Bad Omens - Bad Omens

Post-hardcore lovers will be all over the new band on the street Bad Omens, but they've yet to find their own voice. Their eponymous debut is some standard post-hardcore work, and channels Bring Me The Horizon in more ways than it feasibly should.

There isn't too much to say about this record that you can't say about Bring Me The Horizon. Bad Omens is like a less fleshed out Sempiternal - the rock vibes are there; but the songwriting, not quite. Despite this, there is still a lot to enjoy on the record. It opens big with the epic 'Glass Houses', with its ethereal opening and huge anthemic choruses. 'The Worst In Me' follows in much the same suit, big riffs and choruses sounding something like twenty one pilots meets BMTH. The album's slow ballad 'Enough, Enough Now' has odd screaming on top of reverberating piano but builds to an epic, wallowing conclusion. 'Crawl' is another slow moving some, but less-so in a ballad manner. It's a piano track that showcases the impressive vocal register of Noah Sebastian that concludes with epic orchestras and gang vocals, the latter of which make 'Reprise (The Sound Of The End)', an atmospheric track with brilliant instrumentation a great song.  It's not without jams, either. 'F E R A L' has a big riff and a harsh vocal line that'll have you headbanging in no time.

Now, we have to get into how similar this album is to Bring Me The Horizon. It's been said at least three times in this review already, but it's truly disappointing how this band doesn't have its own established voice yet. The atmosphere, the vocals, the instrumentation is just what every other post-hardcore album sounds like that has followed in this vein. It's not even Sempiternal and beyond BMTH they channel; 'Malice' is the early stages of the band, and the vocals are just horrendous. The only thing keeping this album from being great is the lack of voice this band has. We've heard it all before, right down to the same pointless message of 'Broken Youth'. In case it wasn't clear, that's the typical edgy track on the record. Listening to it just leaves you wanting something different. Not something that Bring Me The Horizon can do infinitely better.

By no means is Bad Omens a bad debut to start this band's career, but it falls into the trap of having influences. Do you want to sound similar to a band you look up to, or do you want to sound exactly the same? If the answer's the second option, perhaps a cover band may be the better route to take. Bad Omens has a lot of untapped potential, and hopefully as their next effort comes around the find their own stake in the post-hardcore world.

Favorite Tracks: Glass Houses, The Worst In Me; Enough, Enough Now

Least Favorite Tracks: Malice, Broken Youth

Rating: 68 / 100