Ethyrfield - Plymouth Review

I am not long back from another weekend away, and my next blog post on here will cover my trip to the Midlands to catch yet another Mostly Autumn gig, but before that adventure up to Wolverhampton I enjoyed some live music much more locally - as, on Saturday, I made the short walk up to The Junction on Plymouth's Mutley Plain to catch the Newton Abbot-based progressive metal act Ethyrfield playing their first gig of the year. For a while a few years ago, Ethyrfield seemed to be playing locally here in Plymouth pretty regularly. I saw them twice in quick succession at The Junction, opening for both Diamond Head and The Fallen State in 2021 - and I also saw them twice in 2018, this time at Livewire over in Saltash, opening for both Bad Touch and The Quireboys. The band, that had released EPs in both 2017 and 2019, released their debut album In Delirium (which I reviewed here) in 2021, too, so those latter two support slots were well-timed for me - as I enjoyed In Delirium quite a bit when it dropped earlier that year. I am still not familiar with the band's EPs, although I picked up the Black Sky compilation at this show which contains both on one CD, but In Delirium impressed - and I enjoyed revisiting it last week in the lead-up to Saturday's show. Ethyrfield, a three-piece, mix Alice in Chains-esque grunge, particularly in their approach to vocal harmonies, with progressive metal - but the denser end of the progressive metal genre. Ethyrfield do not sound like Dream Theater or Symphony X - but there are certainly shades of the more recent output from Opeth, as well as bands like King's X. Not everything the band does is dense and complex, though, and there is plenty of melody throughout - as well as a few songs which are very much Alice in Chains inspired that are far less progressive. Since 2021, though, I had barely given the band a thought. Over the past few years they have undertaken a number of support slots and have played more further afield, but, at least as far as I was aware, they have not played in Plymouth since those shows that I mentioned. The band are young, and have likely been juggling band activities with studying, work, and other commitments, but it was a shame that Plymouth went so long without seeing Ethyrfield live. I was under the impression, too, that in more recent times they took a bit of a break from playing live to write and record their second album. I am not sure if this album has been recorded yet, but the band certainly now have plenty of new material - as the setlist of this show can attest. Clearly getting cabin fever and wanting to get back out there and play a show, a few weeks ago the band announced that they would be returning The Junction, this time as a headliner, where they would be previewing a lot of new material from album number two. No advanced tickets were sold, with the show being £5.00 on the door - which felt very old-school. Two Plymouth-based bands that I had heard of but had never seen live were on the bill, too, so the night was very much one of South West-based metal with lots of local talent on display. The overall turnout was decent, but given how cheap it was to get in and it being a Saturday night I had expected a few more to turn up - but I imagine that the bands were pleased with the effort made by those that turned up.

The first of the two support acts were Manipulated, who were the least interesting of the two in my opinion. I have seen the band described as thrash, and there were some thrashy moments in their set, but much of their material was quite mid-paced - so I am not sure that thrash is the best descriptor for them. There was not enough speed and energy throughout for me to consider them thrash - and they came across as a competent, but perhaps lacking in a spark, crunchy heavy metal band. Some of the riffs were quite memorable, and vocally they were largely decent with a mix of mostly gritty clean vocals with occasional harsh vocals, but the overall songwriting largely lacked for me. A couple of days on, none of the choruses have stuck with me - and this is usually a sign that a band is not really for me. I do remember thinking that the last couple of songs in the set felt a bit stronger, with better choruses and a stronger overall arrangement, but there was little else that really stood out. There is certainly some potential when it comes to Manipulated, then, but, for me, the songwriting just is not really there - and that is a key thing when it comes to hooking me in. I also felt that the drummer seemed to be quite rudimentary - and a more technical drummer may have helped to flesh out the arrangements and pick up the pace somewhat. Their half an hour or so on stage did not outstay its welcome, though, and the band received a fairly warm reception - which is always nice to see.

Up next were Stealth Moose, a five-piece band with a bit of a sense of humour (there were some pretty amusing t-shirts for sale) that played a brand of metal that included plenty of grunge, sludge, and stoner influences. At times they reminded me a little of early Orange Goblin, whereas other times they sounded like something Mastodon might come up with of they dropped most of their progressive leanings. The band's sound was riffy, bass-driven, and largely pretty heavy, then, but there were a few decent choruses to be found - and vocally the band were powerful, both thanks to their frontman and their use of harmonies. Whilst there was not a significant progressive influence to be found in the band's sound, all of their songs were on the longer side. This was largely, though, due to the slower pace that the band tended to operate in - as well as that stoner tendency of settling in on a groove for a while and just letting it do its thing. There were a lot of grooves in the band's songs, then, both from the riffs of the two guitarists and the bass playing. The bass was often quite high in the mix, and it utilised distortion to give the band a real growl, whilst the guitars were a bit more chunky and bluesy in their tone. Traditional guitar soloing was fairly rare, but there was the occasional solo - whilst other instrumental sections seemed to be a bit more discordant. I think that it is fair to say, then, that Stealth Moose were often doing something a bit different. Not all of it connected with me, but there were moments that did - and the band interacted well with the crowd, especially as there seemed to be a few Stealth Moose fans in attendance.

'Local bands' often have something of a stigma attached to then, even though essentially every band is one at some point, but I think that it is fair to say that Ethyrfield are a step above the average - and the three-piece deserve to make something of themselves in the rock and metal scenes. Following the two support acts, for the next hour-plus, the band delivered a confident 12-song setlist - largely made up of songs from album number two. Four songs from In Delirium were played, alongside one cover, so that meant that seven new numbers were played - and the new material often felt quite a bit different from what came before. One thing that was noticeable from the start, and the delicate intro piece Let This Dream, was that guitarist Ben Cornish has taken on more of a vocal role on this new material. Bassist Zach Cornish remains the lead singer, and Ben always played an important role as a harmony vocalist - but the latter sang some lead this time, including throughout this first number, as well as adding some occasional harsh vocals. Let This Dream and Follower seemed like a part one and part two - with the former being gentle and the latter being heavier and more typical of the band's core sound. I would say that the grunge element of Ethyrfield's previous work was largely absent from the newer material - with more of a progressive metal sound entrenched, as well as a bit more synth work to give the songs depth. Thankfully, the band left a setlist laying around so I was able to make a note of the song titles, and it was Reverie up next that perhaps impressed the most. It was the first time the song had been played live, and the lengthy number was a true prog juggernaut - with some harsh vocals utilised later on and plenty of guitar soloing. Many of the songs started slowly, with clean guitars and synths, but soon transitioned into heavy, riffy pieces with snaking grooves and plenty going on. Phantom later on was another such lengthy piece, but some of the new songs also showcased a more melodic and straight forward sound - such as the somewhat atmospheric and darker Long Drive Home. Some of the vocal harmonies from the band's first album were put to good use her, a little of that grunge influence creeping back in, and it was fitting that the riffy and hard-driving older cut The Hunter followed. It was good to hear some of the older songs, but really it was the new material that impressed the most. Egomania was perhaps the one played that did not do all that much for me on first listen - but Vanished later on was another strong cut with plenty of twists and turns. The ending portion of the set was extra progressive, then, with Vanished and Phantom preceded by Laying On of Hands - likely the most progressive number from In Delirium. It is clear that the band want to go in a more technical and heavy direction - and much of the new material worked well for me in that regard. They then ended their set with a powerful version of Gojira's Stranded, which allowed Ben to deliver some more harsh vocals - whilst drummer Dan Aston was put to the test thanks to Gojira's notorious grooves. The setlist was:

Let This Dream

Follower

Reverie

Remembering

Long Drive Home

The Hunter

Overgrown

Egomania

Laying On of Hands

Vanished

Phantom

Stranded [Gojira cover]

It has been five years since Ethyrfield's first album, so their second one somewhat feels overdue. Given the strength of the new material on show this past weekend, though, it should be a pretty special one when it is done - and I am looking forward to giving it a listen when it is ready. It was good to see the band live again after so long, too, and it was a nice local night out before my trip to the Midlands the next day.