Code Orange (band)

Lore & Background

Code Orange Kids formed in 2008 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, playing straightforward punk before moving to a heavier sound. They signed to Deathwish Inc. in January 2012, with an average member age of 18. Their debut album Love Is Love/Return to Dust was released in November 2012, recorded with Kurt Ballou. The band changed their name to Code Orange in June 2014 and released I Am King in September 2014. Their third album Forever (January 2017) and fourth album Underneath (March 2020) were released on Roadrunner Records. The band's latest album, The Above, came out on September 29, 2023.

Reader's Guide

Code Orange's significance lies in their stylistic evolution from hardcore punk to metalcore and beyond, incorporating grunge, nu metal, electronica, and industrial elements. Their early signing to Deathwish Inc. and later move to Roadrunner Records marked a commercial and critical ascent. They gained mainstream attention through Grammy nominations for Best Metal Performance in 2017 and 2020, and won a Kerrang! Award and Metal Hammer Golden Gods Award. Their live performances, including being the first band to play live at an NXT event, and collaborations with artists like Corey Taylor, expanded their reach. The band's ability to blend heavy genres while maintaining a distinct identity has influenced modern metalcore.

Did You Know?

• The band formed while members were still in high school.
• They were robbed of over US$10,000 worth of belongings in New Orleans in 2012.
• Their song 'Bleeding in the Blur' was used as an official theme for NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn III.
• Drummer Max Portnoy has served as a touring drummer but is not an official member.

From Pittsburgh Classrooms to the Punk Circuit

Code Orange traces its roots to 2008 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, when a group of high school students banded together under the name Code Orange Kids. Their earliest material was what they themselves described as "really straightforward punk," a raw and uncomplicated approach to hardcore. The arrival of guitarist Bob Rizzo, whom they met at a local show, pushed the group toward a heavier, more textured sound. By early 2012, the band characterized their music as "doomy, abrasive" hardcore in the vein of Black Flag, Converge, and Integrity. Touring posed practical obstacles: several members were too young to enter certain venues, and school schedules limited them to inter-semester runs. Even so, they managed to open for Misfits, The Bronx, Nekromantix, and Anti-Flag. Their early catalog included self-released demos in 2009 and 2010, a 2011 split single, and the EP Cycles on Mayfly Records. In January 2012, with an average member age of just eighteen, they signed with Deathwish Inc., and by the following months they were sharing stages with Touché Amoré, Defeater, and Birds in Row across North America before crossing into Europe that summer.

A Sound That Kept Mutating

What began as a straightforward hardcore punk project gradually transformed into something far more layered and genre-fluid. The debut full-length, Love Is Love/Return to Dust, marked the band's first deliberate pivot toward metalcore, and it was recorded in June 2012 with Kurt Ballou of Converge at his GodCity studio. Drummer Jami Morgan expressed deep respect for Ballou's engineering and musicianship, noting how many of the band's favorite records carried his fingerprints. The sophomore effort, I Am King, pushed the evolution further. Morgan described it as "a very new era," with heavier passages that felt more pronounced and odder sections that leaned into a stranger, more anti-social territory, with all the elements more thoroughly blended. By the time Forever arrived in 2017 and Underneath followed in 2020, the band had woven in grunge, nu metal, electronica, and industrial textures, signaling a willingness to let their sound keep expanding well beyond the metalcore framework that had defined their early identity.

Five Albums, Two Labels, and a Growing Catalog

Code Orange's studio discography spans two major-label homes. Their first two full-lengths, Love Is Love/Return to Dust (November 2012) and I Am King (September 2014), both came out under the Deathwish Inc. banner while the group still carried the "Kids" suffix. In April 2016 they signed with Roadrunner Records, which released Forever in January 2017 and Underneath in March 2020. Their most recent full-length, The Above, dropped on September 29, 2023. Beyond those five albums, the band's output includes three EPs, one live album, thirteen music videos, three live DVDs, and six shorter releases in the form of splits and singles. Touring has not been without hardship: during a North American run supporting their debut, the group was robbed of more than ten thousand dollars' worth of gear in New Orleans. Yet they kept pressing forward, opening for Killswitch Engage at This is Hardcore Festival 2014, co-headlining with Twitching Tongues, and appearing at Rockstar Mayhem in 2015.

Critical Recognition and a Solidifying Lineup

The band's trajectory from high school garage act to Grammy-nominated metalcore outfit drew significant industry attention. In 2018 they took home the Kerrang! Award for Best International Breakthrough, and that same year they won the Metal Hammer Golden Gods Award for Breakthrough Artist after being nominated in both 2017 and 2018. Their albums Forever and Underneath each earned a nomination for Best Metal Performance at the Grammy Awards, in 2017 and 2020 respectively. Loudwire also recognized them in 2017 with nominations for both Metal Album of the Year and Metal Artist of the Year. The current lineup—vocalist Jami Morgan, guitarist and vocalist Reba Meyers, keyboardist and programmer Eric "Shade" Balderose, bassist Joe Goldman, guitarist Dominic Landolina, and drummer Max Portnoy—solidified over time. Portnoy, who had been filling in as touring drummer since October 2021 after Ethan Young's stint ended, was inducted as an official member in 2023, rounding out a six-piece that has become one of the most talked-about acts in modern metal.