Penance was an American

doom metal Doom metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music that typically uses slower tempos, low-tuned guitars and a much "thicker" or "heavier" sound than other heavy metal genres.K. Kahn-Harris, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'' ...

band from

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

Biography

Penance was formed after the demise of Dream Death, when several members decided to pursue a more traditional doom direction. Dream Death existed during mid eighties and played a mixture of

doom Doom is another name for damnation. Doom may also refer to: People * Doom (professional wrestling), the tag team of Ron Simmons and Butch Reed * Daniel Doom (born 1934), Belgian cyclist * Debbie Doom (born 1963), American softball pitcher * L ...

hardcore Hardcore, hard core or hard-core may refer to: Arts and media Film * ''Hardcore'' (1977 film), a British comedy film * ''Hardcore'' (1979 film), an American crime drama film starring George C Scott * ''Hardcore'' (2001 film), a British documen ...

and

thrash metal Thrash metal (or simply thrash) is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its overall aggression and often fast tempo.Kahn-Harris, Keith, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'', pp. 2–3, 9. Oxford: Berg, 2007, . ...

. Founders of Penance were drummer Mike Smail and guitarist Terry Weston (both previously members of Dream Death) and they were the core of the band from its early days to the disbanding. The band changed various line-ups, and one of their most notable members were Mary Bielich (

Novembers Doom Novembers Doom is an American death-doom band from Chicago, currently signed to Prophecy Productions. Along with Evoken and Rigor Sardonicous, Novembers Doom is one of the earliest American death-doom bands still active today. History Formati ...

). Penance's debut ''The Road Less Travelled'', featuring Brian Lawrence (who was also previously a member of Dream Death) on vocals and guitar, was released 1992, under

Lee Dorrian Lee Dorrian (born 5 June 1968) is an English singer, best known as a former member of grindcore band Napalm Death and later frontman of doom metal band Cathedral. Career During his early teenage years, Dorrian was the editor of a local punk f ...

's label

Rise Above Records Rise Above Records is a London-based independent record label owned by Lee Dorrian (of the band Cathedral and formerly of Napalm Death). Founding Lee Dorrian started Rise Above Records in 1988 without the intention of the label being an ongoi ...

. Alongside with

Revelation In religion and theology, revelation is the revealing or disclosing of some form of truth or knowledge through communication with a deity or other supernatural entity or entities. Background Inspiration – such as that bestowed by God on the ...

's debut, it was a first doom metal album released on this label. They embarked on a European tour in support of

Cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denomination ...

and

Sleep Sleep is a sedentary state of mind and body. It is characterized by altered consciousness, relatively inhibited sensory activity, reduced muscle activity and reduced interactions with surroundings. It is distinguished from wakefulness by a de ...

.
/ref> Their second album, ''Parallel Corners'', was released 1994, by the European metal label

Century Media A century is a period of 100 years. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages. The word ''century'' comes from the Latin ''centum'', meaning ''one hundred''. ''Century'' is sometimes abbreviated as c. A centennial or ...

. Many fans consider this the band's best album, and it is also considered one of the classics of 1990s (traditional) doom metal. On the next releases Penance adopted a slight range of psychedelic influences, but still remained fairly closed to their traditional doom roots. ''Spiritualnatural'' (2003) was the band's final album. They embarked on a European tour in 2004 partnered with Well of Souls and

Orodruin In J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional world of Middle-earth, Mordor (pronounced ; from Sindarin ''Black Land'' and Quenya ''Land of Shadow'') is the realm and base of the evil Sauron. It lay to the east of Gondor and the great river Anduin, and to ...

. They split that same year. ''The Road Revisited'' was released in 2005, which is the unreleased original recorded version of the first album. Mike Smail went on to join

Internal Void Internal Void is an American doom metal band from Frederick, Maryland. Internal Voidat Allmusic Biography Internal Void came together in 1987 after Kelly Carmichael, Eric Little and Adam Heinzmann attended a Saint Vitus concert.

and doom pioneers

Pentagram A pentagram (sometimes known as a pentalpha, pentangle, or star pentagon) is a regular five-pointed star polygon, formed from the diagonal line segments of a convex (or simple, or non-self-intersecting) regular pentagon. Drawing a circle aroun ...

Discography

Albums

* ''The Road Less Travelled'' – 1992 * ''Parallel Corners'' – 1994 * ''Proving Ground'' – 1999 * ''Alpha and Omega'' – 2001 * ''Spiritualnatural'' – 2003 * ''The Road Revisited'' – 2005

Demos/EPs

* ''Living Truth'' – 1990 * ''Bridges to Burn'' – 1998

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Penance American doom metal musical groups Heavy metal musical groups from Pennsylvania Musical groups from Pittsburgh Musical groups established in 1990 Musical groups disestablished in 2004