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After 2001 debut, Herriot reawakens with reimagined EP, new album, renewed vision
At the turn of the millennium, a group of rag-tag musicians in northern Peninsular Malaysia’s hardcore scene formed Herriot, a project that was conceived after its founder and vocalist Chen heard a song from In Flames on a mixtape.
One of the pioneers of melodic death metal or Gothenburg metal, Sweden’s In Flames would inspire Kedah’s Herriot to become the vanguards in expanding Malaysia’s growing extreme metal scene further through melodic death metal.
After releasing its EP and full-length in the early 2000s, Chen put the band on hiatus. Though they would reunite just for live shows occasionally over the next decade, Herriot seemingly disbanded in 2015 following the death of its guitarist and co-founder Adlan.
Now, 25 years after its Transworld Chaos full-length, Herriot has come out of hiatus with Chen reforming the group and recording not only its second EP Celestial Chaos but also an upcoming second full-length Black Day Massacre.
Revisit the past, forge the future
Previewed for the local metal scene, which even had Langsuir’s Bentara Guru in attendance, during a launch and listening party in late May, Celestial Chaos’s four tracks were revealed to be a re-imagining and preview of what will come next from Herriot.
Three of the tracks – The Sign, Obelisks of the Sun, None of the Sons – were re-recordings from the 2000’s Celestial Obelisk while Light My Darkness is a re-recording from Transworld Chaos. Rather than Chen, all four tracks feature vocalists from other underground Malaysian bands: Exhuman’s Fazlur Redza, Cataclysmic Purification’s Erwan Zernal, Obscurial’s Dee and Hiatus’ Nashriq Ikhmar.
According to Chen, it was intentional, as he wanted listeners to hear the difference between the original releases and the new EP with how each vocalist brings a different flavour to classic Herriot songs.
Herriot also spoke about the experience of recording the EP and upcoming full-length at Sweden’s Studio Fredman under the guidance of Fredrik Nordstrom, the legendary producer and recording studio behind albums from Dark Tranquility, In Flames, At the Gates, Dimmu Borgir and Bring Me the Horizon, among others.
Oddly, despite being chosen as the release to end Herriot’s hiatus, Celestial Chaos was actually an offshoot project that was conceived after the band recorded its full-length and upcoming release, Black Day Massacre.
New ideas from Sweden
Almost as though the stars aligned, Chen revealed Herriot’s plans did not pan out the way they intended once they arrived in Sweden.
“We booked the studio and Nordstrom for ten days, but because Fariz – the drummer – was too terer (excellent), he finished recording his part of the drums for eight songs in just two days,” Chen said, with the others in Herriot completing their parts soon after.
In total, Black Day Massacre was recorded in just five days and due to the remaining five days, Nordstrom pushed Herriot to do something else.
Hence, Celestial Chaos was born to be an aural bridge between the old and next era for the band.
Sound of new Herriot
Released by premier Malaysian black/death metal label Goatlordth Records, Celestial Chaos was not the only project to be the centre of attention at the listening party: the band also played the entirety of Black Day Massacre for those in attendance.
As the album has not been picked up by a label for release currently and while no non-disclosure agreements were signed, those in attendance verbally agreed to not talk at length about the upcoming album or reveal details about it.
That said, theSun can certainly attest to one definite aspect of Black Day Massacre: It is strikingly different and more raw than any of Herriot’s past releases.
In a roundabout way, Celestial Chaos was not only the perfect re-imagining of the past, but it was definitely also the final gunshot to mark the end of one version of Herriot and the birth of its next incarnation.
