Bleeding Oath were an English

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

band from

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, formed in 2009. The lineup consisted of

Rob Haigh Robert "Rob" Haigh, also known as Omni Trio, is a British electronic, ambient and experimental musician. Career Early work (1979–1991) At school, Haigh was in a band called Labyrinth playing original material that was influenced by David Bo ...

(vocals, guitar), Micah Douglas (guitar), Moat "Literally Large" Lowe (bass) and Harrison White (drums). They gained notoriety for their large

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

campaigns, irreverent attitude and self-deprecating humour, as evidenced by the group and its fans getting artists from various major groups, including

Andrew W.K. Andrew Fetterly Wilkes-Krier (born May 9, 1979), known professionally as Andrew W.K., is an American conceptual performance artist, rock singer, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and actor. Raised in Michigan, Wilkes-Krier began his m ...

DragonForce DragonForce are a British power metal band from London, England. The band was formed in 1999 by guitarists Herman Li and Sam Totman, and are known for their long and fast guitar solos, fantasy-themed lyrics and retro video game-influenced ...

, Jason Aalon Butler of

letlive. Letlive, stylized letlive., was an American rock band from Los Angeles, California. The band's final lineup consisted of lead vocalist Jason Aalon Butler (son of Aalon Butler, vocalist and guitarist of the soul group Aalon), guitarist Jeff ...

and

Mikael Åkerfeldt Lars Mikael Åkerfeldt (; born 17 April 1974)Mikael Åkerfeldt
, Op ...

Opeth Opeth is a Swedish progressive metal/rock band from Stockholm, formed in 1990 by lead vocalist David Isberg. The group has been through several personnel changes, including the replacement of every original member; notably Isberg in 1992. Mikael ...

(who the band are heavily influenced by) to tell them, in jest, to "fuck off". Along with Opeth, the band cited groups such as

Between the Buried and Me Between the Buried and Me, often abbreviated as BTBAM, is an American progressive metal band from Raleigh, North Carolina. Formed in 2000, the band consists of Tommy Giles Rogers Jr. (lead vocals, keyboards), Paul Waggoner (lead guitar, backing ...

Mastodon A mastodon ( 'breast' + 'tooth') is any proboscidean belonging to the extinct genus ''Mammut'' (family Mammutidae). Mastodons inhabited North and Central America during the late Miocene or late Pliocene up to their extinction at the end of th ...

and Cynic as influences, as well as

progressive metal Progressive metal (sometimes shortened to prog metal) is a broad :Fusion music genres, fusion music genre melding heavy metal music, heavy metal and progressive rock, combining the loud "aggression" and amplified electric guitar, guitar-driven s ...

20th-century classical music 20th-century classical music describes art music that was written nominally from 1901 to 2000, inclusive. Musical style diverged during the 20th century as it never had previously. So this century was without a dominant style. Modernism, impressio ...

and

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

History

The group formed in 2009. After a number of lineup changes the band stabilised with a lineup of

Robert Haigh Robert (Herbie) Haigh (born 27 March 1945 in Adelaide, South Australia) is a former hockey player from Australia, a three time olympian who won two Olympic silver medals as a member of the national team at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mex ...

on vocals and guitar, Harrison White on drums, Micah Douglas on guitar and Ben Janes on bass (the latter two found on the website ''joinmyband.co.uk'') and began recording and performing. From 2009 to 2011 the band released several demos, including ''Secrets of Eternity'', ''Ghosts of the Past'' and ''Oedipus Tyrannus''. Towards the end of 2010 the first notable Facebook campaign started, the successful "Vote Oath" campaign (aided by members of the Gill & Beez page – who also successfully led a campaign for

Max Raptor Max Raptor are an English four-piece punk rock band from Burton upon Trent in the Midlands, England, formed in 2006. They have toured the UK and played two dates in 2009 with Canadian punk band Billy Talent and then toured 16 dates in 2010 with ...

to play in a fan's bedroom) to get the band to open for

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, . ...

band

Evile Evile are an English thrash metal band from Huddersfield, formed in 2004. They have experienced numerous line-up changes over the years, with drummer Ben Carter being the only member of the original line-up to have stayed consistently. The curr ...

in the London leg of their UK tour, played at the

Camden Underworld Camden Underworld is a music venue in Camden Town, London, England. The venue is a part of the World's End pub, situated in the basement of the building. It has a capacity of 500 people. History Over the years The Underworld has become the ...

. In 2011 the band participated in the "Road to Bloodstock" competition, a "Battle of the Bands" to gain a place in the lineup of the 2011

Bloodstock Open Air Bloodstock Open Air is a British heavy metal music, heavy metal rock festival, festival held annually at Catton Hall in Walton-on-Trent, Derbyshire, since 2005. Originally held indoors for one day with two stages, the festival started in 2001 ...

festival. Shortly before the semi-final stage, the band parted ways with bassist Ben Janes, replacing him with Moat "'Normous Bloke" Lowe. Since then the band has played numerous shows in southern and eastern England. In December 2011, shortly after the band had begun recording of their debut EP,

Terrorizer Terrorizer is an American grindcore band formed in 1986 in Los Angeles, California. After disbanding, its members gained recognition by playing in influential extreme metal bands, such as Morbid Angel ( David Vincent, Pete Sandoval), Napalm D ...

named them the "Best Unsigned Band of 2011". The band announced their intention to embark on a tour in 2012. The trailer for their self-titled EP was released on 29 January 2012 with a release date of 25 February (although due to shipping issues, the actual release date was delayed by a few days). The trailer features members of bands such as

Xerath Xerath were an English heavy metal band from Basingstoke, Hampshire. Formed in 2007, the band gained international recognition after the release of their debut album ''I (One)'' via Candlelight Records in 2009, a record label they stuck with ...

and Haken, amongst others, telling Bleeding Oath to "fuck off" as well as Åkerfeldt and Katatonia. The first 50 pre-orders of the EP were numbered and had their own "custom rude word" added. 50 T-shirts with "FUCK OFF BLEEDING OATH" written on the back were also released to coincide with the EP. On 24 February, the Metal Hammer Podcast presented by Stephen Hill and Merlin Alderslade premièred a new Bleeding Oath track, "Mountains", to a positive reception from listeners, while Terrorizer Magazine streamed the song "What Fortune Gives". Upon release, the EP received positive feedback, with many praising Moat Lowe's bass playing and the quality of the production, including reviewers at Sputnikmusic. In April 2012, the song "Mountains" from the debut EP was featured on ''Terrorizer'' magazine's "Fear Candy" CD. The band again entered Band Quest, reaching the finals at the Camden Underworld. Bleeding Oath was part of a very successful gig on Sunday 1 July 2012 supporting London Progressive band Haken; the feedback from the band and fans was very positive. Due to the band

Crisis A crisis ( : crises; : critical) is either any event or period that will (or might) lead to an unstable and dangerous situation affecting an individual, group, or all of society. Crises are negative changes in the human or environmental affair ...

entering hiatus, Bleeding Oath were announced as support for Tradjectory's UK tour in September, for Bleeding Oath's first tour. Drummer Harrison White played with Tradjectory during the tour due to the departure of Fergus Gardiner, joining the group permanently in November (although he left shortly afterwards).In February 2013 the band decided to break up, citing musical differences and diverging career paths as the reason for the split. A "Fan Pack" compilation was released by the band on 8 February 2013, including a number of previously unreleased demos (including live staple "Oceans") as well as tablatures and photographs.

New projects

Directly after the split was announced, Moat and Harrison stated that they had formed a new band, Novena, which will release the 32 minute EP that had been written shortly before Bleeding Oath's split. Moat also plays bass for the band No Sin Evades His Gaze, which features ex- Ravenface vocalist James Denton.

Members

–

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

(2009–2013) *Micah Douglas – guitar (2009–2013) *Harrison White –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

(2009–2013) *Moat "Sizable Creature" Lowe –

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

, vocals (2011–2013) *Ben Janes – bass guitar (2009–2011)

Timeline

ImageSize = width:800 height:auto barincrement:30 PlotArea = left:100 bottom:80 top:10 right:0 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:2009 till:07/02/2013 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy Legend = orientation:horizontal position:bottom ScaleMajor = increment:1 start:2009 Colors = id:Vocals&Guitar value:red legend:Vocals&Guitar id:Guitar value:green legend:Guitar id:Bass value:blue legend:Bass id:Drums value:purple legend:Drums id:Lines1 value:black legend:Albums id:Lines2 value:gray(0.75) legend:EPs id:Lines3 value:gray(0.93) legend:Demos LineData = at:21/07/2010 color:lines3 layer:back at:25/11/2010 color:lines3 layer:back at:28/02/2011 color:lines3 layer:back at:25/02/2012 color:lines2 layer:back BarData = bar:Robin text:"

" bar:Micah text:"Micah Douglas" bar:Ben text:"Ben Janes" bar:Moat text:"Moat Lowe" bar:Harrison text:"Harrison White" PlotData= width:10 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4) bar:Robin from:01/01/2009 till:end color:Vocals&Guitar bar:Harrison from:01/01/2009 till:end color:Drums bar:Micah from:01/01/2009 till:end color:Guitar bar:Ben from:01/01/2009 till:01/05/2011 color:Bass bar:Moat from:01/05/2011 till:end color:Bass

Discography

Demos

*''Secrets of Eternity'' (2009) *''Ghosts of the Past'' (2010) *''Oedipus Tyrannus'' (2011)

Extended plays

Compilations

*''Fan Pack'' (2013)

References

{{Reflist

External links

Bleeding Oath Webstore
2009 in London 2009 establishments in England English progressive metal musical groups Musical groups established in 2009 Musical groups from London