Heriot’s hype in British heavy music circles has always seemed like only the jump-off. The colossal weight of the band’s sound felt immediately astronomical, particularly for a band whose Swindon hometown probably wouldn’t be well known on Wacken or Hellfest circuits (not even for it’s infamous roundabout system), and after a few years into the game, their debut Devoured By The Mouth Of Hell also feels more like it should be their third. Not just from the group’s elapsed time in the spotlight, but in its ability to promote every aspect of Heriot’s ever-building USPs with such accomplishment.
So much is the esteem of the four-piece that, before contriving their first full length, they donned the same stages as veterans and meme-stars alike (Architects and Sleep Token respectively, if you’re asking). Their rise hasn’t caused sniffs of interest so much as full-fledged commitments from behemoths Century Media, and the production and mixing capabilities of Josh Middleton and Will Putney, both of whom need no introduction. Even SikTh’s Justin Hill helped craft Julian Gage’s drum sound that bursts forth across Devoured… only hinting at its feeling of ‘completeness’.
Perhaps it was this effort to compile a more concise, no-fat and thematic exercise for Album One that has seen only dribs and drabs of releases so far. Elements of industrial atmospherics, groove metal, and downtuned debauchery that make up modern metalcore have all flashed up throughout their discography, but each hallmark is a tad larger than it existed before to tell this epic-in-short. The track titles and imagery for a start—Siege Lord, Sentenced to the Blade and, hell, Hell itself—are evocative of a certain inferno-based role player, with a soundtrack matching the mood crafted by the hands of Mick Gordon. To be fair, a saga-like narrative driven by bludgeoning and beauty in equal measure is unsurprising for a band named after an Anglo-Saxon courtesy custom made upon death.
To descend into the depths from the outset, minor chordal rings from the Foul Void herald a doomy beginning, balancing Debbie Gough and Jake Packer’s dual vocals over some well-paced drums that make you wait for the breakdown payoff that’s even meatier than expected. Harm Sequence spares no prisoners in its abrasive sub-two minute attack and the aforementioned Siege Lord’s moody cinematic elements make Heriot’s world feel all-encompassing by the midpoint. For fans of balls to the wall metal crushers, Gough and Erhan Alman’s starting, pre-breakdown and closing riffs to At the Fortress Gate could all kick off a ‘nastiest 2020s riffs medley’ video (if that side of YouTube still exists in a decade). Even the shrieking divebomb tricks that open Sentenced to the Blade make what hair metal turned cheesy genuinely terrifying again.
In keeping with the filmic qualities, the group doesn’t deal completely in pure brutality. Instead, they double down on the shoegazed washed-out ambience they’ve experimented with to produce some of Devoured…’s highlights. Visage would be considered a ‘game of two halves’ if its dreamlike first section didn’t meld so perfectly into the overwhelming second. That’s all due to Gough’s vocals, always standout moments benefitting from Josh Middleton’s production chops, which best manifests on near post-rock number Opaline. Like Chelsea Wolfe’s most dirgy work Hiss Spun, Gough’s bathed voice evolves into a chunky, grandiose head-bopper. Its effect still rings after multiple listens.
Even closer Mourn manages to combine all the winning stylistic shifts of its preceding tracks back-to-back, including battling vocals over crunching bass, ethereal singing and a passage for the riffs to really do the talking. Bookended by grinding snarlface grooves of course. That acts like an abstract of Devoured… as a whole: a wickedly hefty document that takes no time to set the scene and keep you hooked, all the while keeping you fully invested in the left-turns that feel all part and parcel of the young band’s vision. Universal heights should lie in wait, but with Heriot this fully-formed, they could be aiming for fields even further.
For fans of: Code Orange, Graphic Nature, Jesus Piece
‘Devoured By The Mouth Of Hell’ by Heriot is released on 27th September on Century Media Records.
Words by Elliot Burr
