One of my favorite things about having founded Ascribe is just how much music I encounter every day. From watching new artists grow and develop their sound, to rediscovering old favorites and seeing what they’ve gotten up to, the past (almost) four years have saturated my ears (and email inbox) with hundreds of songs from hundreds of artists across the world. Most would think I have an ever-changing music taste — artists new and seasoned alike shifting in and out of my Spotify rotation as new releases fall onto my radar.
They’d be wrong. It’s like pulling teeth. Ascribe’s Managerial Assistant, Lexi Matuson, describes it as “moving laterally” across pop punk, with some hyperpop sprinkled in on occasion. “You’re a loyal fan to the music you like,” she elaborates in a far kinder way of saying what she means, but it’s true. I stick to what I like, and any moves outside that box are careful and somewhat calculated.
So, when my best friend messaged me about her new favorite band, Bad Omens, I wasn’t expecting to add anything of theirs to my regular rotation of songs. It was no slight to the band — I’ve known of them for years but hadn’t ever taken the time to listen. Plus, getting me to listen to something outside of writing a review would be a feat on its own; to actually like the artist and listen to them on my own would be something else entirely. It took her months to get me to put me on the likes of Deftones, Teenage Wrist, Loathe, and Boston Manor — I expected Bad Omens to be no exception.
Still, she spent a good few weeks sending recommendations, trying just a bit harder each time to find which track from their ever-sonically-evolving discography could scratch my brain in the right way for a previously mentioned lateral move to occur.
They were out of left field, almost. An old pinpoint on my music-interest-map that I hadn’t visited in quite some time. My interest in metalcore has been fairly limited in the past decade, keeping the same old Asking Alexandria, Bring Me The Horizon, and We Came As Romans songs on repeat. Something about Bad Omens stuck out in my brain though, and demanded further listening.
It’s new — and not “shiny repackaging of an existing genre with a big label’s bow on it” new, but “unheard of” new. While their prior releases tend to fall in line with the standard sound of metal-influenced bands at the time (while still being really, really good), what got the band to fall onto my radar — and stay there — was their most recent record, THE DEATH OF PEACE OF MIND.
TDOPOM takes metalcore and infuses it with R&B influences, but doesn’t stop there. The album is injected with electronics, heavy guitars, and quite literally the most impressive vocal range the scene has had the privilege of witnessing. It’s explosive. Sexy and smooth but angry and punchy when it needs to be. The record showcases the band growing both sonically and lyrically as artists, approaching their third record with fresher perspectives and an openness for experimentation and growth. Said growth is impressively self-produced, and mixed/mastered by alt-rock legend Zakk Cervini. Needless to say, it’s a recipe for perfection in hindsight.
It’s how Ban Omens approach this artistic growth and maturation of their sound that makes them stand out. There’s several leaps to be done to get from the band’s sophomore record Finding God Before God Finds Me before we can even try to reach the sound of THE DEATH OF PEACE OF MIND, yet it’s still jam-packed of influences that call back to their roots. It’s familiar enough to keep long-time fans around without stifling the band’s creativity, but different enough to keep them from growing stagnant or too comfortable in what they write.
Simply put, Bad Omens made no lateral moves. They took want they wanted and ran with it, stopping for no one along the way.
To take such a risk is often dangerous. Many bands have felt the need to shift their sound with each record, but often struggle to find their footing (The 1975’s Notes On A Conditional Form comes to mind, no matter how much a personal hot take that may be). And yet, TDOPOM finds Bad Omens on their A-game, with nowhere to go but up.
After about three or four consecutive front-to-back listens to what is now my obvious choice for Album of the Year, I decided it was clearly one meant to be listened to live. But there’s only one small problem with that sentiment: I can’t. Their show in Tampa is sold out, and it didn’t take long for that to happen. This would usually be the time when someone checks out resale sites like Stubhub or Seat Geek … but there’s no resale available. There isn’t a soul who wants to part with their ticket.
Tampa’s not alone in that. The band’s upcoming headliner, “A Tour of the Concrete Jungle,” is just three shows shy of being entirely sold out (at the time of writing this). Featuring support from Dayseeker, Make Them Suffer, and Thousand Below, the shows feature a wide range of more venue sizes (Tampa’s Orpheum caps at a little over 700 meanwhile Charlotte’s Fillmore fits around 2000), all sold out or nearing it quickly. The range in venue sizes isn’t something to turn your nose up at either — quite the opposite, in fact. Bad Omens is headlining shows in venues they opened shows at just earlier this year on their run with Underoath, with some of the upgraded venues in cities they just played in pulling larger crowds than the venues on the Underoath tour could even hold.
That leaves us here, just mere weeks away from the tour’s kickoff. Anyone who already knew Bad Omens was the scene’s best-kept-secret gets to enjoy sold out shows while many wait with baited breath for the band’s next string of shows; the band announced that A Tour of The Concrete Jungle will have no more shows added, and no more venues upgraded. I don’t think it’s bold to say that Bad Omens may find that this is their last tour playing any venues less than 1500-cap.
The alt scene has waited a long time for something new. In an era of alt making its way back to the mainstream, listeners and critics are more analytical now than ever to pick apart anything that graces their ears. But if you try to pick apart anything from THE DEATH OF PEACE OF MIND, you’ll find that Bad Omens has baked in layer upon layer of intricacies to their work in hopes that you’ll do exactly that, all to prove that no, they aren’t comparable to any other band you used to group them in with — they’re actually leagues ahead, and you better catch up.
You can stream TDOPOM below (please do — you’re missing out if you don’t). If you’re one of the lucky few who still have a few tickets available for the band’s stop in your city on their Tour of the Concrete Jungle, you can click here to grab tickets.
