Following their third awakening from hibernation, earthtone9 made an explosive return to the stage in August at The Black Heart in Camden. Treating this as a warm-up show for their first appearance at the eponymous ArcTanGent festival (named after their third album) since its inception in 2013, they certainly left the crowd feeling not just warmed up but fired up, and the anticipation of what is next for one of Britain’s most critically acclaimed alternative Metal bands was beyond palpable.
earthtone9 – The Black Heart, London – 4 August 2024
Words: Lucy Dunnet
Thanks to the uncharacteristically sunny London weather, I had rocked up to The Black Heart sporting not only my best ready-to-mosh-in-summer black clothes but also bright red, burnt shoulders. The glorious darkness of the bar’s interior quickly meant I did not have to worry about looking like another stupid Brit who underestimated everything about British summer.
The crowd wasted no time surging to the front of the stage, stacked shoulder-to-shoulder in anticipation for the band we all sacrificed (very, very willingly) the blue skies and sun for. And then suddenly, there they were: Karl Middleton (vocals), Owen Packard (guitars), Neil Kingsbury (bass), and Jay Walsh (drums), but sadly no Joe Roberts (guitar) owing to ‘the Rona’.
They burst straight in with The Polyphony Of Animals, whose raw, spasmodic intro was entirely perfect for beginning this set. It was clear that the entire crowd must have been singing along in the shower to earthtone9’s new, unexpected fifth album In Resonance Nexus, as we joined Karl’s vocals with a fervour that threatened explosion by the time this show was over.
The Etiquette Of Distortion was even more frantic, with its combination of thrashing chords and brutal bellows, interspersed with a calmer and yet emotionally desperate chorus that results in you feeling exactly as the song name suggests: an association that is not typical of earthtone9’s previous albums.
Two songs in, the crowd was officially riled up, making it the perfect time to play this album’s first single Oceanic Drift. I took advantage of the hardcore shouts of “what you see is what you get” to charge forward, urged on by the feeling that the crowd was on the edge of a precipice and about to jump.
Karl Middleton went on to announce that it was time “to turn it down a notch, before some tardis shit and go back in time.” With sweat starting to drip down my cheek and my heart pumping and raring to go, I thought their timing was both sadistically cruel and extremely exciting. It was the calm before the storm.
The snake-charming guitar intro to Under The Snake weaved its way through the crowd, followed by relentless riffs and silky clean harmonies. Just as the crowd was about to be fully hypnotised by the snake charmer, the breakdown crashed in with a rollercoaster of drum beats and shouts.
Finally ready to satisfy the ravenous nostalgia of their fans, the tardis crashed us through a vortex made up of Evil Crawling I, Withered, and Tat Twam Asi. The pit was a sweaty, raging tribute to the years that earthtone9 had been dormant, with constant battles to get to the stage and scream into Karl’s mic. The unceasing shouts for songs were an irrefutable sign that this band has a loyal fan base, only too eager to see them back in action again and proving to the newer generations and genres that they are something special.
The final three songs brought us back to In Resonance Nexus, a return that was warmly welcomed as the dark, sinister notes of Black Swan Roulette snaked their way through the crowd. Navison Record, a fiendish display of all the band’s eras, jumped between savage screams and violent drums, and the harmonised chorus that promises of the band’s future.
They finished with Strength Is My Weakness, a raw, emotional track full of everything earthtone9 has been through. The screams that followed this finish were deafening, as was the chanting for “one more song.”
Karl returned to the stage but, alas, only to inform us that we were going to be disappointed: the band had nothing left in the tank. Grateful nonetheless for his honesty, we cheered him off in style and flounced over to the t-shirt stand to begin the mental calculations of “how many bits of merch can I buy before going into debt.”
Ever the modest, self-deprecating lead singer Karl could be heard telling a fan with about 50 vinyl records, “If I sign this, the value will actually decrease”.
It’s a good thing no earthtone9 fan would ever dream of selling anything Karl had made, let alone touched.
earthtone9 – In Resonance Nexus – is available from here.
