English heavy hitters Heriot have been racking up wins in recent years. Following tours with Lamb of God and Zeal & Ardor, performances at UK and European metal meccas Download Festival and Wacken and a Jackson endorsement, their 2024 debut album, Devoured by the Mouth of Hell, became a violent and virtuosic success.
Now the band are embarking on their first trip across the Atlantic with Trivium and Jinjer. “It's the biggest opportunity we've ever had,” says founding guitarist Erhan Alman.
Gough: It’s really, really exciting. I grew up watching their music videos and my first band covered Dying In Your Arms, so it’s a really nice full-circle moment. It’s daunting and amazing at the same time. We’re very aware of how big an opportunity this is.
What’s your rig for the tour?
Gough: I’ve got my Jackson SL3 and SL2DX, which was brought out in the summer – it’s the bright yellow one. Both have Floyd Roses. We’ve been using Quad Cortexes for a couple of years now. We had pedalboards before that, but we’ve captured our tones and gone down the modelling route, especially for touring.
Alman: On the album we had a Boss-HM-2-on-full-whack kinda vibe, so I’m using a clone pedal, the Oneder Effects HW-2, because it has its own EQ. We’ve captured that, but we also tour with it.
For guitars I’ve got an SL2 fitted with a tread plate pickguard, but my Jackson Pro Series Lee Malia LM-87 is my main squeeze now. Growing up, I only used EMGs; but the pickups in it are so versatile, especially now we have more dynamics in our songs.
There’s less to go wrong, so I can focus on the performance. I like to jump and kick a lot, so it’s nice to have something that’s so light but also really durable. I think it's the cheapest guitar I own as well! I will play it to death.
Have you not been tempted by the LM-87, Debbie?
Gough: I much prefer a through-neck guitar because I go right up to the 23rd fret, and I like to be able to get up there without my thumb hanging back. Plus, we've put a lot of divebombs in our songs now – even if I wanted to, I couldn’t not play a Floyd Rose guitar.
The Soloist shape just fits me, and they’re not too heavy, which is another thing I struggle with. I could never do a show with a Les Paul. It would kill me!
How would you describe your guitar partnership?
Alman: “We’re two totally different players. I’m there to hold the rhythm down, and Deb’s there to rip the solos. She’s such a good player that anywhere that we feel a solo would fit, regardless of what the kind of backing instrumentation is, we know she can do it. We have different moments to shine. I do a lot of the eerie, quieter cleans and leads.
Debbie, the Virtuoso campaign must have been a crazy experience. Did you feel like you belonged there?
Gough: Yes and no! It was overwhelming to be in a room of such amazing guitarists. I felt like I stood out like a sore thumb, but everybody was really nice, especially Marty Friedman. He wanted to talk guitars all day long and that really put me at ease.
Each guitarist had their own thing going on, which became clearer throughout the shoot. Then I thought, “Oh – maybe I've got my own thing going on!” There comes a point where you have to think that way, otherwise I would have just fallen to piece.
How did your solo work?
Gough: I was sent the section and I had about five days to get it down. The first time I heard the song in full, with everybody else’s solos, was when we were filming! It was probably for the best, to be honest, because I might have overthought everything.
They wanted somebody to use the trem more, so I was like, “Great, I’ll divebomb everywhere!” Maybe if they hadn't said that, I would have been het up about wanting to do something super flashy. It put a healthy pressure on me to be confident in what I was doing.
If it was anyone else we’d have got to the end of our tether. But Misha got the best out of us. We have a lot to thank him for
Misha listened to everyone’s band and wrote sections for each player to solo over, based on his interpretation of their playing. That was really special. It’s an element of the piece that wasn’t really spoken about.
You recorded your last album with Josh Middleton (Sylosis, ex-Architects). How was that?
Gough: He’s really attentive. He simultaneously left me alone and didn’t leave me alone at all! When we were recording, his eyes would be locked onto your right hand, like, “Go again...go again…”
Alman: If it was anyone else we’d have got to the end of our tether. But he got the best out of us. We have a lot to thank him for how we perform on that record.
Did he influence any of your solos, Debbie?
Gough: I had a different solo for Sentence the Blade. He was like, “You’re slipping out of key!”
I’m not a music theory brother at all. He ripped my solo apart, like, “This is what scale you're playing in – you need to go to these notes instead.” I would have just left it how it was. Maybe there are loads of my solos that are in the wrong key. I’d never know!
The other one was the Opaline solo; we didn’t really change anything, but we added in an extra tail at his request. It was a bastard to record – I was trying to track a guitar solo in front of one of the best metal guitarists in the game!
Finally, what does “heavy” mean to you?
Gough: Regretfully, I used to be a gatekeeper metalhead; I’d never have imagined myself listening to the breadth of stuff I do now. But as I’ve gotten older I’ve realized that “heavy” is more of a mood than just loud guitars and screaming. I enjoy music that feels weighted.
I’m into hyperpop at the moment, and I think that’s heavy; there’s an aggressive intention behind it. But I wouldn’t have thought we were a heavy band if we’d put out Opaline in 2015.
• Devoured By the Mouth of Hell is on sale now. Catch Heriot on tour in North America with Trivium and Jinjer.
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