PENANCE’s roots date back to the mid-80’s thrash scene, with DREAM DEATH, formed by PENANCE guitarist Terry Weston and drummer Mike Smail. Despite quickly becoming one of Pennsylvania’s leading metal bands, the collapse of the speed and thrash metal scene led to Terry and Mike’s decision to form a band in a decidedly more “Sabbath” vein: hence, PENANCE was born.
Starting with their “Living Truth” demo released in 1990, PENANCE quickly gained the respect of such bands as CATHEDRAL, which led to drummer Mike Smail performing on CATHEDRAL’s “Forest of Equilibrium” debut. After a European tour alongside CATHEDRAL and SLEEP, PENANCE released their debut CD “The Road Less Traveled” on CATHEDRAL frontman Lee Dorrian’s Rise Above Records in 1992. This garnered enough interest worldwide to pave the way for a deal with Century Media, who released PENANCE’s sophomore disc “Parallel Corners” in 1994. “Parallel Corners” was praised by Martin Popoff in “The Guide to Heavy Metal” as one of the five top “post-Sabbath” albums ever released. However, due to circumstances beyond the bands’ control they were unable to tour for this release, and PENANCE quickly became an underground cult favorite within the doom rock scene despite a lack of live shows.
However, by no means was the band inactive. After several lineup changes front man Brian “Butch” Balich joined PENANCE in 1997, and PENANCE continued to perform live as well as release the “Bridges to Burn” demo in 1998 and the self-released “Proving Ground” CD in 1999. In 2000 PENANCE joined forces with Matt Tuite (ex-WICKERMAN, MUSTACHE) and Mary Bielich (ex-MYTHIC, NOVEMBER’S DOOM, WORMHOLE) leading to the strongest PENANCE lineup to date.
PENANCE signed a deal with Martyr Music Group in 2001, and is currently preparing to release their MMG debut “alpha and omega” in Fall 2001. Consisting of five new tracks recorded at Polar Bear Studios in Maryland with producer/engineer Chris Koslowski (SPIRIT CARAVAN, PENTAGRAM, et. al) as well as 4 tracks from the previously unreleased “Turn For The Worse” EP from 2000, PENANCE is poised to reclaim their position as one of the founding bands of the current “stoner” rock movement.
In 2001 alone, PENANCE have performed alongside a plethora of bands such as SPIRIT CARAVAN, WARHORSE, DISENGAGE, and ELECTRIC WIZARD, to SOFA KING KILLER, RAGING SLAB, EARTHRIDE, EVOKEN, SEA OF GREEN among countless others.
