East Bay, California’s skacore legends Omnigone have released the second single off of their upcoming album, Feral. Lead singer and songwriter Adam Davis is also co-host of the In Defense of Ska podcast, and former member of Link 80, one of the more influential bands from the ska-core scene of the late 90s and early 2000s. Whether through his band Omnigone or his podcast, Davis has shown that he is emotionally attached to other people,that he feels a strong sense of community and comradery, and he gives a lot of importance to the human connection with other people. He is constantly promoting other artists, working collaborations, and his last album focused heavily on the “Against The Rest Crew” (ATRC) a name given to the supporters of Link 80, a group of fans that stuck together long after the band stopped existing.
This new single is called “Grief”, and is about the loss of Nick Traina- the original singer of the aforementioned Link 80. The song describes the grief that Davis continues to feel, how 25 years have done nothing to dull the pain that comes in unexpected waves and can still overwhelm. For a man so full of love and support for others, it’s little to no surprise that he also suffers from tremendous grief when he loses people close to him, and that grief never really disappears or fades. While the song is about the loss of Nick Traina, Davis makes sure to say the song is also dedicated to Kiyomi Tanouye and everyone else that is lost too soon.
Don’t think that the subject of sadness or loss makes the song any more mellow. This is still 100% a ska-core song. It’s every bit as heavy as the rest of their songs, and that’s to be expected, because, despite lead singer Adam Davis’s imposing 6’6”+ frame and the aggressive punk and skacore vocals, this is definitely not the first song he has written showing emotional vulnerability. The music is just as aggressive as any other skacore song, and the guitar hooks are actually really good- making this song a must listen.
Written by Gimpleg
