Press accolades don’t always define what is exceptional, but often, they have a notion of what is remarkable, and this time, numerous critics have hit the nail on the head, making it impossible to disregard. With praise and attention from NME, Metal Hammer, Stereogum, Rock Sound, DORK, Stereoboard, Pitchfork, Kerrang!, Revolver, The Guardian – and nominated for several Heavy Music Awards, the UK’s “essential emerging artist” Heriot is beyond merely doing something good. If one publication considers something exceptional, what does it mean when over a dozen prominent titles, including those that don’t typically cover metal, are eager to witness Heriot? It’s simply because of their unique sound.
Describing Heriot‘s sound is challenging. At its core, it’s doom metal, but elements of post- and sludge metal are also present, particularly in their newest single, “Commander Of Pain.” This blend of genres makes labeling their sound as just one genre, like doom metal or “metalcore,” seem lazy and insufficient; Guitar.com described Heriot as “genre-agnostic.” Their sound incorporates pieces of industrial exploration, ambient post-rock, gothic tinges, and thrash breaks, making it a unique blend.
Several artists, including Svalbard, Pupil Slicer, Boston Manor, Sylosis, and Fit For An Autopsy, have invited Heriot to join their tour lineups, with Thy Art Is Murder and currently Trivium. After opening for Thy Art Is Murder in October, Heriot sat down with Metal Injection to discuss their current tour with Trivium, their rapid trajectory, expectations for touring the United States, and their future plans.
Vocalist and guitarist Debbie Gough and guitarist Ehran Alman sat down, laughing about the previous night’s events, where Alman and the band had “gatecrashed a post-student night karaoke thing.” They expressed excitement for their first trip to the United States.
How many shows did you perform this year?
Alman: We did our headline tour for our album release [Devoured By The Mouth Of Hell]…
Gough: …I think about 70 shows this year. But it varies year to year, like last year, we did maybe more like 100?
That’s a show nearly every three days.
Gough: If you’re out for like a month or two months, that’s most days within a month, you know. It is a lot, but it’s nice that we get to do it.
Have you guys been to the US before?
Alman: No, no. Never with the band.
What do you guys expect?
Gough: Crowd-wise, I don’t know why, I think I’m expecting it to be a little bit tougher to get the crowd going. [Even though] it’s tough in the UK as well, I think especially with the UK, there’s a little bit of a, ‘Alright, go on then, impress me’ [attitude, whereas countries] like Germany, that’s more of a receptive fanbase.
Just rabid for metal.
Gough: Yeah. Whereas maybe in America, you get people who maybe would go to four or five gigs a year and that’s their big gig of the year, who might not be going to see the support band specifically, so my preconceived notion is that it’s maybe going to be a little bit tougher to impress people.
Alman: Yeah, I don’t know exactly if we can control that though. We’ve got a real short set – I quite like little slots like this, openers on a big tour [despite] never getting a lot of time. We just go in there, kick ass, do our thing and then fuck off and let the other bands breathe… But in terms of the US, genuinely I’m a bit nervous about open-carry weapons. [everyone laughs] This is totally from a Brit’s perspective, where like only farmers have guns. I am going to see though – and I don’t know if this is my ignorance again – if I can get a full US flag get-up for the final show.
The worst part is you will be able to find one. Check Party City. [laughter] Give us a recap of what touring looked like for you this year, with over 70 shows under your belt.
Alman: We did festival season. We did Brutal Assault – at about half two in the morning (2:30am). That was real hard to kind of feel alert and ready to play. Obviously the adrenaline took over before we went the stage, but if it was the UK, I feel like we’re not used to staying up that late to watch bands. By that point, if you’re a festival and you’re going and you are partying. But the energy was great, it was wicked. Maybe they’d already started partying and that’s why. [laughter] People were there and I was very, very surprised; that was really, really cool. I think for me, it’s always like [expect] the unexpected. I always go into every show with ‘if people are there, sweet,’ if they’re there, our job’s to get them moving. But I never expect anything. I never feel like, ‘oh, as we grow, this is now the benchmark, this is how every show should be;’ because we’re playing new places never been before, new festivals, so, I expect nothing and if we get something, that’s fantastic.
Gough: Yeah, I mean last time we played here in Dublin, it was amazing probably one of my favourite shows I’ve ever done. We were playing with Throne. That show was amazing, genuinely a lot, I did not expect it. I think it was the last week of a festival tour so I was quite tired. I had my hair tied up, but I’ll be so honest so I was like, ‘I’m not going to do my hair this evening’ and then we start playing and I was like, ‘Shit, I need to let my hair down. I want to let loose.’ It was really good… I think Brutal Assault was a great one for this year, just in terms of like not expecting to be a full crowd at 2 a.m…
Alman: And a cool thing was – [we were playing around the same time as Kerry King] – and we were just trying to find where we needed to go. And obviously, we got in so late ready for our set and, we literally walked past the window and Kerry King was literally on the other side, it was maybe a foot away, practicing the set, without his shades, which is, you know…
A rarity.
Alman: Exactly. It’s a sight. You can kind of put it to: it’s like when you see a lion in a zoo and you walk past, and you didn’t realise they were there. It’s so majestic, so strong….
… And I remember when we started playing some of the new tunes, initially people didn’t know them and that’s fine, but you could see the crowd was really receptive to it. Looking back, being a fly on the wall for the first few shows we did, with like the EP and stuff, [looking at] how long it took for the crowds to become receptive to it, and when the EP was out, to then digest it, to then the new songs, and how quickly they were able to follow on. I think that’s the reason the set is the way it is now, where it’s most of that stuff because we’ve progressed and I think it is a better kind of display of what we can do.
Will you be mainly touring on the 2024 record [for 2025/2026]?
Gough: I think so, yeah. Just for the sake that it’s our best work and our most recent work, and we’ve never toured in that territory before and I don’t think it would make sense for us to play really old songs.
And you have even more new music that was recently released.
Alman: [Yeah]. We had a lot of time to play the new stuff for the record, see how that landed, how receptive it was live. I think any time we have a lot of time out playing shows, we’re all eager to get back into our music. We worked with Erik [Bickerstaffe] from Loathe and Randy Leboeuf.Very fortunate to work with a really cool team of people. Same kind of method that we’ve taken with the album, thinking about how the live shows will look, and how we can make things more receptive. And I think, as always, pushing ourselves to try new things and try make every new bit of new step up from what we’ve done before, that’s how we should do it and that’s how we do it.
So, how did the 2024 record kind of impact the way it goes approached the new single, if at all?
Alman: That’s a good question. I don’t know if the album that influence what we were writing next. I think for me anyway, it’s always the live show. It’s always sections of what we’ve written already, what works well, even watching other bands and thinking of sections that we kind of kind of that’s always been the thing for me is just like, what do people love? What do people want to hear?
And it’ll be interesting to hear what 2026 may bring for Heriot after a tireless 2025 spent touring. Check out their newest music video above and stream the new single here. They have a select few dates left on tour with Trivium in the US – check those out below.
7 Dec – Fayetteville, AR @ JJ’s Live
9 Dec – Springfield, MO @ Shrine Mosque
10 Dec – Kansas City, MO @ Uptown Theater
12 Dec – New Orleans, LA @ The Fillmore New Orleans
13 Dec – Dothan, AL @ The Plant
14 Dec – Orlando, FL @ Hard Rock Live
