Album review: Heriot – Devoured By The Mouth Of Hell

It feels like Heriot have been working towards their debut album for about a million years. Their Profound Morality EP from 2022 furthered their promise as one of the finest new(ish) metal bands in the UK, as have countless gigs at which they underlined their good name with intense volume, heaviness and explosive energy. But it still felt like a big, bold, fist-in-the-face introduction proper was in the post.

Here it is, then, and it’s fantastic. It’s everything you knew about Heriot from the past few years put together, pored over, and used to its full potential. The chonky chugs on which so many of their riffs are built are now both lumphammer blunt and surgically sharp. The cloying heavy atmosphere that often sits beneath things is now a fug so thick you could collect it in a jar. The bits where they go fast and fully explode are now such that they make aggro-kings Nails sound like Drawing Pins.

Foul Void and Harm Sequence – with its Slayer-esque solo – are a one-two of a hello, all gnarly power and violent force. But quickly, the rest of Heriot’s hand comes into play. Opaline has a haunting quality, bringing to mind Chelsea Wolfe and, in its slow guitars, Type O Negative, with Debbie Gough showing what a ghostly voice she has alongside her gravelly screams.

So it goes throughout the album. On Sentenced To The Blade, Siege Lord and At The Fortress Gate, they show just what energising, colourful new shapes they’re able to twist brutality into, while the electronic pulses of the dark Lashed and the crescendoing Visage peer through the heavy thickness stunningly. It’s an expert exercise in plate spinning, dragging its knuckles while keeping a weird sense of grace, feral without ever touching gormlessness. When viewed in full, it makes you realise how brilliant, how creative and capable Heriot actually are.

Already, Heriot are a band much loved. They are, self-evidently, very, very good. On Devoured By The Mouth Of Hell, they now have a perfect document of their powers. Now go, Heriot, devour everything in your path.

Verdict: 5/5

For fans of: Code Orange, Nails, Pupil Slicer

Devoured By The Mouth Of Hell is out now via Century Media

Plus, pick up a bottle of Heriot’s very own hot sauce – a spicy collab with Lou’s Brews and K! – right here!