Live Review : Earthtone9 + Sugar Horse @ Academy 3, Manchester on September 20th 2025

There are albums that are born out of time. Records that are created in one era but steadfastly belong in another time period. Recordings that feel as if they have fallen through a hole in the space-time continuum. Earthtone9’s seminal third offering “arc’tan’gent” is one such effort. Unveiled in 2000, it was birthed into a world where metal was back but was obsessed with “Nookie”, papercuts and smashing a baseball bat against a steel drum. “arc’tan’gent” was slight, cerebral and highly intelligent. It married metal, prog and hardcore into an unholy trinity of sound that resonated righteous anger but was thoughtful about its disdain. Twenty-five years later, it doesn't feel like an album that is a quarter of a century old. It has been demanded many times, but Earthtone9 have finally conceded and agreed to play the album in full and are doing so over a drawn-out anniversary tour that works around day jobs and family commitments.

Manchester is in the first tranche of shows and for these instalments they have brought much-fancied Bristolian post-metallers Sugar Horse with them. They employ an interesting variant of the quiet-quiet-loud-loud-quiet approach. To the intricate fragility, they add an intriguing dimension of fuzzy feedback and screeching static. It works incredibly well, creating a sinkhole of undulating noise that varies from harsh histrionics to integrate emotionality. Ashley Tubb’s vocals add to the atmospherics by being soulful and heartfelt.

With limited stage time, we get just four tracks, the last being a lengthy, drawn-out affair with multiple sections and an ever-dilating cacophony of time signatures. Ashley points out that if we haven't liked the preceding three numbers, we are unlikely to have any particular affinity with this song. With any band working with this level of musical complexity it is astonishing to watch them create. Jake Healy’s keyboard stack is hidden stage right just beyond sight, but he still manages to add the beautiful cacophony of noise. As the last track fades out, Ashley and their bassist thrust their instrument into the amplifiers, creating a circular loop of discombobulating sound that heralds the end of their set. Fascinating and highly innovative, Sugar Horse prove all the plaudits they have been receiving are well-deserved.

For a band so well thought of, Earthtone9 have not had an easy time of it. They originally only existed for four short years between 1998 to 2002, industriously producing three albums, including the frankly extraordinary “arc’tan’gent” which we celebrate this evening. They reconvened in 2010 with the tongue-in-cheek intent of “reminding everyone just how good they were”. Since then, they have operated as a part-time endeavour, coming in and out of hiatus when the energies of their three core members allowed. They have managed to release two new records during that time, and being honest, vocalist Karl Middleton seems most enamoured by playing the three recently released songs aired this evening than he does by the jaunt down memory lane. They come across as rightly proud but not overly reverential about their perceived masterpiece, and play around with it as opposed to presenting it in order.

Whilst Academy 3 is not full by any stretch, they are genuinely touched that 137 of us have ventured out this evening to celebrate the past. The pit is full of middle-aged men reliving their ill-got youth and screaming the words back at the band. Earthtone9 always provided an alternative to metal’s toxic masculinity and you get the distinct impression that the nihilism of the lyrics within “arc’tan’gent” spoke to the socially awkward teenage selves of many present. They plough through the album with little fanfare, and as stated, it does feel at times like they are rushing through the older material to get to the stuff they really want to play. Karl leaves the stage for the claustrophobically brilliant ‘Yellow Fever’ as he never sang it on the album (vocals and lyrics came from Ishmael Lewis of the late lamented Liberty 37. Instead Joe Roberts takes up the vocal strain and whilst his range and pitch don’t quite marry up to Ishmael’s he makes a fair crack at what is a wondrous track.

After ‘Walking Day’ they go for a time out on the nostalgia and bring (in Karl’s words) the thrash. Last year’s “In Resonance Nexus” was 45 in our end-of-year 2024 TOP 100 Albums list and instigated a real shift in their sound. They are rightly proud of the ability to still produce stunningly inventive music in middle-age and they parade ‘Oceanic Drift’ and ‘The Polyphoney Anmials’ like proud fathers. But as good as the new stuff is, and believe us it is really good, the crowd are here to hear all of “arc’tan’gent” and after a quick rollcall to check who was in this room for their previous visits with Pitchshifter and Kill II This this plunge back for the two missing pieces to complete the set.

‘Binary 101’ is as wonderful now as it sounded in 2000, twisty and turny in its elongated form. A masterclass in raging aggression twinned with passionate pathos. They describe it as a deepcut exhumed especially for this tour. We end fittingly and slightly ironically (take that Alanis) with the beginning. “arc’tan’gent” opening track ‘Tat Twam Asi’ has been surgically removed from its pole position and now serves as a splendid endpoint for the set. Karl thanks us again for coming and proceeds to call out names he remembers from Jilly’s Rockworld days, only to be dismayed to be informed that the once iconic club is now a Tesco Express. Earthtone9 may now reside as the cult band’s cult band but it was obvious tonight that this is still a band desperate and hungry to create new music. They may well have given us what we wanted, but they were undoubtedly happiest when laying out their new creations and in many ways, that is exactly how it should be.

Check the “In The Flesh” page for more photos!

Earthtone9 + Sugar Horse