Warning is a UK-based doom metal band.
Warning flagged the rise of post-2000 wave of traditional doom metal. The band was founded by guitarist/singer/songwriter Patrick Walker in 1994 in Harlow, Essex. Warning's music is notable for its down-tempo, progressive, melodic and heavy doom-laden sound; the idiosyncratic and poignant vocals of Patrick Walker; and his introspective, darkly-confessional lyrical themes.
The band released two demo tapes, Revelation Looms in Feb 1996 and Blessed By Sabbath in March 1997 which led them to gain underground metal press attention and label interest.
Warning debuted in 1999 with The Strength To Dream on Rich Walker's Miskatonic Foundation label. With this album, Warning gained a cult status within doom metal circles, but they soon disbanded after their 2001 European tour with Jack Frost. They regrouped in 2004 to perform at The Doom Shall Rise festival in Germany in 2005, and released second album Watching From A Distance in 2006 to enormous acclaim. It has been heralded as one of the most influential doom metal albums of the past 30 years and one of the landmark metal albums of the decade.
Both albums were re-issued on CD in 2008 by the label Cyclone Empire, The Strength to Dream being re-packaged in new sleeve artwork. Similarly the albums were released by the Metal Supremacy label as gatefold double-vinyl editions limited to 500 copies each, 125 of each pressed on coloured vinyl.
Patrick Walker decided to discontinue the band in January 2009 and continues to write and record music as 40 Watt Sun and under his own name.
Warning reunited for a performance at the 2017 edition of Roadburn Festival in The Netherlands, where they played Watching From A Distance in full, after which they toured the album on both sides of the Atlantic in a series of celebrated live concerts.
In 2019 Kerrang! named Watching From A Distance #1 of their "13 Bleakest Rock And Metal Albums Ever."