In their heaviest and darkest release to date, Project 86 have released Omni, Part 1 of their double album which will eventually be accompanied by a storybook and visual album.
Starting back in 1996 in Orange County, California, Project 86 has made quite an impact as a band when you count the 11 albums, two DVDs, two Eps and one live album with more than half a million units being moved globally. Vocalist and lyricist Andrew Schwab has been a favorite of many for years and he has also released a number of books and hosts Pioneers podcast. Schwab’s voice is instantly recognizable and has that unique ability to cut through seemingly all music conveying emotion and conviction with clarity. As was the case with their last album, Sheep Among Wolves, the band chose to crowdfund The Final Chapter effort and easily met their initial goals and moved well into the stretch goals which will fund some of the other releases to go into this project. As they have in the past, the band has released a concept album, in this case Omni, Part 1 telling the story of a dystopian future, where technology has become the rule of the day and controlled by a corporation. Part 2 will be the origin story and consist of the Brutality ep and Digital ep. The album was recorded at Spire Studios in Springfield, MO with Beau Burchell (Senses Fail, Saosin) producing.
Of all the Project 86 albums, their first concept one, Truthless Heroes, still remains one of my favorites and when Andrew Schwab released a playlist on Spotify rearranging the songs as he would have liked to have had on the album, I instantly added that to my favorites and go back to it often. Omni, Part 1 is so much darker than anything the band has done before, it is almost unrecognizable as a Project 86 album. Some of that has to do with the added electronic elements in the songs and the overall production which ends up muddying the sound compared to the band’s other efforts which are more stripped down that what is here. To fully appreciate Omni, Part 1, I highly recommend a first listen with headphones and some time set aside to go through the album as a whole since it works best as a complete story.
Project 86‘s fan-funded new double album, book and film “Omni” is coming together. The group worked with producer/mixer/musician Beau Burchell (Saosin) on the first half of that record, which is expected to be the band’s collective new output.
Project 86 hails from Orange County, California, formed in 1996. The band has released ten albums, two EPs, two DVDs, and one live album. Their music is considered by most to be a rock/post-hardcore/alternative style. Frontman Andrew Schwab‘s poetic and introspective lyrics have addressed a wide variety of topics such as conformity and emptiness. Last year Nov. they were part of the tenth anniversary of Brainstorm Festival (Netherlands) where they played an amazing show. A month later the band released their tenth album “Sheep Among Wolves”, the album is well received and gets good reviews by the press.
Last November, the American heavy rock / post-hardcore band Project 86 played at the Brainstorm Festival in Apeldoorn (the Netherlands). It was 9 years since the band last visited the Netherlands (for 10,000 people at the Flevo Festival), while there was a lot of touring in Europe during those years. The show at Brainstorm was a great success and with that the foundation was laid for more. Fan-filmed footage of that show can be seen below.