Bad Omens

Bad Omens formed in Richmond, Virginia in 2015 around vocalist and producer Noah Sebastian, and in the decade since, they have traced one of the most ambitious arcs in modern rock. Beginning as a metalcore outfit and gradually expanding their palette to encompass dark pop, atmospheric electronics, and R&B influences, the band has continually challenged what heavy music can sound like without ever losing the intensity at its core.

The Richmond scene gave the band its grounding, but their early work quickly drew attention well beyond the region. Sebastian, who serves as both frontman and a key creative force in the production room, brings a confessional quality to the writing that keeps the heaviness from feeling abstract. The songs are always about something, and that directness has resonated. The band assembled around him, with guitarist Nicholas Ruffilo, bassist Vincent Riquier, guitarist and producer Joakim "Jolly" Karlsson, and drummer Nick Folio, developed a chemistry that allows the music to breathe in multiple directions at once.

The band's third album, THE DEATH OF PEACE OF MIND, released in February 2022 through Sumerian Records, changed the conversation entirely. Built around synth-laden production and layered atmospheric textures, the record blended metalcore instincts with something altogether more expansive. "Just Pretend" became their defining track, a platinum-certified single that connected a stadium-sized hook to a direct and unflinching emotional statement. "THE DEATH OF PEACE OF MIND," the title track, and "Like A Villain" offered further proof that this was a band thinking about the long game, capable of writing with craft and care across a full album's worth of material rather than relying on isolated moments.

The momentum has not slowed. In 2025, Bad Omens have continued releasing music that documents their evolution in real time. "Specter," which arrived in August 2025 through Sumerian Records, opens with delicate, atmospheric production before building into a hard-hitting chorus framed by ominous electronic flourishes. "Left For Good" followed, bringing dark industrial electronics and metallic grit together with the band's melodic instincts, arriving via a global premiere on Apple Music's New Music Daily. These tracks, alongside "Dying to Love" and "Impose," are being understood as pieces of a forthcoming studio record that Sebastian has described as potentially among their most ambitious yet. He has spoken about having enough material for two records, a creative overflow that suggests a band working at the height of its powers.

Bad Omens are defined by their restlessness. They do not mistake heaviness for stasis, and they do not treat atmospheric production as decoration. Everything in their music serves the song, and the songs serve something genuine: the experience of feeling things at full volume. Their willingness to grow without abandoning the core of what makes rock music matter is precisely what makes them one of the most compelling acts working today, a band that earns its ambition because the craft has always been there to back it up.