percussive swath of unsettling alternative metal rhythms, riffage, and growls, one that is sure to be a highlight on the new album,” says frontman Andrew Schwab. “The song channels the disturbing rants of a ‘fictitious’ character named Alexander Ophis, who is the founder of a tech company called OMNI (which is also the name of the forthcoming double album). I imagine Ophis as an amalgam of many of the major elite players in global politics and power at the present; He is one part Elon Musk, one part Klaus Schwab, one part Bill Gates, and yet more sadistic, twisted, and corrupted than all of them combined. Nineteen years into the future, in this song, Ophis reveals how his company conquered the world on the back of plague and famine, using technology to silence and manipulate the masses (as well as world governments, the media, and big medicine) into submission.” Watch the video for the previous single “Metatropolis” here. |
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| ABOUT OMNI: OMNI is an immersive Sci-fi/horror media experience, one part double album, one part film, one part novel. Though it is a work of fiction, it is rooted in current events, circa 2023. Sonically, it is a wholly unique merger of genres…death metal, gore, rock, electronic, and doom metal. Part one of the double album serves as the score and basis for the film/novel. Part two serves as a backstory to the emergence of OMNI, specifically its two antagonists/founders. The year is 2041. The human species has finally reached the moment where technology is poised to eradicate man’s most ancient adversary: death itself. One big-tech power-an entity called THE OMNI has emerged to lay claim to dominion over all civilization via three life-altering innovations: 1. THE PULSE: An mRNA genetic implant that has the power to regulate human emotion through algorithms. 2. THE OPTIC: an ocular/neural interface that replaces smart phones. This allows users to see virtual artifacts in their natural field of vision, introducing augmented and virtual reality into the physical world. 3. ORGANIC FISSION: a 100% sustainable energy source of spurious detail, which harvests powerful energy from “organic sources” (which are later revealed to be living humans who are disintegrated at the atomic level). The whole of the narrative focuses on the launch event for THE AUGMENT, which is the technology that finally allows man to merge with AI and become immortal. The event takes place at OMNI City (former Ankara, Turkey) at the OMNI Tower, a massive, 3km spire that is humanity’s greatest architectural achievement. The tower “floats” 200 meters above the ground, and is a luxury resort/event venue. It is also lined with LED screen projectors on every surface of its interior, making it a completely customizable virtual/physical environment. OMNI has engineered the singularity, unbeknownst to the public, with the help of “voices” from the other side (Extra-terrestrial entities which are the sources of the tech innovations). OMNI’s trust in these entities proves to be disastrous… After the announcement of THE AUGMENT, the response at the event is euphoric. But, as the event proceeds, things take a dark turn. Without the fear of the ultimate consequence (death), the true, dark nature of man becomes evident. Violence and anarchy begin to spread like yeast through dough. At the launch party in the OMNI Tower, the massive festival event turns into a violent, murderous riot of disturbing proportions. The story culminates with the narrator inviting a malicious “AI” (spirit) into his body, setting off a chain reaction of unimaginable horror on a massive scale. Ultimately, the tower, and its inhabitants, are doomed, as the singularity does not go as planned, destroying all involved, and serving as a warning to humanity for what lies ahead. “Fiery the angels fell, deep thunder rolled around their shores, burning with the fires of Orc” — Roy Batty/Willam Blake |
