Bad Omens is an American metalcore band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 2015 by frontman Noah Sebastian, guitarist Nicholas Ruffilo, and bassist Vincent Riquier. The band added guitarist Joakim "Jolly" Karlsson, and drummer Nick Folio. The group released their critically acclaimed debut self-titled album in 2016 off Sumerian Records.

The idea to form Bad Omens[1] came in 2013 when Noah Sebastian began secretly making lyrics while also performing guitar duties for a DC-based act named Immortalize. In 2014, Sebastian departed from his former band, with Bad Omens in sight. The following year in 2015, he contacted an old friend, Nicholas Ruffilo, to start the band.[2] He then added another mate, Vincent Riquier, who introduced him to a friend from Sweden, Jolly Karlsson. Karlsson had known Riquier through being touring mates from an old project from Riquier. With those four members, the group moved out of their homes in Sweden and Richmond. Karlsson had the idea to make the move when a friend of his began a small record label that was initially producing the band's songs. Nick Folio joined after submitting an online cover of a demo the band put out while seeking a drummer. Thus became Bad Omens. The band put out an untitled demo EP[3] containing rough versions of their debut album tracks, which caught the eye of Sumerian Records. The EP was good enough for Sumerian to recommend taking most of the tracks and putting them on a full-length. After months of rehearsal in Folio's basement, the band set off to Belleville, New Jersey, to record with their debut album with producer Will Putney (Upon a Burning Body, The Amity Affliction, Body Count) at Graphic Nature Audio. That very same year in December, the band landed a recorded deal and released a single and complementary music video for "Glass Houses" through the Sumerian YouTube channel. The single received some attention. A month later, the band released "Exit Wounds". In April 2016, "The Worst in Me" was released, which absolutely blew up[4], throwing Bad Omens into the limelight with almost one-million streams in a month. This garnered Bad Omens an opening spot on the Ten Years in the Black Tour[5], a tenth-anniversary Sumerian Records tour headlined by Asking Alexandria, with supporting acts such as Veil of Maya (in certain shows), After the Burial, Upon a Burning Body, I See Stars and Born of Osiris. This tour not only boosted their morale as a band, but also shed light on their debut album that had just been released on August 19, 2016[6]. The album was received well and Metalinjection.net rated it an 8.5 out of 10. Many critics compared it to Bring Me the Horizon's Sempiternal release in 2013[7], which has been arguably one of the best metal releases in the 21st century. Bad Omens' rising fame got them a spot on Warped Tour in 2017, which gave them notice from pop punk fans and metal fans alike. The same year, Noah Sebastian worked with American deathcore act, Winds Of Plague on their fifth studio album Blood of My Enemy. The band embarked on what is seemingly their largest tour yet, supporting Parkway Drive on their Reverence tour[8] [9]along with Stick to Your Guns in the spring of 2018. As of that tour, the band has since finished writing their sophomore effort, but have not released other information besides that.

On July 9th, 2018, Bad Omens announced Vincent Riquier's departure from the band, due to a severe back injury, rendering him unable to tour with the band. This was announced on their social media pages, as well as a statement made by Riquier:

“A couple months ago, I informed my bandmates that I would no longer be able to tour with them. After my back injury in Europe last year, my time in recovery forced me to re-evaluate many aspects of my life; most importantly, the limitations of what I could endure both mentally and physically therein. My conversation with the band was met with nothing but love and complete understanding, because at the end of the day, we are and remain a family.

As for my future involvement with the band, I hope to always be there in any way that I can, lending my endless support to the brothers I have come to experience and grow with so very much since our first days together writing songs in a basement. I would like to thank my bandmates for sharing the road with me, quite literally and figuratively. Our team, all of the tremendous and amazing bands that took us out on the road and helped us to carve out such a solid start to our career. Most importantly, I would like to thank each and every one of you that came out to those shows and made them what they were for me, for all of us. You made it all worth it in the end." -Vincent Riquier

The lyrical content of the band's debut revolves mostly around despair, mental health struggles, and addiction. Noah Sebastian had this to say in an interview with Sumerian about "The Worst In Me", in particular:

It’s about a very intense and unhealthy relationship I was in, but we wrote it in a format that’s universal to all bad habits. More specifically, it’s something you can’t let go of even though it’s not good for you—whether it’s a relationship, a drug problem, or terrible situation. You’re addicted.

The band and fans have stated numerous times that they have been compared to the 2010s style of deathcore-turned-pop band Bring Me the Horizon. This is due to the Noah Sebastian's scratchy, mid-to-high pitch screaming style and clean vocals sounding almost identical to BMTH frontman Oliver Sykes' voice on their 2013 Sempiternal release. The band have addressed these comments as "flattering, yet frustrating"[7].

Sebastian, in the same interview with Alternative Press (regarding BMTH), stated that while he may have been influenced by the band, the intent was to sound unique, and made it clear that the bands are two different entities for a reason.

Sebastian went on to say that his influences include nu metal pioneer bands such as Linkin Park, Deftones, Slipknot, Disturbed, and Thirty Seconds to Mars. He also stated that he has been influenced by indie-based act such as Depeche Mode, The Weeknd, and The Neighbourhood.

Timeline