Bad Omens is one of the millennial bands who is more pop than they are rock and the rock elements they possess are largely thanks to the production tricks in the studio. This is the conclusion I came to after realizing I had not actually heard what they sounded like when left to their own devices before I reviewed their new collaborative album. They have pretty decent taste in music when it comes to the artists they are pairing up with as Poppy and HEALTH appear on the first two songs., which are slappers for this very reason, taking the nu-skool of industrial and applying it to what Bad Omens does. However, when the guest is less impressive like Bob Vylan, the result suffers as the band needs to do more to balance things out. This why the song Poppy is on sounds more like a Poppy song and the same could be said about the HEALTH track. Wargasm does bring out the best in "Hedonist".
This is a double album with the second half being a live album I am not reviewing and just focusing on the studio portion. "Even' shows the band on their own. The result is basically a pop song proving my previous point. Thought pop with vocal melodies that are not really doing a great deal to hook you in and more of a chill sound that you might hear in the waiting area of a hair salon. There are moments like "Loading Screen' which are just interludes. With Erra on "Anything More than Human" you might assume the end results will be heavier. Wrong... they are more pop, but it's too well done for me to complain about it.
'Nervous System" features industrial strength future pop artist iRis, EXE. It sounds more like it could be just her until the band kicks in. They collaborate with Thousand Below the first being "Artifical Suicide" which conforms to a more Slipknot flavored take on nu-metal. Then they lean into the pop side of the equation for "The Grey" though there are more electronic elements, that create the re-mix feeling, taking the emphasis off the song part. The remix with We Are the Fury, clocks in closer to pop, and with it comes more emphasis on the vocal melody which is lighter and more in line with the likes of Sleep Token. So Wylie does similar honors by creating a more atmospheric pop landscape.
They keep things moving in this ambient pop direction for "BAD DECISIONS" which does not create much space between what they do and the Weeknd. It works for the song, which is a decent pop ballad. Though I am sure if their fan base is really showing up for slow jams, if they are that is even more telling about them. British pop duo Lets Eat Grandma joins them for "Just Pretend', which is another 80s-tinged synth wave ballad. I will round this down to a 9, it's holding the score there since there are some really strong songs on the first half, and the last quarter of the album weighs things down with the ballads, though most are well done, it just depends if that is what you are in the mood for.
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