Profound Morality

Profound Morality is the third extended play by British metalcore band Heriot, released on 29 April 2022 through Church Road Records. It is the band's first release as a quartet featuring guitarist and vocalist Debbie Gough, who joined in 2019. The band wrote and recorded the bulk of the EP in five days at their rehearsal space in Bristol in April 2021, with its production continuing until October of that year. Whilst primarily categorized as a metalcore release, Profound Morality has been noted for its genre-blending sound, combining elements from death metal, sludge metal, doom metal, gothic metal, hardcore, post-rock, darkwave, industrial, and noise music. Its lyrics, inspired by the "rhetoric of wealth and class" during the COVID-19 pandemic, focus on the "question of power", accountability, blame, integrity and the morals of oneself and others.

Profound Morality received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised its heaviness and creativity and felt that it indicated at Heriot's future potential; Metal Hammer and Stereogum later considered it the band's breakthrough release. During 2022, Heriot performed at several festivals including 2000trees, ArcTanGent, Bloodstock and Download, and embarked on supporting tours in the United Kingdom with Rolo Tomassi, Pupil Slicer, Zeal & Ardor and Boston Manor. In 2024, Metal Hammer listed it as one of the 50 greatest metal EPs of all time.

Background and recording
Heriot was formed in Swindon in late 2014 by drummer Julian Gage, bassist and vocalist Jake Packer and guitarist Erhan Alman. As a three-piece, the band released two EPs, Violence (2015) and World Collapse (2016). In 2019, they added guitarist Debbie Gough to their lineup. The other members Heriot had become friends with Gough through her old band, the Birmingham-based Dead Hands, whom they had toured with and supported in the past. After Dead Hands disbanded, Heriot considered recruiting Gough as a second guitarist, though they did not believe she would join. When Gough asked the members of Heriot to form a side project with her, they asked her join their band instead.

Heriot worked on new material in secret at a rehearsal space in Bristol—a designated halfway point between Gough and the other members of the band, due to the 100-mile gap between them—during the COVID-19 pandemic. The addition of Gough caused a shift in the band's writing and dynamic, and the pandemic would prove a "creative release" that allowed them to reinvent their sound and become more methodical about how they operated. Gough began to practice both singing and screaming during this time, which the band supported her with. In November 2020, Heriot "relaunched" themselves with the release of the single "Cleansed Existence". After the release of their second single "Recreant", the band were contacted by Church Road Records and subsequently signed to the label in April 2021. Gage said that although Heriot had received offers from other record labels, they liked Church Road's roster and felt that they shared the same DIY work ethic, "so I think there was an element of trust in going with them."

Soon after signing with Church Road, Heriot "quickly realised we actually had to make something", according to Gage. In April 2021, the band spent five days at their rehearsal space writing and recording the bulk of Profound Morality, piecing its tracks together from a folder of riffs and ideas. The band opted to record an EP instead of a full-length album as they still wanted the freedom to experiment with their sound. "Profound Morality" was the first song Heriot wrote for the EP, and the band subsequently "worked backward towards it" according to Gage. The song was also the band's first on which Debbie Gough used clean singing. In the same period, Heriot recorded some live industrial soundscapes which Packer worked on over the course of a few months at his studio, Slow God Audio. Gage said that Packer organized the EP to make it "flow through 20 minutes with no silence", which the band had thought about before recording but scrapped as it would have sounded rushed. Gough said that Heriot "[wanted] to see how we can mould different soundscapes to be heavy" without relying on riffs; Gage also felt that they helped break up the its pacing. "I think if we did 8 songs that were just straight up riffers, then it probably would have just been a bit too intense even over 20 minutes!" The band completed the EP in October 2021. "Dispirit", which was also recorded during the Profound Morality sessions, was released as a standalone single in May 2021.

Composition and lyrics
Profound Morality has been categorized as a metalcore release. Blending elements from death metal, sludge metal, doom metal, gothic metal, hardcore, post-rock, darkwave, industrial, and noise music, the EP features heavy, drop-tuned riffing, tempo shifts, and electronic and atmospheric soundscapes. Blabbermouth.net identified the EP's core as "short, spiky bursts of churning, atonal hardcore", as seen in "Carmine (Fills the Hollow)", "Near Vision" and "Enter the Flesh". "Abattoir", "Abbadon", and "Mutagen"—the latter two which are instrumental interludes—rely more on an industrial and ambient sound. The EP also features vocal interplay between Packer and Debbie Gough; critics noted the contrast between the former's guttural style and the latter's screamed or cleanly sung vocals. Gough cited Billie Eillish and Caro Tanghe (of Oathbreaker) as influences on her singing; BrooklynVegan also compared her vocals to Chelsea Wolfe and Emma Ruth Rundle.

Lyrically, Profound Morality focuses on the "question of power", accountability, blame, integrity, and the morals of oneself and others. According to Gough, the EP's general theme "is the fact there’s no such thing as purity. Nobody can be absolutely good, [and] nobody can be absolutely bad". Packer said that in contrast to Heriot's earlier singles, its lyrics focus more on "dealing with the situations rather than the situations themselves". The EP was influenced by the "rhetoric of wealth and class" during the COVID-19 pandemic, and how both aformentioned factors impact morality. Though there are specific topics, Gough and Packer did not want their lyrics to "state the obvious" and instead left them open for listeners to interpret them however they wanted. The title track details "the conflict of humanity in trying to maintain a clear conscience and how our weaknesses make us real". According to Gage, the EP's title reflects humanity's present pushing of moral extremes—both good and bad—to achieve fulfillment, "and the fear of where they’ll end up in the future."

Release and promotion
On 3 December 2021, Heriot released "Near Vision" and "Enter the Flesh" as a double single. On 14 January 2022, the band announced Profound Morality and released its second single, "Coalescence." The EP's title track was released as its third and final single on 18 March 2022, prior to its release on 29 April 2022 through Church Road Records. Heriot filmed music videos for their singles with director and visual collaborator Harry Steel. Boolin Tunes noted the videos for their "murky orange glow", whilst Distorted Sound highlighted their "regular use of motion blur and often choppy visuals to complement [Heriot's] fast-paced songs." In line with Heriot's use of medieval motifs, the cover of Profound Morality features a chainmail cap; subtle medieval undertones were also incorporated into the band's videos.

Heriot's tours in support of Profound Morality were substantially larger than any they had done before; prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the band would generally play to no more than 400 people at a show, and for three nights in a row. Prior to the EP's release, Heriot supported Svalbard on their UK tour in November and December 2021. The band also opened for Raging Speedhorn at The Dome in London on 10 December 2021. From 16 to 24 February 2022, the band supported Rolo Tomassi and Pupil Slicer. On the last date of the tour, the band learnt that they would be performing on the Dogtooth Stage of Download Festival in June 2022. The members of Heriot had regularly attended Download since they were young and had booked tickets for that year's festival prior to being confirmed to play there. Though nervous about performing, the band were warmly received, Download Festival 2022 reviews: and they described the experience of playing there as "a dream", "incredible", and "fucking nuts". Between July and September 2022, Heriot performed at six more fesitvals; 2000trees, Dominion, Pulse of the Maggots, Bloodstock Open Air, and ArcTanGent. July–September 2022 festivals:
 * 2000trees:
 * Pulse of the Maggots:


 * Bloodstock:
 * ArcTanGent: In October 2022, the band made their European live debut performing at the Soulcrusher Festival in the Netherlands. Heriot went on tour with Zeal & Ardor in November 2022, but pulled out before its end due to illness.  The band later embarked on a mini-tour with Boston Manor from 8 to 10 December 2022.

Critical reception
Profound Morality received generally positive reviews from critics. Dan Slessor of Kerrang! felt that Heriot had mastered the "art [of] being truly crushing", highlighting its riffs and Packer and Gough's "dual vocal assault". BrooklynVegan reviewer Andrew Sacher stated that the EP "fits in with the current metalcore revival, but [shows] Heriot are already transcending that", comparing its "unique and inventive" qualities favourably with genre contemporaries Code Orange, Knocked Loose, and Vein.fm. Nicholas Senior of New Noise Magazine called the EP "astounding" and "assured" and felt that it set a new standard for metalcore, which he found particularly impressive given it was the band's debut release.

Though noting that Heriot were still "in a state of development" regarding their lyrics and influences, Ian Cohen of Pitchfork considered the EP a "triumph of concision" that served as "a teaser of [Heriot's] boundless potential—the past, present, and possible future of metalcore." Likewise, Blabbermouth.net Dom Lawson said that there were "shades of the familiar here and there", but said that it showcased the band with "an inexhaustible supply of great ideas, and gallons of venom in the tank." Kez Whelan of Metal Hammer believed that if the band expanded on the "depth to their confrontational sound", they would be "unstoppable".

Despite being classed as an EP, Profound Morality was ranked as the sixth best metalcore album, and 41st best overall album, of 2022 by Metal Hammer. Andrew Sacher, writing for BrooklynVegan and Invisible Oranges, ranked it as the 26th best punk album and seventh best metalcore album of 2022. Heriot were nominated for the "New Noise Award" at the Kerrang! Awards 2022, but lost to Wargasm. The band and Profound Morality were also nominated in the "Best Live Breakthrough Act" and "Best Breakthrough Album" categories at the Heavy Music Awards 2023, but won in neither. In 2023, Stereogum credited the EP for taking the band "from an anonymous part of the glut of metal bands populating UK scenes [...], to one of the country’s most hyped heavy exports." Similarly, in listing it as one of the "50 greatest metal EPs of all time" in 2024, Metal Hammer called it "the moment that Heriot smashed their way into metal’s wider consciousness".

Track listing
All tracks are written by Heriot.

Personnel
Adapted from liner notes. Heriot Artwork
 * Erhan Alman – guitars
 * Debbie Gough – guitars, vocals
 * Jake Packer – bass, vocals
 * Julian Gage – drumsProduction
 * Jake Packer (a.k.a. Slow God Audio) – production
 * George Lever – mixing, mastering
 * Harry Steel – artwork
 * Jake Packer – artwork