Omen
Escape To Nowhere (35th Anniversary) METAL BLADE
Power-metal pioneers ditch the power.
Is Escape To Nowhere Omen’s Cold Lake? It certainly seemed that way in 1988. Along with bands like Manowar, Savage Grace and Jag Panzer,
Omen essentially put American power metal on the map. While most of LA’s guitar army stuffed themselves into zebra-skin spandex and wrote mawkish power ballads, Omen released their 1984 debut
Battle Cry,
a pulverising epic of thrown horns and banged heads. They spent the next few years developing a solid fan base of true metal warriors, but in ’88 they acquired a new singer (future Annhilator Coburn Pharr) and took a decidedly sideways turn into a more melodic, radio-ready sound. You can see teenagers in 1988 really hating it, right?