Biography

Penance was born from the ashes 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 metal

Doom metal is an extreme form of heavy metal music that typically uses slower tempos, low-tuned guitars and a much "thicker" or "heavier" sound than other metal genres...

, hardcore

Hardcore punk

Hardcore punk is an underground music genre that originated in the late 1970s, following the mainstream success of punk rock. Hardcore is generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A...

 and thrash metal

Thrash metal

Thrash metal is a subgenre of heavy metal that is characterized usually by its fast tempo and aggression. Songs of the genre typically use fast percussive and low-register guitar riffs, overlaid with shredding-style lead work...

.

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

Novembers Doom is a death/doom metal band from Chicago, Illinois. They are currently signed to The End Records. Novembers Doom is one of the earliest U.S. death/doom metal bands that are still active today along with Evoken and Rigor Sardonicous....

).

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

Lee Dorrian

Lee Dorrian is a singer from Coventry, England. Originally the editor/publisher of the Cov punk fanzine "Committed Suicide" he then went on to be the singer and lyricist with Napalm Death and recorded one and a half albums with them, namely the second half of Scum and From Enslavement to...

's label Rise Above Records

Rise Above Records

Rise Above Records is a London, England based independent record label owned by Lee Dorrian . It is named after a Napalm Death song from their EP Mentally Murdered. It was formed in the late 1980s and originally made to sell live releases by Napalm Death and S.O.B., but by 1991 had changed to cater...

. Alongside with Revelation

Revelation (band)

-Biography:Revelation started in 1986 by singer/guitarist John Brenner and drummer Steve Branagan. After numerous demos they were featured on Rise Above Records compilation Dark Passages. They put out one album with Rise Above before signing with Hellhound Records. They put out two albums with...

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

Cathedral (band)

Cathedral are a doom metal band from Coventry, England. The group forged a link between early doom metal and a 1990s extreme metal aesthetic, making doom slower and heavier. Their debut album, Forest of Equilibrium, is considered a classic of the genre. They later on changed their doom style,...

 and Sleep

Sleep (band)

Sleep is a stoner doom metal band from San Jose, California. Active during the 1990s, Sleep earned critical and record label attention early in their career. Critic Eduardo Rivadavia describes them as "perhaps the ultimate stoner rock band" and notes they exerted a strong influence on heavy metal...

.

Their second album, Parallel Corners, was released 1994, by the European metal label Century Media. Many fans consider this the band's best album, and it's also considered one of the classics of 90s (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) would be the band's final album. They embarked on a European tour in 2004 partnered with Well of Souls and Orodruin

Orodruin (band)

Orodruin is a Rochester, New York-based doom metal band who play old-school traditional doom. Some of the band's members have also played in the bands Crucifist , Nechrochasm, Cyrus, 137, and Night Conquers Day. Orodruin were a part of the early-2000s revival of Traditional Doom, playing alongside...

. They split that same year. The Road Revisited was released posthumously in 2005, which is the unreleased original recorded version of the first album.

Mike Smail went on to join Internal Void

Internal Void

-Biography:Internal Void came together in 1987 after Kelly Carmichael, Eric Little and Adam Heinzmann attended a Saint Vitus concert. The band later recruited J.D. Williams as a vocalist and put out two demo recordings in the late 80s/early 90s...

 and doom legends Pentagram

Pentagram (band)

Pentagram is a American heavy metal band from Virginia, most famous as one of the pioneers of doom metal. The band was prolific in the underground scene of the 1970s, producing many demos and rehearsal tapes, but did not release a full-length album until reforming in the early 1980s with an almost...

.

Albums

• The Road Less Travelled (CD) - Rise Above Records
  Rise Above Records
  Rise Above Records is a London, England based independent record label owned by Lee Dorrian . It is named after a Napalm Death song from their EP Mentally Murdered. It was formed in the late 1980s and originally made to sell live releases by Napalm Death and S.O.B., but by 1991 had changed to cater...
  
  , 1992
• Parallel Corners (CD) - Century Media, 1994
• Proving Ground (CD) - self-released album, 1999
• Alpha and Omega (CD) - Martyr Music Group, 2001
• Spiritualnatural (CD) - Martyr Music Group, 2003
• The Road Revisited (CD) - PsycheDOOMelic Records, 2005

Demos/EPs

• Living Truth (demo) - demo release, 1990
• Bridges to Burn (demo) - demo release, 1998