A BLACK metal band have been snapped up and signed by an independent record label.

Old Corpse Road, founded in Darlington in 2007, signed a deal with German music label Trollzorn Records, who specialize in the black metal and folk genres.

The band is made up of six local musicians who go by pseudonyms The Dreamer, The Reverent, The Bearer, The Watcher, The Wanderer and The Seer.

All members of the band are long-time friends and live in various parts of the North-East.

“After our previous record label collapsed, we had a few offers from other labels who were interested in signing us,” said vocalist The Dreamer. “As a band, keeping our identity is really important to us, and we therefore didn’t want to work with a label who wanted to control everything tightly. Trollzorn offered us a very nice deal. They liked who we were as a band and our image, and so they didn’t want to change us or what we’re about, instead they welcomed our ideas.”

Trollzorn also offered Old Corpse Road the chance to break into Europe, after previously only touring across the UK.

“This is our chance to reach a completely different audience, which is really exciting” said The Dreamer. “The plan is to promote the latest album with our first European tour, once the coronavirus pandemic is over.”

The band recently released their latest album ‘On Ghastly Shores Lays the Wreckage of Our Lore’, which takes its inspiration from the various legends and stories from the coast line and surrounding sea of Northumbria.

“The album name comes from the idea that we, and the music of today, is all that is left of traditional folk music,” said The Dreamer.

“We are the wreckage of those stories as time has moved on.

“Our previous two albums were inspired by the folklore of Darlington and Hurworth, so now we’ve branched out for inspiration across the wider North East,” said The Dreamer.

The band describe their musical focus as “playing black metal inspired by our true passions; nature and British folklore”.

“When I was younger, metal was a very niche genre,” said The Dreamer, “But now the culture is getting bigger, and we’ve got a ever-growing fan base. At one point just people from Darlington knew who we were, but we’ve played some big festivals and travelled on tour to all over the UK.”