Live Review: Heriot, Inhuman Nature and Ordeal | The Devil’s Dog Digbeth, Birmingham | 13/05/2023
After a fervent reception to their debut EP and seemingly with the full weight of the UK metal scene behind them, Heriot make their first UK headline run. Featuring Church Road Records label-mates Inhuman Nature as tour support, with local hardcore act Ordeal drafted in to open the show.
Ordeal
Local HxC five piece beatdown merchants Ordeal take to the stage to a pretty healthy crowd that rapidly makes their way down to the front for a strong dose of fist swinging pit starters. Unfortunately, tonight’s sound doesn’t compliment the band too well, their lead vocalist’s aggressive guttural style is somewhat muddied while its hard to hear the backing vocals at all. The same can be said about both the guitars and the bass, something about the PA just isn’t handling the down-tuned oppressive riffing too well, which is a bit of a shame as the crowd are clearly loving the opportunity to let loose for some violent pitting to some violent music. Its a bit meat and potatoes as far as modern hardcore goes, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but with only a handful of promo singles and demos available online, there is a tonne of room for Ordeal to hone their craft and grow. Hopefully another opportunity opening in a different venue with a change of scenery will do the band’s brutality some favours.
Photo Credit: Taya Llewellyn (@synthesizephoto)
Score: 6/10
Inhuman Nature
London based modern thrash outfit Inhuman Nature have been opening for label-mates Heriot across all of their dates for this debut headline run. Frontman Chris Barling is full of energy from the opening notes of “Under The Boot”, demanding the crowd close the gap and cluster up close to the stage as his half-screamed agonised vocal style cut through savage thrash riffs. Unfortunately, much like the the opening act, Inhuman Nature are also having some sound issues tonight with the balancing, specifically with the bass and guitars once again, with the bass being particularly hard to make out in the mix. It’s not as prevalent due to their use of more prominent lead guitar tones, but when the thrash riffing is going full force the details are getting a little lost in the mid-tone mud. This is as well as frequent piercing high-gain feedback from one of the amplifiers on stage between songs that gets a little overwhelming at times. Ben Taylor’s wailing dive-bomb heavy lead guitar solo’s are still thoroughly impressive live, as is Simon Grubb’s relentless D-beat heavy drumming, the band have crafted a great setlist that keeps the set moving at a frenetic pace.
Whilst those near the front are clearly still having a good time with the thrashing onslaught as the band move through “Carnivorous Lunar Activities” and “A Nuclear Frost” from their self-titled 2019 debut, the crowd feels a little thinner throughout the venue and the interspersed conversation is a little more noticeable. Things start to pick up through the second half of the set, new single “Take Them By Force” is sounding particularly savage in a live environment, as they storm through “Ride The Apocalypse”, “Master Of Souls” and close out tonights set with debut opener “Taste Of Steel” to an appreciate roar from the crowd. Inhuman Nature’s individual members all played their parts well, but something about tonight just didn’t feel quite right for them. The band clearly enjoy what they do and have crafted a great showcase of their thrash chops, but when the dust settled their expected ferocity felt a little muted.
Photo Credit: Taya Llewellyn (@synthesizephoto)
Score: 6/10
Heriot
It has been one hell of a wild ride for Swindon/Birmingham outfit Heriot over the past year and a half. From their first full-length tour in December 2021 opening for Svalbard, having the opportunity to open for Knocked Loose and touring with Rolo Tomassi in early 2022. Releasing their debut EP with Church Road Records, playing nearly every single alternative festival in the country over the summer, touring as the opening act for Zeal & Ardor and just a few months ago being personally invited by long time supporter Mark Morton to open for Lamb Of God in Norwich. This is the second to last night on their first and incredibly well deserved headline run, the band have managed to sell out four of the six dates with tonight being one of them, particularly heartwarming as a hometown show for Vocalist/Lead Guitarist Debbie Gough who has a lot of friends and family in attendance.
Straight off the bat they open with new track “Metanoia”, sounding absolutely monolithic and immediately causing chaos in the pit which rarely lets up for the entirety of Heriot’s set. The band have put a lot of work in ahead of this headline tour, sounding even tighter and cohesive as a live unit than ever before. Moving straight into “Enter The Flesh”, Heriot opt to go straight for the throat with a barbaric onslaught to start the night, debuting another new track “Violence”, which… well, sounded like unhinged violence in the best way possible with more of a death metal influenced lean to it. Newest single “Demure” receives hearty cheers of approval as the industrial-tinged opening passage builds anticipation before the main instrumental kicks in hard, the slower nature of the track doesn’t slow the pit down one bit before they erupt for the tempo change towards the end of the track and the energy comes to a head for the final breakdown.
Jake Packer’s guttural vocals regularly send shockwaves through the room, juxtaposed and complimented perfectly by Gough’s piercing howls and ethereal clean singing. There is still some mild sound grievances for the band, at times its hard to hear Gough’s incredibly impressive lead guitar lines above Erhan Alman’s relentless savagery with his rhythm guitar work and Packer’s filthy low-end distorted bass dominance. Fortunately these moments are few and far between, the band for the most part sounding like a well-oiled machine with crushing tonality, but its still prevalent enough to warrant mentioning. That being said though, drummer Julian Gage sounds absolutely massive, whether with the uncompromising blast beats and speedy technicality, or the more deliberate industrial tinged passages playing between his kit and the sample pad.
The second half of the set brings things back to Heriot’s bread and butter, the focus pointed back to their older work from Profound Morality and the singles that proceeded it. “Coalescence” still has an undeniable power to it live, the same can be said of 2021 single “Dispirit”, which showcases some of the aforementioned lead guitar work of Gough. The pit that goes off for fan favourite “Near Vision” is unreal and frankly completely silly, the crowd taking it as a personal challenge to cause as much chaos as possible for the minute-forty-seven runtime that bleeds straight into the industrial-focussed interlude track that follows it on the EP “Mutagen” to let the crowd breathe one final time. Closing out with debut 2020 single “Cleansed Existence”, the metallic-hardcore power of the track is damn near a battle anthem at this point, the pit struggles to maintain itself as the song comes to an abrupt end, the crowd clearly hungry for even more.
Heriot’s headline set only lasts thirty-five minutes or so, yet it doesn’t feel like anything was lacking for a band with only one EP and a handful of singles. They’ve clearly proven their worth through their support slots alone, let alone the continued growing quality of their recorded efforts. This show and headline run felt special, like the bands final few steps before their next chapter with a rocket strapped to their backs when their debut album inevitably drops. The future is incredibly bright for this young British band and with sets like tonight they fully deserve every single slither of hype surrounding them. With a busy summer ahead of them and getting exposure with wider and more varying audiences, it is truly only a matter of time for one of the brightest stars in the UK scene’s sky.
Photo Credit: Taya Llewellyn (@synthesizephoto)
Score: 8/10