American metalcore rockers, Bad Omens, sold out the Glasgow Garage after two upgrades to bigger venues. This gig was absolutely full, and many fans were in search of tickets up to the last minute!
The alternative metal band formed 8 years ago from Virginia, USA consists of Noah Sebastian on lead vocals showing off his perfect melodic vocals embroidered with his screamo ability. With mighty riffs from guitarists Joakim ‘Jolly’ Karlsson and Nicholas Ruffilo and banging beats on drums with Nick Folio.
They remind me of a mix between older Bring Me The Horizon and would suit fans of Architects, I Prevail, and Beartooth.
They kicked off the night with ‘Concrete Jungle’ and ‘Artificial Suicide’ which needed no invitation for crowd surfers or mosh pits as the energy in the room was at maximum level full of people in circle pits, headbanging and pelting out to Sebastian’s screamo vocal technique.
Their 16-song setlist included a three song encore covering the new material from their latest album ‘The Death of Peace and Mind’ but also took regular fans back to their original material and what got them started on their musical career.
It was brilliant to hear Noah Sebastian introduce the first single they ever released as they thanked Scottish fans for selling this gig out multiple times as they then played ‘Glass Houses’.
Continuing with more tracks from their latest album ‘Never Know’ and ‘Nowhere To Go’ to name a few, it was evident that the crowd ate up every ounce of energy that Bad Omens were kicking off. The band were living for the crowd and as Sebastian introduced ‘Mercy’ for those who were familiar with one of their previous albums: ‘Finding God Before God Finds Me’, he set the crowd to prepare for the wall of death. Despite how full to capacity this gig was and given the space at Glasgow’s venue, the Garage, the crowd did not hesitate to comply with Sebastian’s request as they were slamming together.
Given it was a heavy song full of (possibly blood) sweat and tears, the transition to ‘Who Are You’ allowed the vibe to come down for a more chilled, moody song.
A dedication by Sebastian was for ‘the people who have ever worked hard and have had nothing to show for it’ as he then went into ‘IDWT$’ bringing back the thunderous vocals, beats, and riffs.
The musical connection with their choice of the set-list was faultless. The crowd was fully engaged with every second of this gig, and this is one that I’ve never seen so many crowd surfers in my life before. Every person in that space was bangin’ to the symphonic vs screamo vocals to the exhilarating energy from each fan to band member.
This gig confirmed any rumours of Bad Omens being the new band to watch, the epic four piece are truly one to keep an eye on, and I am really excited to see what the future holds for them as they take on the waves of nu metal and metal-core.