26 years I have been a fan of Earthtone9 yet in that whole period of time I have never seen them live, well ignoring how old it makes me feel they are back on tour celebrating 25 years since the release of their album Arc Tan Gent along side a band they toured with many times back in the early 00s Stamping Ground, who also are celebrating 25 years since the release of their album "carved from empty words"
Stamping Ground (8) kicks us off in Sin City tonight, only the third gig they have played since 2014, I may be wrong about that but I am sure that's what was said by vocalist Adam Frakes-Sime. I haven't watch Stamping Ground live since 2006, my first time seeing them was years before that in TJs Newport, tonight though from song one they feel and sound like a band that has always been around kicking your face off with the hardest hardcore half times and classic circle pit timing's going anywhere in the world.
Flashing through 3 songs of the full crowd getting their old school hardcore stepping on we come to my stand out song, Bear The Scars from the 2004 album A New Darkness Upon Us , building us up to start with by guitarist Antony "Mobs" Mowbray we get the cymbal stabs and straight into full on headbanging, crowd roars of "Vail Lifted From My Eyes" as the chorus makes you want to pump those fists high. The riff change and build with "Bear The Scars" chants gets us all moving to end one of the bands most popular songs.
We get a moment to breath with the band once again thanking Earthtone9 for the tour and just for being great friends, something that is returned later in the night. To end this hot a sweaty and very energetic set from all band members and crowd we have the pure classic that is Officer Down which brings a great end to a very good performance from a band that in no way at all have lost any steps in being hardcore legends.
The members of Earthtone9 (9) walk on to the stage at Sin City to a huge applause from the crowd with smiles beaming from their faces we are ready for the headline act of the night. As I already a huge fan of this band but never seen then live unfortunately I may be biased a little but I am here to judge the live show so lets get to it. The band get straight into the set with the second song from the album Arc Tan Gent, Evil Crawling, a mosh your ass off song that punches you with screaming verses and a hypnotic chorus with the toms marching you towards another full on mosh, the energy from vocalist Karl Middleton is off the charts, bouncing around with the mic stand and feeding off every beat.
The members of Earthtone9 (9) walk on to the stage at Sin City to a huge applause from the crowd with smiles beaming from their faces we are ready for the headline act of the night. As I already a huge fan of this band but never seen then live unfortunately I may be biased a little but I am here to judge the live show so lets get to it. The band get straight into the set with the second song from the album Arc Tan Gent, Evil Crawling, a mosh your ass off song that punches you with screaming verses and a hypnotic chorus with the toms marching you towards another full on mosh, the energy from vocalist Karl Middleton is off the charts, bouncing around with the mic stand and feeding off every beat.
We get on to more songs from Arc Tan Gent next with the forth song on the album Approx Purified, a song that gets right into it with heavy punching post hardcore beats and that Deftones style screams from Karl and drummer Jay Walsh. This is one of those songs that show off the full scope of talent that Earthtone9 have to offer with a middle section that will have you tripping your ass off on Psychedelic tool inspired breakdown into a huge drum build back into the main riff, definitely a classic a favourite from the album.
After a few more classic songs from the album we come to our first of two guest vocalists of the night, first up is Ishmael Lewis from the excellent Liberty 37, a band hailing from Swansea, Ishmael sang and helped write the song which is next called Yellow Fever. A song that will take you away to your happy place, you can really feel that Alice and Chains and Tool blend in this song, absolute class from Ishmael and the band, the sound in Sin City tonight is on point.
After two more songs from the album why we are all hear we get a change up with the first song from the bands last album release In Resonance Nexus a song called The Polyphony Of Animals, a song that slams you from riff one and does not let up, the energy from the band has not let up all night, with guitarist Joe Roberts bouncing off well with Karl in the harmony area and stage presence.
Sticking with the latest release from the band we get Oceanic Drift and then on to our second guest vocalist Malli Malpass doing the song Observe Your Course which he did with the band on their last release, the crowed loved Malli speaking Welsh to everyone before the song started, and a great performance on the song, a real stand out track from the bands last album.
We now get the last two songs of the night, the last song from Arc Tan Gent, first up is the last song on the album Binary 101 and then to end the set the first song from the album Tat Twam Asi a song that first introduced me to this band all that time ago, last chance for the crowd to get their asses moving and its a chance that's not missed, the band have been full of love and praise for the reactions and turn out throughout the night and this last song just shows all that love coming to a head in a metal release of heavy post hardcore screams into the most catchy chorus you will hear this side of the globe, ending with one of my personal favourite snare rolls of all time.
I cant praise the band enough but if I am going purely off a live performance alone I also cant praise them highly enough, the sound was spot on, they didn't miss a beat in any song, full of energy and great audience interaction, a band that if you missed you really need to go check them out, a hidden gem from the UK that deserves far more recognition.
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