Reviews:
Define My Existence Review From Hard Wired Magazine
| Artist |  |
| Tin Omen | |
| Title | |
| Define My Existence | |
| Format/Cat | |
| CD | |
| Label: | |
| Own Release | |
| Style | |
| Industrial | |
| Date of review | |
| 5th July 2007 | |
| Reviewer | |
| Carl Jenkinson | |
| Rating | |
| 9.5/10 |
Anyone who was lucky enough to catch this UK trio's recent set at the Dark City Festival in Edinburgh won't need me to tell them how good they are. If you missed out, however, then be aware that this is an excellent band that deserves to be massive. Their music is a potent mix of hard rocking gothic-flavoured guitars & pumping electro beats that keep the music sounding fresh & modern with Kelly Newton's assured vocals are the icing on the cake. This self-released CD compiles the best of their work to date & while 14 tracks can often be a lot to get through there are so many highlights spread throughout its 70-odd minute duration that boredom is never an option. 'Broken (Without You)' starts in a deceptively atmospheric & melancolic manner thanks to John Baker's piano work that builds & then takes off into the kind of scorcer that is the band's forte while Kelly's vocals show their versatility by moving from plaintive to strong in the course of one track. But if that was good then the excellence of 'Goth Idol' with its urgent electro effects being underpinned by Bryan Sutton's guitar, cannot be denied. Such is its immediate & lasting appeal that it's sure to become one of the band's anthems while the sitar & tabla effects that add a slightly exotic, serene touch to the otherwise hard rocking 'Bring It Down' shows the band are not afraid to be adventurous & look outside the usual realms for inspirations. The more goth-flavoured tracks do bear a slight resemblance to Evanescence, among them 'Addiction' & 'Stay' (thanks in part to the plucked string effects) as well as 'Lonely' which actually starts out sounding almost funky but then settles down into a rich & full-sounding piece with synths & guitars intertwining to great effect. Likewise, 'Tears Of Angels' brings their gothic tendancies even more to the fore with a potently atmosperic, expertly-textured piece with definate emotional overtones although the rhythmic effects that are employed initially do sound a bit cold & mechanical in comparison, sounding more at home later on when the track really takes off again while retaining the emotive mood that is so important. If, on the other hand, you're in the mood to really rock out & mosh 'til your heart's content then you'll want to check out 'Ruined', the soaring 'Under Me Or You' which sees Kelly in a no-nonsense mood & the full-blooded closer 'Last Request' which goes for a slightly more traditional rock feel embellished with imaginative effects. Similarly, the manner in which 'Last Call' mixes electronica effects & rhythms with jaunty, confident guitars makes for another standout piece (along with the very sexy laughter at the beginning!). So, there's no doubting this trio talents then, no sirree, they deserve to be massive & if they're not selling millions by this time next year then there's simply no justice in this world!
Krash Magazine (Summer 2006)
Album Lauch Review
By Griff
The local 3 piece cyber industrial band consists of Bryan Sutton on guitar, John Baker on guitar & Keyboard and Kelly Newton supplying the band with her dark & strong vocals.
They have recently released there debut album after there album launch at the Little Civic with the bands Product & Back up supporting them. The night was a sell out and the band was greeted with a warm welcome from the crowd, who were rocking all through the night. They were so pleased with Tin Omen that the crowd were demanding an encore to finish the fantastic night off.
Their debut album 'Define My Existence' consists of 14 tracks of killer industrial dance. It has a theme of love to it and has the anthemic track 'forbidden', which the crowd loved. In addition Tin Omen have recorded 3 self-produced EP's.
Tin Omen / Backup / Product - Wolverhampton Little Civic, 20/08/2005
By Philip Whitehouse
Take even a vaguely half-hearted saunter through the live review archives (such as they are) here on Ultimate Metal, and it probably won't take you long to notice that yours truly has written several appraisals of Wolverhampton's Tin Omen over the years. I've scribed reviews of their last two EP releases, been out drinking with them, and was even recently invited back to the Tin Omen house to check out the instrumental rough mixes of the tracks that make up their new album, drink copiously and watch Old School on DVD. So, you might think that I've conceivably written all that could possibly be said about the goth-tinged industrial metal trio.
You'd be wrong.
Tonight is the launch party for their first full length album. They're going to play a set consisting entirely of the tracks on said platter (some of which are the choicest cuts from the two EPs, most of which are originals), and from the moment they step onstage, their determination to give their best performance yet is evident.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. First, there are the support acts. First up are Product - two guys, both wielding guitars, one be-spectacled and singing, backed up with drum machines, synths and synthesised bass. The mix isn't fantastic at first, rendering their electronica-cum-angsty-rock somewhat impenetrable, but what can be distinguished is fairly catchy. Then, the singer opens his mouth, and unleashes a helium-pitched wail that makes Brian Molko seem butch and gives you greater appreciation for Chuck Moseley's range. So, not great. There's a funk-infused, largely instrumental track aired towards the end of their poorly-received set that shows that instrumentally, the band have something to offer - but the promise of the track is obliterated noisily once the singing re-joins the fray. Get someone else in to sing next time, and we might get on better.
Next up are Backup - apparently featuring the DJ from some other band I've never heard of, and mysteriously (and, no doubt, infuriatingly to the headliners) the most heavily-promoted band on the bill tonight. Turns out they're pretty damned good though - imagine Dub War with a very, very faint tinge of Calypso and some tasty riffage, an infectious charm and an amiable singer who can barely contain his mirth at the sight of the largely waist-coated, corpse-painted, coffin-bag-packing Goth contigent of the crowd trying gamely to adapt their spaced-out swaying to the uptempo beats of this rap metal quintet. A pretty good showing, then.
Finally, though, Tin Omen are up, and it's clear that the majority of the audience are here for them alone. Most of these guys, like me, have seen the trio before, but nothing quite prepares us for the ferocity of the set that follows. It's plain, right from the beginning, that the aggression and 'metal' quotient of Tin Omen 's music has been upped considerably for the new album - 'Goth Idol' in particular seeths with furious, bared-teeth riffage and a far more in-your-face attitude than we've previously seen, for instance. Kelli's vocals have a more indignant force, and keyboardist/guitarist John's stage presence suggests that when his hands are unoccupied, his anchor to reality has slipped. Bryon, the other guitarist in Tin Omen 's two-pronged axe assault, has also lost the amiable air he usually carried, hacking at his guitar with concentrated intensity.
By the end of the set, the audience are pretty much lost in wide-eyed, rabbit-caught-in-headlights awe. Copies of the album fly off the merch table, praises are sung, and my other half and I emerge into Wolverhampton's cool night air. After every previous Tin Omen set, I've felt energised and glad to have witnessed it. But after this one, I feel like I've witnessed something special .
Tin Omen
By Philip Whitehouse
Wolverhampton, The Giffard Arms
24th July 2003
I've never exactly been the biggest fan of industrial music - a quick conversation with fellow UM reviewer Russell Garwood will tell you that, since he's been trying (and failing) valiantly for some time now to convince me of the merits of the style - but, of course, for every rule there are exceptions. I'm a confirmed Nine Inch Nails fanatic, and am quite partial to Ministry too. Lately, though, there has been another band who have been impressing me in the style.
Tin Omen, then - a trio consisting of vocals, guitar and keyboards/programming. So far, so typical, one might think. Right up until the point when they take the stage - and they do literally take it - no near-apologetic, heads-down wandering, but a confident display of a talented unit ready to do what they've become very, very good at - impressing the hell out of people with their majestic, layered display of goth-tinged industrial metal.
Bands of this type normally rely strongly on their look to stand out from the crowd, but other than the keyboard player's ever-present forehead-tilted goggles, guitarist Brian's impressively rubber-spiked shirt and vocalist Kelly's sublimely decadent yet subtly elegant clothing (provided by local alternative/fetish gear designers and suppliers, Metrofox), the focus is totally on the music. An exceptionally clear mix helps every nuance of the band's sound hit home, from the snarling, buzzsaw charge of the guitars to the minimalistic, near subliminally-driving drum loops. Kelly's vocals sound the most prominent in the mix, and deservingly so - her Toni Halliday-meets-Cristina Scabbia dulcet tones providing the catalyst that gives the music its otherworldly, hypnotic edge.
Right from the set's beginning, the audience are captivated, and it rapidly becomes clear that Tin Omen have a following as ardent and admiring as any signed band's legions of adoring fans. Tracks from the recent 'Forbidden' EP are sung along with word for word, with Kelly encouraging the impromptu back-up vocalists while still managing to infuse the lyrics with added emotion through her gestures and expressions - all while clutching a bottle of red wine throughout! Even a cover of Kylie Minogue (Conifde In Me) goes down a storm, with the aggressive reworking fitting in completely with the rest of the band's material, while the new songs aired show a more up-tempo, energetic feel.
By the end of the show, all critical faculties have been overwhelmed - I've been dancing (badly) throughout, becoming one of the enthusiastic crowd, cheering and clapping and constantly grinning from ear-to-ear, and it seems that the wealth of emotion in the building has transferred also to the stage. After responding to demands (and make no mistake, it was a demand rather than a request) for an encore with a cover of Razed In Black's 'Oh My Goth' which causes the already-pumped crowd to go completely bananas, the band are surprised to be rewarded for their efforts with flowers and hugs from the venue's management and the crowd alike.
Amazingly, this adulation is received with a show of joyful tears from Kelly and stunned grins from her bandmates - all of which brought home to me the outstanding element of Tin Omen's music that caused me to sit up and take notice in the first place. They have sidestepped the traditionally cold, clinical sound adopted by most industrial bands and embraced the fact that even synthesised and electronic instruments can be infused with a depth of emotion - it is this sense of humility and soul in the songs which causes the listener to be able to make a personal connection with them, and therefore to lose themselves in the sound totally.
As the band leave the stage as triumphantly as they entered it, surrounded by smiling, laughing fans and gobsmacked new converts to their cause, I consider myself lucky to have seen them in a venue this size - the empathetic connection to the sound is amplified, methinks, by the proximity to the band, and I have a feeling that we won't be seeing Tin Omen in venue of this size for too much longer - although I'd be just as willing to pay to see them perform at Wembley Arena. Revelatory stuff.