earthtone9 album review
Publication: Metal Hammer
Month/Issue: October 2000
Writer: Graham Finney

earthtone9
arc' tan' gent
(Copro Records)
9/10

Following on from Earthtone9 roarer Karl Middleton's slighty dubiously attired (clingfilm... I mean, purleeease) outing at The Lost Weekend festival recently, it's time for Earthtone9 to unleash their latest selection of thinking man's music onto a frothing at the mouth fanbase. I use the term music instead of metal, because this band and this album don't deserve to be restricted by being labelled as whatever-metal. Earthtone9 delight in confusing and
surprising the utterly gobsmacked listener, and simply excel at what they do. What they do is throw you completely off balance with a sound that veers from one musical extreme to the next without a care in the world. Take opener 'Tat Twam Asi', for example, a song with a melodic edge to it that starts the album off in quite a misleading
fashion. Compare that to a track like 'Star Damage (for beginners)' where the band revert to their well known brand of acidic aggression - two extremes, but two extremes that gel together perfectly.
Earthtone9 constantly screw around with that little thing called 'the norm'. On 'Yellow Fever' they turn their hand to a brooding, epic style that, for me, is one of the highlights of this album. 'Alpha-hi', one of the albums later compositions, sees them returning to the more familiar grind-feasts that fans of the band's earlier material will wecome with open arms. Earthtone9 aren't a band for the 'MTV Kids', they're a band for people who appreciate
quality work. 'arc' tan' gent' dosen't contain any hits or songs that are blatantly produced to give a band mass appeal.This is a work of art that deserves to be treated with the utmost respect.