5 reasons why you need to check out Heriot

Bands don't have to be as heavy and aggy as Heriot, but we're very glad they choose to anyway. If you caught them on tour with Svalbard at the end of 2021, or stepping up to Knocked Loose in Cardiff more recently, you'll already know how devastating the Midlands quartet are. Sitting somewhere between the aforementioned hardcore crew, the pressure cooker intensity of Nails and the creativity of Converge, with an injection of fretboard-sparking guitar genius, Heriot will take your head off.

This week, they head out on tour with Rolo Tomassi and Pupil Slicer. In April, they'll release their staggering Profound Morality EP. Here's everything you need to know about one of the fastest-rising heavy bands in the UK…

Alongside the likes of Pupil Slicer and Graphic Nature, Heriot are just one of a new raft of bands taking homegrown metal to places more extreme. The scene's in rude health, just take a look around…

"There are so many wicked bands coming out at the moment and the scene is really thriving," they say. "A few of us went to the Download Pilot last year and I think that line-up really showed how special the UK metal scene is right now. It’s really cool to now be a part of it. We’ve worked extremely hard over the last few years and have a great label and team behind us, so it’s really nice for people to be taking notice."

Guitarist Debbie Gough is like Eddie Van Halen with an HM-2. Just check out her shreddy videos on Twitter.

"I’m really boring in all that I do is play guitar, go to shows and work in a guitar shop," she says. "I had my first guitar when I was 10 but really started to have an interest in it when I turned 14. Any riff that gives you a stank face has my heart!"

A lot of people are already noticing how good Heriot are. Among them, Lamb Of God guitarist Mark Morton, ex-Cancer Bats axeman Scott Middleton and Knocked Loose, all of whom have been shouting about the band on Twitter, with the latter responding, "You are better than anyone in our band" after Deb posted a video of herself playing "Knocked Loose-inspired riffage". Then they invited her onstage to sing when they played together.

"I have always absolutely adored Cancer Bats and Lamb Of God," Deb says. "Scott Middleton and Mark Morton are my favourite guitarists, so to have their support is honestly surreal. Being able to sing God Knows with Knocked Loose was crazy and something I won’t forget in a hurry, I can’t thank them enough for having me!"

"You can expect a full-on, heavy, hectic live show," Heriot promise. Which is good, considering the company they'll be in. But even so, it's going to be fierce.

"We really pride ourselves on our live show and give 110 per cent night after night, trying to make the visual aspect as exciting as the music we play. Most of our music came out during the pandemic, so we were pretty anxious about going out and playing these songs live – we really didn’t want to disappoint people. I think that internal pressure that we put on ourselves pushed us even harder, we really put the hours in to make sure we’re the best we can be."

We've heard it already; it's killer. Just check out recently-released cuts Near Vision and Coalescence. And while Heriot do heavy better than most, there's more than chugs, and are always searching for new, interesting ways to drop an anvil on your head.

"Profound Morality showcases Heriot in a light that you haven’t seen us in before," they tease. "We’ve really given our all to this EP and delivered something we feel is a unique style of heavy and is hopefully fresh. Lyrically, this release is centered around the struggle to uphold integrity."

Heriot's EP Profound Morality is released on April 29 via Church Road. They hit the road in the UK with Rolo Tomassi and Pupil Slicer February 16 – 24.