CONCRETE JUNGLE [THE OST] Review

Band	Bad Omens
Album	CONCRETE JUNGLE [THE OST]
Type	Album (Studio full-length)
Released	May 31, 2024
Genres	Progressive Metal, Alternative Metal, Metalcore
Labels	Sumerian Records

Reviewer :  thegloom         Rating :  90 / 100

TL;DR: This album is one of the best “expanded edition” type releases the metal scene has ever seen

Bad Omens, one of the largest modern metal bands, spearheading a movement where heavier music takes a place among other popular genres worldwide. I never sat down and listened to The Death Of Peace Of Mind front to back, but I’ve heard each so my before so I wasn’t fully blind going into this release. However, Concrete Jungle is so much more than just an expansion of TDOPOM. It feels almost like an alternative version of the entire album, with new songs trading blows with the originals. Since the album is split up into a few separate sections, this review will also be, reviewing each unique part of the album separately.

New Songs:
At first, the singles really weren’t my thing. I didn’t like how experimental they were, even in comparison to TDOPOM. However, on my relisten, they started to grow on me a bit. Where the album really begins to shine is with the new tracks after the singles, especially with EVEN and ANYTHING > HUMAN. Erra’s feature is a strong one, alongside most of the features on the album. Overall, in total, the new tracks are pretty good, considering this was just supposed to be a deluxe edition.

Remixes: These are the weak point of the track list. The “Unzipped” songs aren’t anything special and both the TDOPOM remixes are pretty uninspired. The Hedonist recharge is a cool rehash of an older song, and Bad Decisions and Just Pretend are good new versions.

Live: Rounding out the track list with some live versions is a really cool way to end the album, especially with an enhanced version of Just Pretend with a special acoustic ending. A few of the songs have weird intros and pacings, but the songs themselves are done super well.

In all, this is a really interesting release, and one that I doubt many people expected. There’s no real bad songs, just some that fall short of Bad Omens usual quality. It’s a weird album to listen through, one that’s more designed to have individual songs listened to. It’s good though, just like its sister album.