Warning (British band)

Warning was formed by Patrick Walker alongside bassist John Sellings and drummer Stuart Springthorpe. After recording the demo releases Revelation Looms (1996) and Blessed by the Sabbath (1997), the band attracted attention within the underground doom metal scene and secured early label interest.

The band's debut album, The Strength to Dream, was released in 1999 through Miskatonic Foundation and established Warning within the doom metal underground, developing a cult following. Despite the album's reception, the band disbanded shortly after completing a European tour with fellow doom metal band Jack Frost in 2001. Warning later reunited in 2005 for a performance at the Doom Shall Rise III festival in Göppingen, Germany.^[3]

In 2006, following a Scandinavian tour with Reverend Bizarre, Warning recorded their second album, Watching from a Distance, at Rosenquarz Studio in Lübeck, Germany. Released later that year, the album received critical acclaim and has since been regarded as a landmark release within the doom metal genre, frequently appearing in retrospective lists of influential doom metal albums.^[4]

Both The Strength to Dream and Watching from a Distance were initially issued on limited vinyl pressings through Metal Supremacy and later reissued by Cyclone Empire. In 2012, an unauthorized vinyl reissue of Watching from a Distance released by Kreation Records prompted public criticism from Walker, who stated the band had neither approved the release nor been compensated for it.^[5][6] Kreation Records later responded that the album had been licensed through Miskatonic Foundation and expressed regret over the dispute,^[7] offering to compensate Walker for the perceived error, which Walker declined.^[8] Subsequent licensed reissues were later handled by Svart Records before the band's catalogue was acquired by Relapse Records in 2025.^[9]

Warning officially disbanded in January 2009. Walker later stated that he needed "to move on" in order to continue creating music with "integrity and wholeness".^[10] He subsequently formed 40 Watt Sun, initially as a full band before transitioning into a primarily solo project.^[8]

On 7 April 2026, the band announced Rituals of Shame, their first studio album in twenty years, scheduled for release on 19 June 2026 via Relapse Records.^[2]

In 2019, Kerrang! ranked Watching from a Distance first on its list of the "13 Bleakest Rock and Metal Albums Ever", writing that "the depths of anguish conjured by Essex-based frontman Patrick Walker... are still utterly unmatched".^[11]

Metal Hammer ranked the album's title track first on its list of "The 10 Most Heartbreaking Doom Metal Songs",^[12] and later included Warning in its "Top 50 Greatest Cult Bands" feature.^[13]

In A History of Heavy Metal, author Andrew O'Neill described Warning as "the best doom band of the bunch", writing that their 2006 release Watching from a Distance contains "possibly the most emotionally affecting song in all of heavy metal", citing the track "Bridges".^[14]