Heriot – ‘Profound Morality’ [EP] [Album Review]

For those of you following the UK scene over the past eighteen months, it can’t have escaped your notice that there is a new wave of noise crawling out of the rehearsal rooms and onto the world map. From the death metal of Venom Prison to the chaotic hardcore of Pupil Slicer, bands are ripping up the blueprints of their respective genre to create something truly special. One of these new wave bands is Heriot, who, courtesy of a fistful of singles, spent 2021 smashing their sound into the minds of anyone and everyone.

Backed by the genre-smashing Church Road Records, Heriot’s sound is just fucking vile. Sitting somewhere between the hateful grind of Nails and the industrial hardcore assault of Code Orange, Profound Morality is an out-of-control metallic onslaught from the moment it releases the brakes on opener “Abaddon.” Wave after wave of noise smashes you in the face as both recent single “Coalescence” and “Near Vision” tear your face off with a sound that teeters disturbingly between grindcore and black metal.

However, if we’re talking disturbing, the two interludes “Mutagen” and “Abattoir” grab that title. Both tracks see the band shift from skin-melting grind blasts into a haunting, more sinister approach. Part black metal atmospherics, part bleak-as-fuck industrial effects, the result is genuinely unpleasant. Thankfully, either side of these nightmare-inducing two minutes, it’s business as usual for Heriot as vocalist Debbie Gough and the band hurtle through the kind of skull-shattering onslaught that has turned them into one of the most exciting and ferocious bands the UK has to offer.

Profound Morality Track Listing:

1. Abaddon
2. Coalescence
3. Carmine (Fills the Hollow)
4. Near Vision
5. Mutagen
6. Enter the Flesh
7. Abattoir
8. Profound Morality

Run Time: 20:18
Release Date: April 29, 2022
Record Label: Church Road Records