Formation and early years (2008–2012) The band formed under the name "Code Orange Kids" in 2008 in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They started out playing "really straightforward punk," but would eventually take their music in a heavier direction with the introduction of new member, Bob Rizzo, who met members of the band at a local show. Early self-published releases from Code Orange Kids included 2009's
Winter Tour Demo, Code Orange Kids released the EP
Cycles through Mayfly Records in 2011. Code Orange Kids announced they signed to
Deathwish Inc. in January 2012. At the time of their signing, the average age among the band members was only 18 years old. Code Orange Kids toured North America with
Touché Amoré,
Defeater and
Birds in Row in April 2012, and toured Europe in July 2012.
Love Is Love/Return to Dust (2012–2013) Code Orange Kids released their debut full-length album,
Love Is Love/Return to Dust, in October 2012 through Deathwish. The album was recorded in June 2012 with
Kurt Ballou of Converge at his own GodCity studio. Commenting on getting to work with Ballou, drummer Jami Morgan said, "Kurt has made tons of our favorite records and we respect him as an engineer and musician immensely, as many others do." The band began touring in support of
Love Is Love/Return to Dust with a short Canadian tour with
Bane in October 2012 followed by a North American tour with
Gaza and
Full of Hell from November through December 2012. On this tour, the band was robbed of over
US$10,000 worth of belongings in New Orleans, Louisiana. In February/March 2013, Code Orange Kids toured the U.S. with
H2O and
Terror; with
Circle Takes the Square and Full of Hell in Europe in July/August 2013; with Terror and
Fucked Up in North America in October 2013; and with
Every Time I Die and
Letlive in November/December 2013. In April 2013, the band released a 4-way split 7-inch with
Tigers Jaw,
The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die, and
Self Defense Family.
Name change and I Am King (2014–2015) Recording for Code Orange Kids' (who would soon change their band name) second studio album began in February 2014 with Kurt Ballou. Speaking on the overall sound of the new record, Morgan said it would mark "a very new era for our band," and that, "It's different. A lot of the heavier parts are heavier and sometimes more obvious. A lot of the odd parts are weirder and a little more anti-social. Things are a lot more blended together." followed by an online stream of "My World" in July 2014 and a music video for "Dreams in Inertia" in August 2014. Code Orange's first tour in support of
I Am King was a six-date stint with
Killswitch Engage surrounding the band's participation in This is Hardcore Festival 2014 in July/August 2014, followed by a North American co-headlining tour with Twitching Tongues in September and October.
Forever and The Hurt Will Go On (2016–2019) In April 2016, Code Orange signed to
Roadrunner Records for their third studio album, which at the time was tentatively due out in late 2016. Leading up to the new album's release, the band toured the U.S. with
Deftones in May 2016 and performed sporadic mid-year festival dates, including This Is Hardcore in August. It was revealed to be the title track to their third album,
Forever, which was then set for release on January 13, 2017. Following the release of the initial single, the band released an animated music video for "Kill The Creator" in December 2016, as well as two further promotional singles, "Ugly" and "Bleeding in the Blur," in January 2017, prior to the album's official release date of January 13. A music video for the track "The Mud", directed by Balderose and Dmitry Zakharov, was premiered on
Adult Swim's
Toonami block on September 30, 2017. The album was featured on various best of 2017 lists including,
Rolling Stone's "20 Best Metal Albums of 2017",
Revolver's "20 Best Albums of 2017" and
The Independent's "Top 20 Rock & Metal Albums of 2017." In support of the album, the band began touring as a five-piece. Dominic Landolina – who also played lead guitar in Adventures alongside Meyers, Morgan and Goldman – was brought in as a touring guitarist and later became a full-time member, after being secretly unveiled as a new member in the music video for "Forever". In August 2017, "Bleeding in the Blur" was announced as one of the official theme songs for
NXT's
NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn III event. At the event, held at the
Barclays Center in
Brooklyn, New York, Code Orange were the first band to ever play live at an NXT show. Their appearance came about after Morgan became friends with Dillinger frontman
Greg Puciato, who invited them to these performances. Code Orange released a new single, "Only One Way", on February 8, 2018, through the Adult Swim Singles Program. They followed it with a remix by guitarist Eric "Shade" Balderose called "only1 (the hard way)". Along with the remix of "Hurt Goes On," the EP also featured two brand-new tracks: "3 Knives" and "The Hunt," which features guest vocalist
Corey Taylor of
Slipknot and
Stone Sour. The song, "Let Me In," is a re-imagining of
Mark Crozer's song "Live in Fear," which was Wyatt's old theme before leaving WWE programming in November 2018 and creating a new version of his character.
Underneath, Under the Skin, and What Is Really Underneath? (2020–2023) 2017 On January 10, 2020, the band released a music video for "Underneath", the first single from their fourth album,
Underneath. On February 7, 2020, they released a music video for their second single "Swallowing the Rabbit Whole". On March 9, 2020, the band released the third single "Sulfur Surrounding". An animated video directed by Eric Balderose, was released on March 9 along with the single. The full album was released on March 13, 2020. On March 14, 2020, Code Orange performed a live-streamed album release concert in an empty venue on
Twitch due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. The performance took place at the Roxian Theatre and was called "Last Ones Left: In Fear of the End". The album was also produced by Jami Morgan and co-produced by
Will Yip. with Ethan Young being revealed as the band's touring drummer in March 2020, to which Morgan commented: "He's a great guy and I think he'll continue to earn his spot, but for now he's an empty vessel. He's our drumming muse for now. We don't want to be married to anyone yet. You don't know how people are going to be 'til they are." On September 4, 2020, the band released a live album titled,
Under the Skin. The album featured acoustic renditions of songs from the bands discography, as well as a cover of "
Down in a Hole" by
Alice In Chains. They would ultimately lose the Grammy to
Body Count. On January 23, 2021, an animated motion-capture video for the song "Autumn and Carbine" was premiered on
Adult Swim's
Toonami. The video was directed by Eric Balderose and Jami Morgan (under the nowhere2run productions moniker) and utilized motion-capture to create 3D models of the band members themselves. On November 11, 2021, the band released a new standalone single titled "Out for Blood" along with its accompanying music video. The song was recorded with
Green Day and
My Chemical Romance producer
Rob Cavallo. On February 17, 2023, the band released a remix album,
What Is Really Underneath?, based on the band's fourth studio album,
Underneath. It is the bands' first release through the newly formed semi independent label, Blue Grape Music.
The Above and hiatus (2023–2025) 2023 On May 30 2023, the band shared a video on their YouTube channel entitled "Code Orange Slams modern music critics". However, the video served as a
bait-and-switch: It instead featured several minutes of a staged torture sequence before a new song played at the end. The day after the video, on June 1, 2023, the band released two new songs: "Grooming My Replacement", which played in the video, and "The Game". On July 18, 2023, the band released the single "Take Shape" featuring
Billy Corgan of
the Smashing Pumpkins. On the same day, the band announced their fifth studio album,
The Above, which was released on September 29, 2023. On January 12, 2024, the band canceled their upcoming headline tour and ShipRocked cruise / Pulp Summer Slam due to health problems their guitarist Dominic Landolina has been facing for the past year. In April 2025, vocalist Jami Morgan announced that the band is on hiatus, describing them as being "on the shelf". Morgan cited Landolina's health issues, as well as the pursuit of other projects by himself, Balderose and Meyers as the main reasons for the band's hiatus. == Musical style and influences ==