Album Review: Heriot – Devoured by the Mouth of Hell (Century Media Records)

Long awaited and much anticipated, industrial metalcore behemoths Heriot will release their debut full-length album, ‘Devoured by the Mouth of Hell’, on September 27th, 2024, via Century Media Records.

This much hype would be the undoing of most bands. Unable to match expectations, crumbling under the pressure, and failing to capitalise on all the buzz. Few bands could handle it, but importantly too, few bands deserve it.

Guess what?

Heriot are not like other bands, but you already know that. There’s been ample time to discover this band, experience their emphatic noise in all its glory, catch them live all over, and decide if you’re on board. This debut album has been long-awaited, and chances are, you and so many others are already all in… but does it, and can, it live up to the hype?

How do you sate the hunger people will have for Heriot heaviness and carnage? By brutalising the senses with an opening track called Foul Void. A ferociously heavy and frighteningly filthy listen. An opener that can be summed up as not being for the ‘faint-hearted’, although that certainly applies to the album overall too. Heriot aren’t changing who they are to be more accessible as their name grows. They’re still an intensely nasty bunch and the heavy bar has been set at a very high place.

Harm Sequence is next, and the intensity that Heriot showed on the opener is enhanced here as the group get faster, wilder, and even more scathing sounding. The thrashy undertones are very cool, and a brief, but violent guitar solo is an unexpected treat. Followed then by Opaline and Siege Lord. The former having a more dreary and dramatic melodic tone, showcasing ethereal clean vocals, and dropping some substantial weighty instrumental sounds when the time calls for it. Whereas the latter is a thick, mucky, dangerous, and destructive blast of savagery that aims to show the listener just how much this band has developed when it comes to combining horror-laden industrial sounds with unforgiving heaviness. One of the best tracks on the entire album, and the vocals are outstanding.

Variety is a key component of Heriot, and even when they are at their most chaotic sounding, such as how they deliver Siege Lord. Somehow, they make every bout of brutality sound fresh, they make every trudge through filthy waters buoyant, and they make every dark turn illuminating. Even when they’re at their moodiest, such as the instrumental thrum and scowling vocals of Solvent Gaze, it’s utterly addictive stuff.

How about some really gnarly stuff though? Lashed brings back the clean, dream-like vocals but Heriot put this track into deeper industrial territories and it is downright uncomfortable listening. Whereas At the Fortress Gate is a pit song through and through. Heriot at their most ‘in your face’ sounding from both an instrumental and vocal perspective. Violently brutal with crunchy breakdowns, the hardcore heavy side of the fanbase will love this.

It’s been an utter delight of an album, and that thought process isn’t changing when haunting and atmospheric efforts like Visage, and aggressive noise like that which comes from Mourn, is offered up. Both are incredible, sounding unique even in the context of this album, with layers upon layers of Heriot detail, Heriot twists, and Heriot turns. In many eyes, rightfully so, they’re already superstars but the proof is this album for any remaining naysayers.

The hype is freaking real.

Heriot – Devoured by the Mouth of Hell Track Listing:

1. Foul Void
2. Harm Sequence
3. Opaline
4. Siege Lord
5. Sentenced to the Blade
6. Solvent Gaze
7. Lashed
8. At the Fortress Gate
9. Visage
10. Mourn

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