“I can wait for you at the bottom, I can stay away if you want me to.”
Bad Omens have always been a band that I felt like were always on the periphery of creative success. Emerging in the mid-2010s, the band quickly gained notoriety as something of a Sempiternal-worship band, with their largely great debut self-titled record in 2016. Despite pulling off that sound well, though, I always felt that if they truly found their footing in their own sound, they’d truly excel. Their 2019 sophomore effort Finding God Before God Finds Me worked to distance the group from their Bring Me The Horizon-esque roots, but I felt it was a tad mixed in execution. However, the highlights on that record (“Dethrone”, “The Hell I Overcame”, and “Limits” from the album’s deluxe edition) more than proved that the band had what it took to carve their own path and excel at it, though I felt they hadn’t quite realized their potential just yet.
That brings us to now, with THE DEATH OF PEACE OF MIND, and from the moment this album was first teased with its title track, it was clear Bad Omens were undergoing some serious change. The pulsating, ethereal synth-driven instrumental; the elevated vocal focus (with an immense improvement on vocalist Noah Sebastian’s part); all culminating in the incredibly satisfying release of the track’s breakdown. All told, that title track was one of my favourite tracks released in 2021. The infectious chorus in particular stuck with me for some time, and that was certainly emblematic of what was to come on the full record.
The record is equally littered with synth- and riff-driven anthems, with almost all being defined by incredibly strong choruses. Mid-album cuts “Just Pretend”, “The Grey” and “Like A Villain” stand out in this regard, with the former of the three potentially holding the title as my favourite track of 2022 so far. The way Sebastian effortlessly reaches into his higher range in the track’s emotive chorus, belting “I can wait for you at the bottom, I can stay away if you want me to,” struck a chord with me from the moment I heard it for the first time, and that melody continues to live rent free in my mind, much like the title track did when it first dropped.
Late-album cut “IDWT$” combines the album’s interspersed trap-influenced production with the heavy riff-driven instrumentation, as Sebastian laments about “[not wanting] the money”. One of the most sonically diverse and fun tracks on the record, Joakin Karlsson’s metalcore-esque riffs and chugs here, combined with the trap-esque keys and synth layers fully entrance me each and every time I hear the track. On the whole, the trap, RNB and hip-hop influence on the production here – particularly evoking a similar sense to the recent outputs of Kanye West and The Weeknd – is hard to deny. It’s all to Bad Omens’ credit, too. These electronic twinges add so much character and depth to the production and songwriting across THE DEATH OF PEACE OF MIND, making almost each and every track stand out, through a wild variety of instrumental and production chops.
Of course, heavy cut and joint-second single “ARTIFICIAL SUICIDE” is going to be a track that will remain a focal talking point surrounding this album for some time to come, to be sure. Arguably the only track specifically focussed on being heavy, perhaps one or two more tracks like this would’ve been welcome, but I feel that the hyper-aggressive release of this track just before the album’s closer makes the impact of its heaviness hit all the harder. Intense nu-metal vocal scatting, percussive down-tuned riffs and Sebastian’s brutal screams help “ARTIFICIAL SUICIDE” stand out as one of the album’s best tracks, even if sonically it’s quite a stark contrast to even the relatively heavier cuts on the THE DEATH OF PEACE OF MIND.
If I could level any true criticism at the record, there’s a minor issue of flow around the album’s midpoint. The flow of the album is largely perfectly considered, but this is with the exception of tracks 10 and 11, “Who Are You” and “Somebody Else”. I feel that the album has this immense sense of momentum and variety throughout most of its gargantuan 15-track run, but at this point comes to something of a lull, placing two slow, vibe-centric tracks right next to each other. That said, in a record as stellar as THE DEATH OF PEACE OF MIND, these issues hardly, if at all, hamper my enjoyment of the album. There’s just so much great content on display here, made even more impressive by the pure length of the project, at which point most bands would’ve hit a serious quality roadblock. With that said, even outside of that, “Who Are You” would be an easy contender for the weakest track on here, even though its laid-back production and fantastic vocal performance see the track being genuinely great in isolation.
Not only their strongest record to date by a landslide, but also one of the best core-adjacent records I’ve heard in the ‘20s thus far, THE DEATH OF PEACE OF MIND is an absolute treat. Some of the best choruses in game, led by the downright jaw-dropping vocal performances from Noah Sebastian; along with some incredibly creative songwriting and production make Bad Omens’ third full-length not only an absolute must-listen, but also the album that truly sees Bad Omens realize their potential. While I had issues with the flow toward the album’s mid-to-end-point, it’s a minor speed bump on an otherwise open road.
9.5/10
THE DEATH OF PEACE OF MIND will be available on February 25th via Sumerian Records, and you can pre-order the record here.