Band History

Throughout the period of 2008 the band diligently worked on their first musical output focusing on creating classic British black metal fused with the passion and atmospheres created by British folk tales. Crafting each song carefully the band prepared several songs of which five were recorded. Of these three were put forward for the demo. During this year the band also launched a very successful MySpace website along with its own dedicated website.

On Friday 13th March 2009 Old Corpse Road unleashed their first demo “The Echoes of Tales Once Told” in a limited 1st Edition of 1000 hand numbered copies. Reviews of the demo were outstanding (click here to view them) and we gained much support including a slot on the Zero Tolerance covermount CD.

On the strength of the demo the band were offered the chance to record a split EP with The Meads of Asphodel to be released on Godreah records. The Old Corpse once again entered the studio to record three more songs for the split EP which are Hob Headless Rises, The Witch of Wookey Hole and The Devil’s Footprints.

In addition the band featured on the UK Black Metal Vol. 2 compilation with the unreleased demo track “Hell’s Kettles” and also contributed guest vocals on The Meads of Asphodel xmas special track for Terrorizer magazine “The Song of a Thousand Roars”. During the later half of 2009 the band played several successful live dates, including the well renowned Gathering of the Clans festival.

In March Old Corpse Road unleashed the split EP with The Meads of Asphodel entitled “The Bones of this Land are not Speechless” which received excellent reviews and press.

The band toured the UK extensively playing alongside Hecate Enthroned, Wodensthrone and many fellow UK bands with a live highlight at Bloodstock Open Air. They also hosted their own mini festival ‘Fires of Rebellion’ in Nottingham and were aksed to return to Gathering of the Clans Festival.

Amidst the touring Old Corpse Road continued to write new songs in the studio.

A cassette reissue of the ‘Echoes…’ demo was released through Darkness Shade Records featuring bonus tracks form the demo recording sessions.

This year also saw the band tour heavily playing with the likes of Fen, Alcest, Winterfylleth, Skyclad, Hecate Enthroned and also hosting another mini festival named ‘Witching Hour Festival’. It also saw the bands first visit to Scotland.

Towards the end of the year Old Corpse Road participated in The Great Exhibition UK mini tour with The Prophecy, Northern Oak and Eibon La Furies. Finishing touches were made to the songs which would soon be recorded for the album.

The band entered the studio to record their debut album to be released in the later part of the year. During the recording sessions they also covered the Bathory classic ‘Equimanthorn’ for a tribute album named ‘Voices from Valhalla release via Godreah Records alongside many great bands such as Sigh, The Meads of Apshodel, Nokturnal Mortum and Skyforger.

Terrorizer Reader Poll – Best Newcomer

Terrorizer Reader Poll – Top 5 Unsigned

Old Corpse Road played a series of gigs including several headlining shows and also had a special guest slot at Warhorns Festival, a viking/folk/pagan/black metal gathering in York which featured bands from Latvia, Germany, Belgium, Ireland, America and of course Scotland and England.

In August a brand new track from the upcoming album named ‘The Cauld Lad of Hylton’ featued on Terrorizer’s Secret History of Extreme Metal covermount CD. This served as the first chance for fans to hear the new material and was received with excellent praise.

The end of the year saw the release of the debut album ‘Tis Witching Hour… As Spectres we Haunt this Kingdom’ via Godreah Records.

In January the 2012 end of year polls for Terroizer Magazine saw the band get best newcomer and 2nd best unsigned act. ‘Tis Witching Hour also got great reviews in Terrorizer, Zero Tolerance and Metal Hammer.

In Feburary and May the band toured the UK in support of the album from our hometown down to London. After this spate of gigs, sadly The Dreamer was unable to perform live drums so we recruited Tom (Box Head) Warner on session drums and played some fantastic gigs incuding Beermageddon, a 2 day mini tour of Ireland and also a gig supporting Sweden’s Shining amongst many others.

Towards the end of the year the band began work on the track ‘The Sockburn Worm’ to feature on the 7″ split with The Infernal Sea.

In February the band supported Danish Viking metallers Svartsot a the Jorvik Viking weekend alongside Jaldaboath. March saw the return of The Dreamer on live drums following his recovery. It also saw the return of The Revenant on guitar and vocals, making Old Corpse Road a 6 piece.

May saw the release of the limited 7″ split with The Infernal Sea on Three Swords Records along with a mini tour supporting Finnish symphonic death metallers Whorion. We played a few of these shows with Box Head as a final send off and a thanks for his time with the band.

They were asked to be the guest headliner at the Brighton Metal to the Masses final in Brighton which ultimately lead to us being aksed to return to Bloodstock to play the Sophie Lancaster Stage. This turned out to be our biggest gig to date as we played to a packed out tent.

Throughout the year to date the band continued work on the second full length album and launched a new website. 

During 2015 the band put finishing touches to their second album.

The band also continued to play gigs, including Eradication Festival in Wales and a return to the legendary Warhorns Festival in Yorkshire. They also co-organised The Blackwood Gathering event in Cumbria, playing an acoustic track by firelight in the woods.

Towards the end of the year The Seer departed from the band and thus we returned to our original 5 piece line-up.

In preparation for the new album the band launched the new ‘Sigil of Herne’ t-shirt. Shortly after, they hit the road supporting old friends Northern Oak on their farewell tour in February and March.

Old Corpse Road signed to legendary Cacophonous Records and released their second album ‘Of Campfires and Evening Mists’ on 27th May, which was was positivly received by critics and fans alike.

The band played a number of gigs accross the UK in support of the album including a return to Beermagedon,  a mini tour with Aklash and playing with Anaal Nathrakh on the all day event ‘A Blaze in the Northwestern Sky.’

Old Corpse Road contributed a cover of Darkthone’s ‘Divided We Stand’ for the tribute album A Blaze in the Northern of Transilvania/Tribute to Darkthrone album on Kult Recordings.

A limited edition release of Campires was relased on tape via Locust Amber Records in January.

Old Corpse Road contiuned to tour in support of the album begining with headlining the sold out York Viking Metal Festival and the following month played Hammerfest Festival. They were the main support for Heidevolk on their UK tour. They embarked on a brief tour with Stahlsarg and returned to Warhorns Festival. 

The Whispers of Long Meg t-shirt was launched taking inspiration from the stone circle in Penrith from which the first song from Campfires was based.

Old Corpse Road celebrated their 10 year anniversary with an apperence at the sold out ‘Blackwood Gathering Festival’

The band ended the year writing and making prepartions to demo tracks of their third album.

Old Corpse Road embarked on a short tour with Deamona. 

In March they played a sold out show with A Forest of Stars, Monarch!, Bell Witch and Esoteric.

The band are currently focusing on wrting and recording their as yet untitled third album with the aim to release later in the year and debut them live.

The band are due to play the main stage at HRH: Vikings Festival in December

Earlier in the year the band played a small run of dates supporting Latvian legends Skyforger including the notable Hammerfest event in northern Wales. They also headlined the woodland festival Darkness Over Cumbria and later in the year made a long awaited return to Newcastle as part of the Byker Grave Festival. Whilst only playing these select shows the band worked hard behind the scenes putting the finishing touches to their third album ‘On Ghastly Shores Lays the Wreckage of Our Lore’ and began a label hunt which succeeded in being signed by renowned German pagan/folk/black metal label Trollzorn records.

2020 sees the release of ‘On Ghastly Shores…’ in May as well as some key live performances due in Germany, Glasgow and London with many more to be announced soon.

The band continue to work hard on material in the studio and rehearsal space.