Earthtone9, Humanfly &  more @ Club Academy, Manchester

With sounds wrenched from the fires of Hades, Leeds doom metal band Humanfly make their impact early. Standing strident as the crowd slip in, they power through a set packed with some of the meatiest riffs this side of Black Sabbath. The guttural rumbling smash of ‘Marrakech’ earns grins of approval from the crowd, a band set to rock far bigger stages.

At the more electro end of the spectrum sits Maybeshewill, drawing in the younger crowd with their preppy haircuts and love of samples. Despite the occasional infantile title (‘Paris Hilton Sex Tape’ anyone?), their music is cerebral and packed with twists and turns. Shifting from the glitchy sparkle of ‘Red Paper Lanterns’ to the dystopian gloom of ‘Notforwantoftrying’, they crank up the tension to breaking point.

Storming onto stage lit by an unearthly glow I was expecting big things from euro-rockers The Ocean. Shame then that what first appears is more like a gritty Lost Prophets. The riffs come fast and furious, but it’s with the arrival of a guest vocalist that finally brings things into focus. Mohawked and imposing, he brings the missing edge to ‘Hadean’ with his blackened roars, proving that clever guitar work is no match for pure guts.

After a nine year absence Earthtone9 have launched a final return to the fray. Drawing on their nostalgia the crowd bellows along as singer Karl Middleton’s voice (powered on a cocktail of ‘lemsip and throat spray’) buckles under the strain. Leaning back into the wave of noise, with the tribal rumble of ‘Tat Twam Asi’ Karl finally hits his stride, unleashing his unclenched anger in furious bursts. Debuting new songs from fan-funded EP ‘For Cause and Consequence’ alongside the raging torrent of ‘Approx.purified’ they can still knock a crowd clean off their feet. Here’s hoping bigger things are to come.