It was only a couple of years ago that my head nearly exploded with excitement at the thought of Earthtone9 having a reunion and that an EP would be following and even the possibility of a handful of shows, since then a lot has happened and the obvious success of a band that were finished way too early in their career. This band fell victim to the horrible world of the music industry and just as they announced their split they released their best piece of work to date at that point ‘Omega’. This was an EP that showed they were ready to mature as artists yet that was to be all you would hear from ET9…… Until now!!

The ‘FOR CAUSE & CONSEQUENCE’ EP that was released on Pledge music was a good come back BUT its ‘IV’ that truly allows this band to stand up and be noticed, It has the outright brutality of ‘Arc tan Gent’ but with the pregressivness of ‘Omega’ with each song showing a different side of this damn fine group. The first 3 tracks really kick you in the head and prove that they can write some killer anthemic tunes and in particular ‘Sea of Blades’ proves to be a highlight for me. Karl’s voice has grown a lot more powerful and the range that he can reach now is much better of that 10 years ago. Another brilliant moment lies in the Final track ‘Occams Razor’ which truly is an epic prog master piece (coming in at 10 minutes) it shows melody and monstrosity in equal measure!

This is a review written by a true fan boy but this album is by far my favorite of the year so far (and there have been some damn good release already).

Make sure you catch them on one of their festival jaunts this summer as they are already lined up to play Download, Hevy and the appropriately named new festival in Bristol, Arc Tan Gent.