Earthtone9

Event information

earthtone9 are rightly hailed by those who know as one of the most forward-thinking, clever, musically wise and creatively smart in the history of British metal. Emerging in the late ‘90s as nu-metal was beginning to surge, their more nuanced palette and intelligent approach saw them hailed as something special and excitingly against the grain from the very beginning. Making an album a year between 1998 and 2000 – beginning with their expertly crafted Lo-def(inition) Discord debut, and culminating in 2000’s staggering Arc’tan’gent – it was a workrate as intense as the music was uniformly brilliant.

After splitting in 2002 the band made a surprise return in 2013 with the crowdfunded album, IV. Following this they made only occasional appearances in the live arena (including at the ArcTanGent Festival, which purloined its name from their third album!), before once again seeming to disappear on hiatus.

Now, 11 years on from their last record, they present In Resonance Nexus, a thrilling work of brains and muscle that not only stokes a fire, but sees the band's core members – vocalist Karl Middleton and guitarists Owen Packard and Joe Roberts – rediscovering and reconnecting with what makes them so special. In Resonance Nexus is the heaviest, fiercest, most heightened record they have ever made; a startling combination of almost feral intensity and the latter-day songwriting chops they displayed on the IV album.

“In Resonance Nexus, as a title, is saying that we’ve found the core and the essence of the band again,” says Karl. “We were digging deep to find common musical ground, and between Joe and Owen, and I, it really felt like that there was a resonance there. It feels like we've landed on a really legitimate, 21st century version of the band. We were asking, ‘Why are we doing this?’ and having a very authentic answer.”