Brighton’s earthtone9 has never not fired on all cylinders but there just seems to be something about this latest release, In Resonance Nexus (The band’s 5th full-length), that hits different. We pulled this before reading the press release (Sorry! It’s that look before we leap mentality and just pressing “Play” the second an anticipated release comes in) but In Resonance Nexus takes that phat sound (Yes, we’re bringing “phat” back) that IV delivered but merges it with the hunger and sheer visceral intensity of the earlier records (Especially Off Kilter Enhancement and Lo-Def(inition) Discord) for a fresh sound unlike any that e9 has put to tape thus far.
In conclusion, In Resonance Nexus really is something else. There’s a part around the two minute mark in opener “The Polyphony Of Animals” where just the percussive prowess set forth from Jason Bowld (On loan from Bullet For My Valentine) will have listeners staring at their listening devices, mouth ajar, thinking “HOLY SHIT!” (Cuz mouth ajar hence thinking as opposed to exclaiming). And that’s not even touching on how vocalist Karl Middleton sounds on this one with a fury not heard since “Simon Says” wrought havoc on your eardrums almost 25 years ago.
“Navison Record” glistens with its’ opening verses then glides into a glowing shredder as guitarists Owen Packard and Joe Roberts relentlessly rip with Middleton’s uncanny soaring delivery interspersed with that also familiar melodic growl with “Under The Snake” hearkening back to those spiritual ones of yesteryear like “0…0…0…” with the way it starts before a staggering stomp begins. If we weren’t already, first single “Oceanic Drift” would’ve definitely made us fans of earthtone9. As an intro to an outsider, it displays a great range of what e9 has to offer while for longtime listeners it has airs of the old surrounded by a wall of sound from Pakard, Bowld, and Roberts with Middleton’s massive pipes at the forefront that definitely represents the next sonic stage of evolution for the band.
“Black Swan Roulette” is a prime example of how honed up everything is for earthtone9 in the year 2024. It’s an epic banger in the vein of “Binary 101” or IV‘s underrated “Occam’s Razor” but slimmed down to a neat barely 5 minutes without sacrificing any of the integrity of the song and then “Lash Of The Tongues” enters the fray and is just the epitome of all the e9 crushers that have come before. It’s the kind of track that when it plays just gives you the warm and fuzzies and probably a shit eating grin as you bask in the majesty of the sound being hurled into your earholes.
Scratch that, “Etiquette of Distortion” is all what we said above and a bag of chips (Or, more region-centric, crisps?) which is something that’s a recurring theme with In Resonance Nexus in that once you’ve found your new favorite earthtone9 rager, the next track begins again and the internal conflict begins with each song topping the next yet all still equally GREAT on their own. “Observe Your Curse” is bigger still with One Dice’s Malli Malpass trading verses with Middleton on a track that’s as ethereal as it is entropic, “Third Mutuality” answers that dichotomy with a similar song that’s both bestial and beautiful, and what would any earthtone9 record worth its’ weight be without a grand finale which in this case rolls out in the form of the gargantuan “Strength Is My Weakness”.
In Resonance Nexus arrives through Candlelight Records on June 21st with pre-orders up and ready for purchase when you head here or here. For more from earthtone9, follow them throughout the interwebs across the information superhighway by clicking here or here.