Remastered and reissued, an understated classic album from one of America’s most resilient metal survivors.

Kenny Powell and the various Omen incarnations have been knocking about the US metal scene for a gnat’s over 40 years. Never the most prolific when it comes to album releases, they have nevertheless built up a highly respectable back catalogue of solid metal standards, from 1984’s Battle Cry, through to their most recent original offering, the superbly titled Hammer Damage in 2016. Possibly the most divisive of all their albums was Escape to Nowhere, originally released in 1988. 

It was a time of great change in the metal music scene. When the bulk of their contemporaries were being drawn towards the exotic attractions of the Pied Piper of Hetfield and his kind, shredding plectrums like fingernails on a cheese grater and thundering out double kick drums at a phrenetic 250 bpm or more, Omen chose to release their most laid back, thoughtful and quite probably ‘grown up’ album to date.

Not everyone saw it that way, of course. The album split the jury at the time and is still looked at with a modicum of suspicion by some of the more hardcore speed metal fans, who have been left scratching their thinning combovers at what they might still see as a bit of a lightweight disappointment. But 35 years on, Escape to Nowhere stands proud as a really significant and interesting piece of work. 

The new remastered version is a crisp and shiny improvement over the thick, muddier mix of the vintage original. Powell, along with legendary producer Bill Metoyer worked together during the summer of 2023 to give the recording a bright, modern makeover, which they’ve managed to accomplish without losing any of the original, warm, live sounding honesty and integrity that analogue multi track always seemed to capture. 

On this release, care has been taken to bring the guitar and vocals front and centre, giving them a much needed burst of refreshment, rescuing them from the mire of of the rhythm section that seemed to claw and drag them back on the original mix.

This was Coburn Pharr’s only full album with Omen, marching off as he did for a long and successful stint with Canadian thrashers, Annihilator the following year.

So, we need to talk about the cover art. 

Metal cover art of the period usually went in one of two directions; swords, dragons, wizards, war, blood and death, or alternatively, what was affectionately known to the sweaty, nervous, inexperienced, spotty male youth of the day as… crumpet.

Escape to Nowhere very much sports the latter. A stunning, well proportioned Farrah Fawcett lookie likey can be seen wearing little more than a small piece of white silk and flaunting a huge and impressive pair of sunglasses.

No, it wouldn’t win any taste and decency awards in these more sensitive times, but it is a great example of the genre and would have ensured that the aforementioned young spunkys kept looking at the album cover long after the Ferguson Studio 6 tonearm had clicked firmly back to its starting point.

Moving swiftly on, as we must.

Review:

The track listing on the 35^th Anniversary reissue is the same as the original, with the addition of 2 bonus tracks on the CD version. Let’s talk about them shall we? Yes, why not.

It’s not easy

I’m not complaining, that’s actually the title of the first song. Possibly one of the principal reasons why some fans were a bit bemused by this record is because they would have undoubtedly expected the opening salvo to be thudding bass drums or the wailing shriek of either guitar or vocalist. Nothing of the sort here. What we first hear are a run of heavy bass chords played on a deep and rich sounding upright piano. What? Acoustic piano? On a metal record? Outrageous! It’s not long however (about 10 seconds in fact) before we are introduced to some fizzing guitar and the velvety, confident voice of Coburn Pharr who moves effortlessly between a clean, resonant tone and the more traditional power screams, ending up somewhere between Rob Halford and Kevin Dubrow. The song chugs along nicely, setting the pace for most of the album.

Radar Love

It’s a brave move taking on such a well known and cherished song like Golden Earring’s Radar Love, but I have to say, Omen do it real justice. Powell’s guitar really starts to get into full swing here and Pharr is quite deliberate in making the vocals his own and not trying to emulate the original. Another departure from trad metal is the inclusion of pseudo-orchestral backing during the mid section which sees Henry’s bass keeping time, plunking along beautifully while Powell widdles about behind with some nice licks and bursts.

Escape to Nowhere

The title track is another slow burner. Slow pace to begin, with a soft but slightly menacing guitar riff promising an imminent crescendo, which isn’t long in coming but is driven less by the expected tortured guitar and instead by some interesting vocals that are almost theatrical…’all my gods have gone insane, they see no evil, feel no pain’. Really good, intelligent stuff musically. It’s definitely my favourite track on the album and is the hub that holds the rest of it together. It’s at this point that you really get to understand that this isn’t going to be just another metal mosh fest and is something that requires a bit more contemplation. To add to the theatrics, the song ends with a very cool and atmospheric phased helicopter vibe. It’s like being back in ‘nam, dude.

Cry for the Morning

By this time some listeners will still be wondering when the speed metal is going to jump out and give them a right, proper scare but Cry for the Morning is another slow paced (but still heavy) almost proggy concept album track. It’s neat stuff. The effect is working and you start to think that this will be a good album to listen to while mellowing out after a hard day biting the heads off cows at the abattoir.

Thorn in your Flesh

Pharr’s vocals hit pure Biff Byford on this track but again, it’s another solid plodder. There are undertones of Master of Puppets era chord sequences but it’s not in your face. When the guitar solo kicks in we back right off the Metallica vibe and return to traditional, comforting heavy metal lead work Which gives it a nice old school feeling.

Poisoned

This track starts with the sort of classic guitar work you want and expect from a nice, beefy NWOTHM number. Carefully constructed harmonies and long scale runs blend with a dug-dugga-dug-dugga bass line to really get the listening juices flowing nice and moistly. When the song starts proper we’re into more familiar territory at last, with a fast, driving, Maidenesque rhythm giving us that warm, cuddly, familiar true metal feeling. Pharr seems to be channelling Blackie Lawless a bit on this one, but whatever he does vocally is totally in context and feels genuine and works as it should. We’re really on the jazz now Hannibal.

Nomads

Back to the mid paced, riff driven stuff again. Good, solid, if not particularly throat grabbing. Nice, tidy lead work. I can feel I’m damning this one with faint praise and it does come across as a bit of a filler track, but there’s nothing overly offensive about it. (Which is a shame).

King of the Hill

Some nice arpeggiated riffs put us back in mind of the contemporary Metallica sound. Still no devastating full on mosh but again the thoughtful, light touch that makes this record work a lot better than you’d imagine it would on paper. It’s a solid enough track that helps to consolidate the feeling that we’re into a deeper well of invention than we would expect, based on the band’s previous output.

No Way Out

As the last track progresses the hardened headbanger will no doubt be feeling a bit short changed by the total absence of any raging screamers on the album and that’s no doubt why there was some mumbling and grumbling at the time. But when you take the whole album together you get the distinct feeling that this is a deliberate departure from the generic cliches and the thrash direction of metal at the time. A definitive two fingers up to anyone who wants to pigeonhole Omen into the homogenised mass. I gotta say, I like it.

King (CD Bonus track)

King is a modern revamped instrumental version of King of the Hill. It’s a beautifully polished piece of music that brings the album right up to date. You can hear the intervening 35 years in Powell’s pin sharp, multi layered guitar work, and the shiny, polished and thoroughly smooth digital recording. There’s new effects, new sounds that were not available back in 88. Lots of shredding that should appease the naysayers of yesteryear. And yet it retains a large part of the honest integrity of the original.

Escape to Nowhere 2.0 (CD Bonus track)

This is a sexy revamped version of the original on steroids, with plenty of added guitar widdly widdly. Gotta love that.

Escape to Nowhere (35^th Anniversary) is the band’s first official reissue on vinyl and is set to be released on 26^thJanuary 2024 on Metal Blade Records. 

It’ll be available on vinyl with lyric sheet, photocard, poster and download card. 

Also available on CD with the 2 bonus track included. 

In Conclusion

Escape to Nowhere really deserves this reworking. With the benefit of 35 years of hindsight informing opinions it would be good to think that people can now see the album’s merit as a standalone work rather than judging it by the company it was keeping in the 80s. And hopefully, renewed interest by the masses might encourage the band to give us a long overdue lump of fresh material to savour before the band hits its half century.

TheNWOTHM Score: 9/10