Old Corpse Road was formed in 2008 by a group of likeminded individuals with the aim or producing intense, haunting and atmospheric black metal. The band bases its songs solely on British folk tales and legends including classic folk stories such as "The Wild Hunt” and tales of witches, ghosts and fairies. 

Our style centres around classic British black metal, weaved with elements of death metal (more notably early UK grind), melodic doom, folk and ambient music. Our blend provides the perfect balance of intensity and aggression alongside beauty and melody. Vocals range from grunts and raw and high pitch screams through to spoken word, chants and sung harmonies. Regarding bands, we’ve taken inspiration from many such as Emperor, early Cradle of Filth, Bal-Sagoth, Primordial, Iron Maiden, My Dying Bride, Arcana and Abigor to name a few.

We have diversity. We find that we appeal to a wider range of metal fans than just black metallers. If you are a fan of black metal then there’s a ton of classic black metal sound in Old Corpse Road. If you’re not a big fan of black metal, there’s so much more on offer including folky passages, powerful singing passages and general heavy metal moments. We’ve had a lot of people who’ve seen our gigs who’ve spoken to us afterwards and admitted that although they do not like black metal, they really liked us, and have usually bought our music and come to see us again.

Early 2009 saw the release of our demo "The Echoes of Tales Once Told”. Based on the strength of the demo the band were offered a split release with The Meads of Asphodel. In early 2010 the split was released on Godreah Records titled "The Bones of this Land are not Speechless”. Both releases have received great responses from fans, mags and underground media. The demo is scheduled for a reissue in early 2011 on limited tape format with bonus tracks.

The band does play live. We started our live crusade in late 2009 and over 2010 played many major UK towns and cities such as London, Nottingham, Sheffield, Manchester and many more. A major live highlight was playing the New Blood Stage at the 2010 Bloodstock Festival where we played to a packed out tent. 2011 will see the live shows continue, including our first show in Scotland and a slot supporting Alcest in London also with a view to expand our live show outside of the UK.

I think we stand out a lot from many of the upcoming black metal bands. We’ve partly based our sound on a lost scene, which is that of the mid 90’s British scene, but we also incorporate so many different elements and layers into our music, including modern folk metal, all of which create a fresh and unique sound that is Old Corpse Road. We don’t sing about Satan, murder, Vikings or suicide. We just tell good old fashioned tales, through the power and spirit of black metal.

We will continue to play gigs with several lined up over 2011. We are also hosting our own mini festival which will be announced shortly. Most importantly though we have been putting finishing touches to the songs for our debut album which we aim to record midway though 2011.

You can listen to tracks on our website www.oldcorpseroad.co.uk and there are plenty of promo, studio and live videos on our YouTube channel www.youtube.com/oldcorpseroad. All of our music and merchandise can be obtained from our online store at www.oldcorpseroad.co.uk/shop.html.

January 2011