Detroit techno pioneer Robert Hood has announced that he will release a heavily conceptual new album this spring on his own M-Plant records.
Entitled Omega, the record was written and produced as a soundtrack to one of Hood's favorite films, a 1971 sci-fi film called The Omega Man. Based on Richard Matheson's 1954 novel I Am Legend (which was re-adapted to the screen in 2007 with Will Smith), The Omega Man starred Charlton Heston as Colonel Robert Neville, the survivor of a biological war between China and The Soviet Union. Neville believes he is the only human left on earth, and his entire life is an ongoing battle with The Family, a race of nocturnal mutants determined to wipe out what remains of technological society.
The Omega Man has always been a massive inspiration to Hood, artistically as well as spiritually. "Ever since I saw that movie as a child, it has haunted me," he says. In an interview with FACT Magazine, Hood said the film is "definitely metaphoric and if we don't heed the signs, this is where we'll end up." He went on to explain: "We live in a society where we just consume. We just take... We don't operate on the concept of giving. When we go to raves or to holidays, we see it only as an opportunity to consume, but not to give input."
The album will play out exactly as if it were The Omega Man's musical score, which is precisely how Hood conceived it. "I just imagined myself if I were commissioned to do this soundtrack. What would it be like?"
Tracklist
1. Alpha (The Beginning) 01:36
2. The Plague (Cleansing Maneuvers) 04:43
3. Towns That Disappeared Completely 07:45
4. Alpha 08:43
5. Think Fast 05:13
6. The Workers Of Iniquity 06:21
7. Are You God? 06:20
8. The Family Watches 07:10
9. War In The Streets 05:35
10. Saved By The Fire 06:56
11. The Wheels Of Escape 06:10
12. Omega (End Times) 09:35