Penance was formed after the demise of Dream Death, when several members decided to pursue a more traditional doom direction.
[1] Dream Death existed during mid eighties and played a mixture of doom, hardcore and thrash metal.
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.
Penance's debut The Road Less Travelled, featuring Brian Lawrence (who was also previously a member of Dream Death) on vocals and guitar, was released 1992, under Lee Dorrian's label Rise Above Records.
[citation needed] On the next releases Penance adopted a slight range of psychedelic influences, but still remained fairly closed to their traditional doom roots.