From making their Download debut to sharing the stage with childhood heroes Lamb Of God , there’s been no shortage of pinch-me moments for Heriot over the last couple of years. Having had a huge start to their career, the British metal upstarts have been at the centre of a whirlwind of hype. Praised by everyone from Trivium frontman Matt Heafy to legendary guitarist Mark Morton, the Swindon-via-Birmingham four-piece’s debut EP ‘Profound Morality’ created almighty waves upon its release in 2022.
Introducing the world to their doomy atmospheric take on metal, laden with sludgy riffs and industrial elements, their blistering sound sent the scene into a frenzy. With each new show and festival appearance seeing more heads turned in their direction, the moment thousands have been waiting for is almost here. Unleashing their debut full-length in 2024, ‘Devoured By The Mouth Of Hell’ is Heriot’s most defiant statement to date.
Merging melody with sheer brutality, it’s a 10-track demonstration of everything the band have learnt since their formation, and a promise of more to come. Ahead of their imminent explosion, Rock Sound sat down with guitarist Erhan Alman and drummer Julian Gage to find out more about Heriot’s unstoppable rise and the creation of their debut full-length. ROCK SOUND: It feels like it’s been a long wait for this moment.
Coming out of ‘Profound Morality’, how did you know it was time to knuckle down on the debut full-length? ERHAN ALMAN: “Even just as fans of music, we love artists who keep things consistent when they’re putting out music. That formula has worked for us quite well. We drip fed singles until we put out ‘Profound Morality’, and then we were touring non-stop and playing loads of cool festivals.
We wanted to make sure that we kept the momentum up, and eventually it got to the right time. We didn’t want to put out a debut first, and that’s why we did the EP, but since then we’ve learned a lot. We’ve gotten better at songwriting, and it was the right time.
When we were meeting fans and chatting at shows, it was clear that an album was what they were waiting for. It didn’t feel forced and didn’t feel like we had to do it. We were in a position where we felt comfortable to give it a go.
” JULIAN GAGE: “I think we’ve been quite calculated but cautious in our approach, which is a good thing. If we tried to make a full-length album when we made the EP, I don’t think it would have been as good as it could have been. We’ve learned a lot, so now is the right time.
I don’t think we were ready for it two years ago.” ERHAN: “We had to make sure that we wrote something that we were proud of.” RS: When you first started mapping out what this record was going to look like, what did that vision consist of? ERHAN: “‘Profound Morality’ was a good starting point for what the album became.
There were some elements we explored on that EP, but we hadn’t fully fleshed them out. There were sections of songs and interludes that became a part of how we sounded, and we wanted to keep going into that. We wanted to spread our wings by trying new stuff and experimenting.
We’re actually very lucky because we’ve made a bit of a statement in terms of how we sound. We know that we’re not shoehorned into just one genre. The album was a great opportunity to show what we can do, and we can make full songs of electronic stuff, even if that may not be what people expect.
I’m looking forward to seeing what people think.” JULIAN: “A lot of it is to do with growing in confidence. We had interludes which hinted at that industrial side on the EP, but we’ve fully embraced it this time.
With the melodic stuff too, there were bits and bobs of that on the EP, but now we’ve thrown ourselves into it a lot more. Over time, we’ve all become more comfortable working together. Before this record, we never had a lot of time to work on music, we just finished it and put it out.
With this, it was nice to write a bunch of stuff, take it away, and then come back and flesh it out more.” RS: Once you got the ball rolling with ideas, were you surprised with where things were headed? Because there are some curveball moments on this record..
. ERHAN: “I didn’t think we’d have a full electronic tune on there. We haven’t been around that long, but we were very conscious of not conforming to the formula of what song is for us.
To counteract that, we did stuff that was just totally different. If you had asked me last year when we started writing these songs if something like ‘Latched’ would make the album, I would have said no. Songs like ‘Visage’ too, which came from Deb [Gough, vocals]’s Billie Eilish influence.
It became something totally unique, and I’m proud that we can have that. It keeps it fresh and exciting for us.” JULIAN: “‘Lashed’ is unexpected, but after the electronic stuff on the EP it seems like a natural progression.
Why wouldn’t we try that idea? There are no real drums on that song, it’s all electronic, which is cool. There are curveballs on there, but because we sit with these songs for so long, we don’t always see them that way. If I was a listener of this record, I’d like to think that it would make sense.
” RS: Was there any added pressure given how much hype there’s been around Heriot leading up to this record? ERHAN: “There was, but that became secondary to making something that we thought was wicked. I remember listening to Olli [Appleyard] from Static Dress say that you have to look back and be proud of what you made, even though it might not be the kind of music you’re making four years from now. At that moment in time, you just have to be proud of it.
I’m sure there’s an expectation, but if you still like this stuff and you want to stick around, then brilliant. If not, that’s fine. Music is subjective, and we don’t want to write for other people.
There’s some stuff on the album that’s true to what we’ve done before, but that’s not why we wrote it. We wrote it because it was fun to make, fun to play live, and hopefully fun to listen to.” JULIAN: “When we’re all together, we’re so focused that we don’t even think about the expectations, which is good.
” ERHAN: “We’re just there to impress ourselves more than anything. We were bouncing off each other, and that’s the way it should be.” RS: Did you challenge yourself to venture into sonic territories that you previously hadn’t before, and push yourselves with your playing? JULIAN: “I always thought that ‘Profound Morality’ was intense.
It’s only 20 minutes long, but we had to put the interludes in there to help it breathe. As fun as it would have been to make a record that was just 30 minutes of abrasive noise, it was important that we didn’t do that. Everything that we did happened naturally, so I don’t necessarily think it was a challenge.
We didn’t make a lot of music when we were touring, because we couldn’t. We were too busy, so there were loads of demos building up. We pieced things together from that, and some songs took longer than others.
We wanted them to be the best they could be, and being a perfectionist can be difficult. ‘Lashed’ went through at least ten versions before the one on the record, but we wanted to make sure we were all happy with the record. We’re super proud of it.
” ERHAN: “I can see how good the guys are as musicians as well, especially Deb vocally. Deb is brilliant, but she sometimes needs a push to try some new stuff. That’s why we create a space which allows everyone to try whatever.
When we started writing together, and when Deb first joined the band, she didn’t know us too well. Singing was a new area for her to explore, and that can be a little embarrassing. We finally got to a point where she could sing in front of people with no problem, so now it’s time to try new things.
I’m lucky to be surrounded by such great musicians, and we’re good at trying out all our ideas. I’m sure we have loads of iterations of shit stuff, but it’s all part of eventually finding that one gem. It’s become a positive melting pot, and we push each other not to do what is expected.
” JULIAN: “Having an outside perspective helps too, and Josh Middleton came in towards the end of the writing process. He gave his opinion on everything we had, and then we went back and worked on it again. With tracking, he really pushed Deb and Jake [Packer, bass] out of their comfort zones.
We did drums with Justin Hill from SikTh , and he got me to do loads of stuff I wouldn’t normally do. Making an album isn’t all fun and games, it can be stressful. Having those outside perspectives was great though, because we’ve never had that before.
” RS: In terms of the extra hands that went into creating the record, Josh Middleton, Justin Hill, and Will Putney are an insane trio. How integral was it to have a team of people behind this who truly understood the vision you had for this? ERHAN: “Honestly, it was intimidating! Josh is such a good guitarist, and I’m self-taught from YouTube and stuff. It’s great though, because we’ve never had outside feedback or been able to show someone what we’re working on before.
It’s created a safe space where we can say no to suggestions, and we can have a conversation about things. Josh is such a strong songwriter, so nine times out of ten we’ll go with what he says, but it was great to not feel pressured. I learned a lot about playing and how to make my guitar sound better on record.
When I play live, I play so hard. I break strings all the time, and he taught me not to do that when playing in the studio. Everyone we worked with was incredible.
” RS: Obviously people have heard a couple of songs, but when you hear them in the context of the record the sequencing feels so important. It’s an album in the truest sense, and the flow of the tracks is stunning..
. JULIAN: “It’s always a bit of a difficult process putting the tracklist together. ‘Profound Morality’ was pieced together afterwards, and there’s a drone that carries the whole record together.
We didn’t do exactly that this time, but I’ve had different tracklists in my notes for weeks. We kept coming back to it, and when we were in Reading doing the album, we sat around and listened to it in order. I hope that people pick up on the sequencing, because we take a lot of time on it, and it has to be right.
When you listen to it, it sounds like a record, and it should be listened to in that order. Each track makes much more sense as part of the record. Singles are great, but I love a longform piece.
I’m a big nerd on tracklist stuff.” ERHAN: “It’s almost like writing a setlist, you have to consider how the energy goes, and you need to have a breather. When we came to the final iteration, that’s when me and Deb gave our thoughts.
We all had the same tracklist by the end of it, and it flows nicely. I’ve probably listened to the record more than everyone else, because I like to refresh myself. Every time I hear it, I’m impressed with how well it came together.
” RS: Over the last few years, the live show has become a huge part of this band. When you were writing these songs, did you put much thought into how they’d come across in a live setting? ERHAN: “That was a big thing, especially because we wrote the first iteration of the album in March of last year. We went away and did a bunch of touring and European festivals after that, and you could tell the fans who knew the tunes from the ones who didn’t.
On ‘Profound Morality’, a lot of the tunes are quite jarring, so it was interesting to see which riffs worked and which didn’t. We learned a lot working with Josh too, because he’s been doing this for so long. Especially with Sylosis , he writes in a way that is perfect for festival stages.
This record is written with the live show firmly in mind, and Josh told us to think about some guy right at the back who’s walking past our stage at a festival with a beer in his hand. We needed to write something where he could hear one riff and immediately want to check out our set. Because we’ve played shows now, it’s easier for us to envision that.
Playing ‘At The Fortress Gate’ live over the summer, we’ve been able to see how well it goes down. That’s reassured us that we’ve done the right thing, because that song hasn’t even been released yet.” JULIAN: “It’s the opposite of ‘Profound Morality’, because when we wrote that EP, we were still in lockdown restrictions.
We had no live shows to play those songs, and I don’t think any of us expected to play them to more than 100 people at a time. When we were put on these bigger stages, we could see what worked and what didn’t work quite as well. When we were writing this album, we would write a riff and then have conversations about how people would react to it live.
Then, when we were playing ‘At The Fortress Gate’ at our shows, we were able to see those reactions happen exactly as we’d envisioned. That’s the most rewarding thing.” RS: Looking towards the future of this band, having had the chance to push the boundaries of your and hone your abilities as musicians, are you feeling even more confident about the possibilities ahead for Heriot? ERHAN: “We’re always aiming as high as we can, and if we fall short, then we’re still in a good place.
We know how much we’ve managed to achieve as a band, and there are a lot of bands who work as hard, if not harder, who haven’t had those opportunities. I hope that the album will open a lot of doors for us, and that we’ll be able to do loads of stuff with this, but we’re pretty good at staying grounded. This might not happen forever, but if it does, fantastic.
We’re proud of what we’ve got here, so it’s up to other people what happens next.” JULIAN: “It’s about being present and realising that it could all end tomorrow. We’ve done so much in such a short amount of time, so we want to keep going on that upward trajectory.
That’s where we want to be, but it’s in the hands of the people now. All we know is that from where we’re sitting, this album is way better than anything we’ve done before.” Heriot’s debut album ‘Devoured By The Mouth Of Hell’ is out on September 27.
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