Rising from the underground scene to become one of British metal’s most exciting bands, Heriot’s debut album is a tour de force. Check out our new Upset cover story.
Words: Linsey Teggert.
Photos: Harry Steel.
With the amount of hype that has surrounded metal four-piece Heriot over the past four years, it’s hard to believe they’re only now releasing their debut album, ‘Devoured by the Mouth of Hell’. The release of their official first single with guitarist and vocalist Debbie Gough – who joined drummer Julian Gage, bassist and vocalist Jake Packer and guitarist Erhan Alman in 2019 – ‘Cleansed Existence’, pricked up the ears of the heavy music press. Before long, with the release of 2022’s ‘Profound Morality’ EP, the newcomers were being championed as one of British metal’s most exciting prospects.
With a whole host of impressive credentials already under their belt, including two appearances at Download, support slots with the likes of Rolo Tomassi, Zeal & Ardor, and Architects, and a record deal with legendary metal label Century Media, it’s safe to say Heriot had already cemented their status as metal’s newest rising stars even before the release of their first full-length.
Though the pressure was still on, it felt like they’d already proven their metal chops, so the band knew they needed to take more time to expand their sound and hone the influences they had hinted at with ‘Profound Morality’.
“With the album, we’ve definitely expanded on the bits that we’d only given a glimpse of with the EP,” explains Debbie. “The industrial side, the shoegaze side, the cleaner moments, even the death metal kind of influences – we’ve given them more room to breathe. The EP is only around 20 minutes long with two interludes, so that was a really quick one to blitz through. With the album, we wanted to make sure that we were really investing in experimentation and allowing ourselves to be a little more free.”
While ‘Profound Morality’ was blasted through in five days, ‘Devoured by the Mouth of Hell’ was a much more drawn-out process. “When we were writing this album, we sat down and discussed what types of songs we wanted to write,” Debbie recalls.
“We definitely talked about how we wanted to sound more, whereas before we didn’t actually talk at all about how we wanted to sound, as weird as that seems! Looking back on the EP, there are things I would want to change now, and we’ve discussed that as a group. We’ve not dwelled on it, but we decided to do things differently.”
“The industrial side, the shoegaze side, the cleaner moments, even the death metal kind of influences – we’ve given them more room to breathe”
Debbie Gough
One of the main things Heriot focused on was not just being heavy for heavy’s sake. While ‘Profound Morality’ did flirt with the more experimental sounds that made it onto ‘Devoured…’, it’s a much more brutal, claustrophobic listen that manages to cram a whole lot of ear-crushing into those 20 minutes.
“I think we’re quite conscious of the fact that because the music is so intense, it can be a bit harsh on us when writing it,” says Julian. “If we’re just writing insanely heavy music for hours on end, we need some kind of respite from that. Though we did end up writing the record in bursts over a long period of time, I think perhaps just being exhausted by some of the heavy stuff is where the more ambient and more melodic sounds come out. We did have those moments on ‘Profound Morality’, so it’s not an entirely new sound but a much more thought-out version of that. I think the things we hinted at before, we maybe weren’t quite ready to fully articulate, but we’ve done that a lot better on this album.”
“It’s a more concentrated version of Heriot,” adds Debbie. “Before, we were so new to making our own sounds, but now we’re more conscious of what works and what doesn’t. We found that a big talking point around our band was the parts of the music that weren’t just straight-up heavy all the time. Knowing that was something that went down well with the EP, we had a little more confidence to dive into the weirder parts of heavy music with this one.”
As a result, ‘Devoured by the Mouth of Hell’ is so much more nuanced and an entirely more expansive listen. By the third album track, ‘Opaline’, Heriot have already introduced this more diverse soundscape. Opening with quietly echoing, grungy guitars, Debbie’s ethereal vocals are front and centre, and the effect is spellbinding. The track slowly burns into an industrial beat which makes way for vocalist and bassist Jake’s guttural growl.
‘Visage’ is another of the more ambient tracks, and perhaps the first time the word “vulnerable” can be used when describing Heriot. “‘Visage’ is the track I’m most proud of,” Debbie states. “It turned out to be one of the most emotional songs that we’ve done. When we first started doing this, I never imagined we’d write a song like that. It’s very soundscapey and a nice landmark of growth for the band.”
For those who may worry that by refining the softer moments of their sound, Heriot have watered down their ferocity, fear not. Those “weirder” moments only serve to make the heavier parts all the more pulverising. You only need to look to lead single ‘Siege Lord’ for evidence: a huge, lurching monster of a track that opens with thunderous drums and sees Debbie demonstrate her astonishing vocal range, moving seamlessly from stomach-churning roar to ear-piercing howl.
And, of course, you couldn’t get an album title more metal than ‘Devoured by the Mouth of Hell’. “The title was the last thing to come,” says Debbie. “It felt as though it encompassed the theme of the album, though the ‘mouth of hell’ could relate to many different topics. It could be everyday living, existentialism, poverty, class, internal grief – hell can be envisioned in so many different ways, though the overarching idea is of being completely consumed by something.”
When it comes to lyrics, both Debbie and Jake share responsibility, though it’s very much Jake who is responsible for the historic themes; the name Heriot, in fact, refers to an Anglo-Saxon death duty tax, and medieval motifs are peppered throughout. “Jake is obsessed with anything medieval,” laughs Julian. “I remember when we started the band ten years ago, he wanted it to be something medieval, and everything we’ve done has some kind of element of that. He has lots of books and a treasure trove of ‘stuff’, so lots of our merch is pulled from those aesthetics. I like the visual side of it, but it’s very much Jake’s forte.”
“Hell can be envisioned in so many different ways”
Debbie Gough
“I like it from a metal point of view, like, ‘Yeah, this is bleak’, but don’t get talking to me about it,” says Debbie, giggling. “I’ll leave that side of things to Jake, but I think the idea of remorse is a good way to sum up a lot of our lyrical themes, whether that’s personal remorse or reflecting on the world around you.”
Though it’s been almost two years in the making, Heriot wouldn’t have done anything differently when it comes to their debut full-length. Having to abandon writing for the album early on to go out on tour and play festival slots before coming back to it several times ended up being a positive, allowing them to grow as a band and also judge what worked in a live setting.
“The tracks we wrote prior to summer 2023 were pretty much reworked from the ground up after that based on the experience of how things went down live,” says Julian. “We wrote the EP during the pandemic, so we didn’t have a chance to play those songs live until the record came out, so we were really conscious of thinking how tracks would translate this time, and we wrote sections with that specifically in mind. We’ve already been playing songs off this record live, and they’re going down really well, even the ones that haven’t been released.”
With the band now excited to play most of ‘Devoured by the Mouth of Hell’ live and a UK and European tour coming up, they have their sights on conquering the US next. Though unsurprisingly, it seems that the first time they played Download will still be hard to beat when it comes to bucket list moments.
“I still think the first time we played Download was the best day of all our lives,” remembers Julian. “It will take a lot to top that. The EP had only been out seven weeks or something silly, so to get the reaction we did is insane. The Lamb of God show we did is a definite highlight as well… there are too many highlights already! We’re very lucky to have that problem.”
Heriot’s album ‘Devoured by the Mouth of Hell’ is out now. Follow Upset’s Spotify playlist here.
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