Devoured by the Mouth of Hell | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 25 September 2024 | |||
Recorded | February 2024 | |||
Studio | Crescent Records (Swindon) | |||
Genre | Metalcore | |||
Length | 33:58 | |||
Label | Century Media | |||
Producer | ||||
Heriot chronology | ||||
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Singles from Devoured by the Mouth of Hell | ||||
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Devoured by the Mouth of Hell is the debut studio album by British metalcore band Heriot, released on 25 September 2024 by Century Media Records. The band began working on the album in late 2022 and wrote an early version of the album in March 2023. After performing at various festivals and supporting Architects for three shows between June and August 2023, they scrapped most of their material and began reworking it with the assistance of Sylosis frontman Josh Middleton, who helped the band with their performances, sonic experimentation, and songwriting. The band recorded the album February 2024, with Middleton and bassist Jake Packer producing the album together. Justin Hill of Sikth engineered the album's drum tracks, whilst Will Putney of Fit for an Autopsy and END handled its mixing and mastering.
Intended by Heriot to expand on the sound and experimentation of their previous release Profound Morality (2022), Devoured by the Mouth of Hell features a heavy, atmospheric and claustrophobic sound that combines heavy and melodic elements. Its songs are themed around how "hell" fits into one's life. To promote the album, the band performed at several European festivals in June 2024, before touring with Sylosis and Fit for an Autopsy in November to December 2024. They will embark on a short headlining tour of the United Kingdom in April 2025, before performing at the 2000trees and Bloodstock festivals later that year.
In 2022, Heriot released its third extended play, Profound Morality . According to Mia Hughes of Stereogum , the EP turned Heriot into "one of the [UK's] most hyped heavy exports", [1] and anticipation for the band's debut album was high. [7] In late 2022, the band began working on new material. [8] Guitarist Erhan Alman said that although the band did feel pressure to live up to their hype during the album's writing, it ultimately "became secondary to making something that we thought was wicked." [2] Guitarist and vocalist Debbie Gough said that Heriot tried to use the EP's success as "a positive source of encouragement rather than something to worry over". [9] In February 2023, they released the non-album single "Demure", which they touted as the start of a "new era". [10] In March 2023, Heriot wrote the "first iteration" of Devoured by the Mouth of Hell before they toured Europe and performed at various festivals during the summer, [1] [2] including 2000trees, Damnation, Slam Dunk and Standon Calling, [11] and three supporting dates with Architects in July and August. [12] Through these performances, Heriot learnt that audiences unfamilar to them did not respond well to Profound Morality's material, [2] [13] which Alman attributed to its "janky" arrangements. [14] Drummer Julian Gage said that the band did not consider how their songs would work in live settings at the time of the EP's conception, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [2] [15]
In November 2023, Heriot revisited—and subsequently decided to scrap and rework—the bulk of their material. [3] [16] Within two days, they had written five new songs, one of which was fully completed. [3] The band also announced their with Century Media Records with the release of the non-album single "Soul Chasm". [17] In an interview with Stereogum that month, Alman said that Heriot had moved away from writing material for themselves and were now thinking how their songs would connect with other people and their audience. [1] Towards the end of writing, Heriot began collaborating with Sylosis frontman and former Architects guitarist Josh Middleton. [2] [3] The band sent him a complete demo version of Devoured by the Mouth of Hell and reworked their material with his feedback in mind. [18] According to Alman, Heriot went with Middleton's advice most of the time but did not feel pressured working with him. [2] Gough said that Middleton emphasized "how we [needed] to have bits to come back to that will stick with people live" during recording, [16] whilst Alman said he told the band to write riffs that would attract the attention of a passerby if they were performing at a festival. [2]
Heriot finished writing in January 2024, [19] and recorded Devoured by the Mouth of Hell in February of that year. [20] [21] Bassist and vocalist Jake Packer and Middleton co-produced the album together, [22] whilst Justin Hill of Sikth helped engineer Gage's drum tracks. [2] Recording sessions were held in Reading, [2] and at Crescent Records Studios in Swindon; [20] it marked the first time the members of Heriot had worked in a professional recording studio. [23] Gough and Gage respectively credited Middleton and Hill with getting Heriot to experiment with different sounds and getting the best performances out of the band; [2] [24] [9] Alman credited Middleton with improving his playing technique. [2] Packer spent weeks making notes regarding its tracklist, before reaching an agreed "final iteration" with Alman and Gough. In an interview with Rock Sound , he hoped that "people [would] pick up on the sequencing [...] 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." [2] Will Putney of Fit for an Autopsy and END mixed and mastered the album in March and April 2024. [21] Heriot discussed working with Putney after Gough collaborated with END on their 2023 single "Thaw". [25] [26] Gough said that the band was impressed by Putney's early mixes, [8] and that it "really didn't take long on revisions [...] because [he] hit the nail on the head from the word go!". [9]
Devoured By the Mouth of Hell is a metalcore album. [30] [31] The album's sound was described as heavy, atmospheric, [27] [32] and claustrophobic. [3] [15] [33] James Hickie of Kerrang! considered the album to be "too broad in scope and dense in execution to be easily characterised". [3] Intended by Heriot to expand on the sound and experimentation of Profound Morality, [2] [13] [15] it incorporates elements of industrial music, [15] [23] [34] slowcore, [34] shoegaze, [15] [33] thrash metal, [23] death metal, [15] blackened metal, [34] doom metal and sludge metal. [30] "Foul Void" and "Siege Lord" rely on heavy riffing, [30] [34] whilst "Harm Sequence" and "Sentenced to the Blade" feature guitar solos that Stereogum considered reminiscent of Dimebag Darrell. [32] "Opaline" and "Visage" saw Heriot expand on their shoegaze and electronica influences; [33] both songs also contain elements of ambient music and progressive rock. [34]
Critics highlighted the combination of melody with heavier elements throughout Devoured By the Mouth of Hell, [2] [31] with Daanii Lievers of Metal Hammer describing the album as a "work of extremes" between the two. [23] Gough's vocals alternate between screaming and clean singing, [35] the latter of which is featured more prominently compared to Heriot's previous releases, [31] whilst Packer uses growling. [30] [35] Matt Young of The Line of Best Fit singled out the "dual vocal dynamic" between both members as "a key feature of Heriot’s sound, giving their music an unsettling, multifaceted edge." [34]
Heriot cited artists including Billie Eilish, [36] Korn, [36] Slayer, [36] Slipknot, [36] and Sophie [13] [29] as influences on the album's sound and direction. [36] Gough cited Wand, specifically their second album Golem (2015), as a "huge source of inspiration in aiming to capture depth within our clean sections". [29] Packer cited industrial artists including Justin Broadrick, Scorn, Kahn & Neek, and Kevin Martin (a.k.a. The Bug) as influences on the album's post-production and atmosphere, and the Silent Hill soundtrack on its ambience. [29] "Foul Void" was "sonically influenced" by 1990s and 2000s-era metalcore; although it was one of the last songs written for the album, [37] Gough and Packer both felt that it served as a "blueprint" for the album. [3] "Lashed" drew influence from the works of Sophie and Sara Landry. [13] [29] According to Gage, "Visage" reflects Eilish's influence on Gough. [2]
'Hell' is a very interpretable concept. For us, hell is everyday life and scenarios, real places that exist in this world. It's easy to imagine it as an underworld of fire and pain, but I think we see that in our lives and everyone faces a version of it in some form. I think that's a much more terrifying depiction.
Packer and Gough were jointly responsible for writing the lyrics for Devoured By the Mouth of Hell. [15] According to Young, they explore "themes of existential despair, societal decay, and personal torment". [34] The lyrics also incorporate medieval motifs of Packer's influence. [15] According to Gough, each of the album's tracks revolve around how "the idea of 'hell' [...] translates into your life". [25] In an interview with Dork , Gough said that although the "mouth of hell" in its title was meant to represent the "overarching idea of being completely consumed by something", it could also relate to "everyday living, existentialism, poverty, class, [and] internal grief". [15] The overall presentation of the lyrics was deliberately kept vague to allow people to come up with their own views and interpretations. [14] [18] [25]
"Foul Void" is about an individual's inner conflict and uncertainties about their faith. [37] "Opaline" concerns "the need to accept that sometimes you must sit with the truth alone, however isolating it may be, until others are ready to understand it." [38] "Siege Lord" is about "the fragility of soul searching". [39] Gough said the song is one of Heriot's first to feature "a proper chorus". [16] According to Gough, that "Solvent Gaze" was intended to be an instrumental track and was named after its sonic and visual feel; " 'Solvent' stands for harmful and 'Gaze' for the twisted view that the harmful created." [18] "At the Fortress Gate" is about feeling powerless in fighting against a regime, and "reflecting on the immense suffering endured by humanity." [40] According to Young, "Mourn" presents "a picture of suffocating inevitability". [34]
On 2 May 2024, Heriot released "Siege Lord" as the lead single from Devoured by the Mouth of Hell. [39] [41] On 5 June 2024, the band announced the album and released its second single, "Foul Void". [37] [42] Throughout June 2024, Heriot performed at various festivals across Europe. [41] After performing at the Rock am Ring and Rock im Park festivals in Germany, [43] the band returned to the United Kingdom to perform on the Opus stage of Download Festival, although due to technical issues they were forced to play a truncated set. [23] [44] At the end of the month, they played at the Resurrection Festival in Spain, Jera on Air in the Netherlands, and Hellfest in France. [45] [46] They also performed at the inaugural Bastard Fest in July. [47] On 14 August 2024, the band released "At the Fortress Gate" as the third single. [48]
Heriot filmed music videos for their singles with director and visual collaborator Harry Steel. [40] [42] The "Siege Lord" video was filmed at the Historic Dockyard in Chatham; as the band's first video to be filmed with a budget, Gough said that Heriot "wanted to find somewhere that was already a great looking space to really signify the step up for us as a band." [49] The "Foul Void" video was filmed inside an old college-turned-property guardianship Gough lived at the time near Walsall, where Heriot spent six weeks working on Devoured by the Mouth of Hell. [3] The video for "At the Fortress Gate" was filmed during their 2024 European festival shows. [40] [50]
Devoured by the Mouth of Hell was first released on CD in Japan by Avalon on 25 September 2024; [51] Century Media released the album worldwide on 27 September 2024. [52] On the day of the album's worldwide release, Heriot released a music video for "Opaline", [38] and performed an "Album Release Show" at The Exchange in Bristol, supported by Cauldron, Urine Mask and Plague Pit. [53] Between 22 November and 21 December 2024, the band will support Sylosis and Fit for an Autopsy on their co-headlining tour of Europe. [54] In April 2025, Heriot will embark on a short headlining tour of the United Kingdom. [55] Thereafter, the band will perform at the 2000trees festival in July, [56] and on the main stage of Bloodstock Festival in August. [57] The band has expressed interest in touring the United States and Canada; [15] in an October 2024 interview with Montreal Rocks, Gough said she hoped the band would tour the area "at some point over the next 12 months or 18 months." [8]
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
Distorted Sound | 9/10 [28] |
Kerrang! | 5/5 [27] |
The Line of Best Fit | 8/10 [34] |
Metal.de | 6/10 [30] |
Metal Hammer | [33] |
Rock Hard | 6.5/10 [58] |
In a 5/5 review for Kerrang! , Nick Ruskell called Devoured by the Mouth of Hell a "perfect document of [Heriot's] powers", praising the band's improved songwriting and atmospherics. [27] Stereogum praised the album as "a bravura display that cements [Heriot] as one of the best young bands in their field." [32] Ox-Fanzine 's Anton Kostudis highlighted its "incredibly exciting" mix of styles and Gough and Packer's vocal performances. [35] Young of The Line of Best Fit praised Heriot's "willingness to experiment with structure and texture" and lyrics, stating that their "ability to weave philosophical depth into their sonic chaos gives the album a sense of weight that extends beyond its sheer brutality." [34]
Andrew Sacher of BrooklynVegan felt the album successfully balanced melody and brutality without compromise, highlighting the vocal performances of Packer and Gough. [31] Daanii Lievers of Metal Hammer considered the album the "confident work of a far more experienced band" and also praised Heriot for "seamlessly sewing together textures and tones and creating full tracks from surprising influences" without being "disjointed". [33] Conversely, Metal.de reviewer Patrick Olbrich felt that album lacked cohesion between its combination of various elements. [30]
Devoured by the Mouth of Hell was ranked as the second best metalcore album, and seventh best overall album, of 2024 by Metal Hammer. [59] [60] Kerrang! ranked the album at number fourteen on their list of the 50 best albums of 2024. [61] NME also listed it as one of the 20 best debut albums of the year. [62]
All tracks are written by Heriot. [22]
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Foul Void" | 4:07 |
2. | "Harm Sequence" | 1:49 |
3. | "Opaline" | 3:21 |
4. | "Siege Lord" | 3:25 |
5. | "Sentenced to the Blade" | 2:45 |
6. | "Solvent Gaze" | 2:56 |
7. | "Lashed" | 3:30 |
8. | "At the Fortress Gate" | 3:46 |
9. | "Visage" | 3:44 |
10. | "Mourn" | 4:35 |
Total length: | 33:58 |
Adapted from liner notes. [22]
Heriot
| Production
Artwork
|
Chart (2024) | Peak position |
---|---|
UK Album Downloads (OCC) [63] | 62 |
UK Rock & Metal Albums (OCC) [64] | 25 |
Region | Date | Format | Label | Catalog # | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Japan | 25 September 2024 | CD | Avalon | MICP-11918 | [51] |
Various | 27 September 2024 |
| Century Media | 19802804692 | [52] |
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