Arctangent celebrated its tenth anniversary in style with a wonderful, four-day celebration of post-rock and instrumental, probably the one festival where you could go an entire day, an entire weekend, and see purely instrumental bands if you wanted to. Its uniqueness and carefully curated, wonderfully diverse lineup make the festival in the Mendip Hills one of the most rewarding small festivals on the circuit, situated in a Wi-Fi-less field not too far removed from its louder, shoutier cousin of 2,000 Trees in Cheltenham. The vibe of the festival is very laid back – multiple people were sat down on their chairs outside tents, chilling away to the music, and you could hear most of the bands from the campsite so if you wanted to, you never need leave your tent. But where would be the fun in that?
The lineup has over a hundred names ranging from Explosions in the Sky to Norwegian Death metal band Ihsahn, touring their latest album. Running from the Wednesday through to the Saturday, the first thing that the festival was smart enough to do was to recognize not everyone can make it down to Somerset on the Wednesday, so repeats were in order – And So I Watch You From Afar played twice, and so did Aiming for Enrike, whose second set was marred by technical difficulties on the Px3 Stage; which also had problems for Love Sex Machine on the Saturday. Other than that, the sound was excellent throughout the whole festival – and both bands recovered quickly to make the best out of their short sets. Saturday night Headliners Mogwai were the loudest a chilled band like them could ever be, and the Scottish takeover to wrap up the weekend was a tremendous success.
Arriving to the campsite was smooth, shuttle buses from Bristol were easy to navigate and it was easy to find a space – a quiet camping was mostly stuck to but the facilities were if anything, too small for a growing festival – showers; whilst free, a rarity from the surplus charge of bigger festivals like Boomtown, were something that there was constant queues for unless you braved it at 5 or 6 in the morning, which given the silent disco in the morning afterwards, would’ve led to difficulties for those who wanted a late night. It’s a good sign, though, as Arctangent celebrates its tenth year, but the growth is only going to lead it to bigger and better places.
Thursday at Arctangent
The Thursday was my first day – and having to navigate WFH I was able to make it down for Sun Spot, playing in the Elephant in the Bar Room stage, one of the smallest venues of the festival – all were under tents, which made escaping from the inevitable downpour a welcome experience – their 2023 single Keepsake was a delight heading up a variety of diverse, unpredictable songs that took their setlist in a variety of genres. Then the five-minute set of Aiming for Enrique, who played to the crowd’s demands for a heavier song, and then off to the excellent Julie Christmas, playing out of season in the late summer, took centre stage on the main stage; touring their electric new album Ridiculous and Full of Blood, a mood, if there ever was one – probably my favorite set of the Thursday which was a rarity of the three days – it’s capable of pulling you under its spell with a bloodbath of hypnotic melodies. Experimental is the watchword of the day for the festival and they delivered. The short walk back and forth between the stages helped on the Thursday due to the sheer variety of acts and minimal clashes meant I saw pretty much every band I wanted to – I caught a bit of Conan, Skewer and then Kaonoshi, my first – but not my last – mosh pit of the festival which played host to a giant inflatable penis. The metalcore band conveyed a torrent of emotions – and showcased the true variety of bands present, there were plenty of Americans here, both on stage and in the audience, and the Philadelphians crushed it. After having been exposed to the life, death and the circle of the mosh pit at Rock Werchter there was no going back for me and I got involved in as many as possible.
Then came Baroness; a sledge-hammer waking up anyone who may have been wiltering by that point with the amount of clashes and walking from one tent to the next thanks to Baizley’s guitar work and Gina Gleeson’s lead – they arrive with a touch of brutality and charisma that is hard not to fall in love with; eleven songs over their runtime saw us undertake a journey from Last Word to Take My Bones Away – one of my favorites of the festival, the crowd parting for the inevitable mosh pit ensuring plenty of crowd surfers. Security, friendly as ever, had their work cut out here. Red Fang were next – Hank is Dead being my favorite of the night and in a festival of new discoveries, they became one of my favorites. Their deep cuts throughout their discography also had time for the classics like Crows in Swine and Dirt Wizard, offering up enough of a fascination over the 12-song setlist.
Amenra excelled, because of course they’re, they always excel, finding plenty of times for songs like Boden and A Solitary Reign, and deserved a slot on the main stage, but were a welcome jolt in the arm after the slower; entrancing melodies of Spiritualized; who ran from Hey Jane through to I’m Your Man coming in clutch at the last minute. But what came next was revolutionary – Explosions in the Sky – wrapping up night two with tremendous passion and craft for their work in a festival that suited the laid-back atmosphere – nine songs strong – The Birth and Death of the Day opened and we got a run through to With Tired Eyes, Tired Minds, Tired Souls, We Slept, which very much described my mood by the time I staggered back to my tent at 11 PM – ready for night two. They were surprised as anyone to be headlining the festival, and I think the audience may have been surprised that they were the headliners, too – but it was a welcome start indeed.
Friday on the main stage and beyond
And night two delivered – we were in Friday now. I turned up at the festival’s main Arc stage in time for Zetra and was not disappointed when I got there – their gothic, masked costumes set against a portal to the underworld were a highlight of the spectacle on its own – Arctangent must be commended for its sheer visual artistry across all acts – included in Kerrang!’s 10 Bands You Can’t Miss at the festival they more than delivered, the duo giving a massive sound with the guitar, cutting deeply with one of the best performances of the Thursday right out of the gate. I caught Sigh, black metallers from Tokyo – over at the Bixler stage, my first encounter there, and I was entranced by a sense of wonder and a vivid amount of face paint and flaming swords. Night Verses were the next band that I saw – back on the main stage and promoting Part One of their new album touring ahead of Animals as Leaders later this year at the Roundhouse in London, they more than delivered their instrumental set – plenty of guitar riffs. Before that it was a pleasure to catch The Omnific again with the drummer the frontman of an excellent ensemble, The Law of Augmenting Returns an album to watch of the year. There’s humour in these words – and the encouragement of the seamless drums really add a touch of chaos that compels you to love them. They’re one of my favorite bands touring at the moment – and a real treat to witness on stage.
Wrapping up the Friday in style, we have the run of Three Trapped Tigers, London-based band who gave us experimental rock on the biggest stage, but to not mention Year of No Light is to not mention one of the festival’s best acts. It was sadly, Three Trapped Tigers’ last set – amazing, emotional and a perfect send-off for the last time on the road. They have a few more dates in Glasgow, Manchester, Leeds and Bristol to go but this was their big festival send-off, and it couldn’t have been better – Cramm, Noise Trade, Kraken was a stormer of an opener. As a swan song, they went out in style. My favorite of the Friday night beyond the headliner came immediately after – Norwegian Death Metal Ihsahn with their wonderfully intense setlist rolling from The Promethean Spark right the way through to Lend Me the Eyes of Millenia. “We weren’t lying when we said our tenth year is going to be the biggest ever”; James Scarlett, festival curator made the bold claim announcing the lineup, and that was the case – because what followed was the toughest choice of the festival – a split between Animals as Leaders and Blood Command; and even though I saw Blood Command at Radar in Manchester, their electrifying live-set and super fun mosh pit brought me back to them shortly after Animals as Leaders started – they’re the artists’ favorite bands, but they’re also touring at the Roundhouse next year with Night Versus. Blood Command – promoting last year’s album, World Domination, which I copped the record of at the packed merch stand (impressively the lineup shirt was sold out long before peak time at 3 PM on the Thursday and was almost gone within seconds in Large on its arrival the following day). As she always does, frontwoman Nikki Brumen threw herself into the mosh headfirst with gusto, asking for the crowd’s cocaine. It was fun, high intense – and the perfect warmup for Meshuggah. You know you have a good band on your hands when you’re torn away from Animals as Leaders.
And then, as the night was descending, came Meshuggah. The Swedish extreme metal band were one of my most hyped of the festival and I was not disappointed by their legendary setlist, really capable of launching through the midway point of Arctangent’s tenth birthday celebration with delight. Broken Cog, Rational Gaze, Perpetual Black Second, this was incredible – so; so good and the perfect festival headliners for this kind of music – full of classics on this setlist and the audience was completely and utterly stunned with one of the festival’s best performances. Night three of four promised something special; and you’ll bet that the Saturday rose to the occasion.
Saturday at the historic festival
Saturday was short and sweet for me – South Wales band Fort kicked off the morning with an early set that made me an instant fan of their music, the post-rock quartet from the Welsh Capital. Quickly overcoming their sound issues, Love Sex Machine gave voice to an angry generation, Asexual Anger being a tune performed live, and I also had time for the wacky, weird and wonderful Leeds band Thank – one thing this festival was really good for was for showing all kinds of music from all over the UK – Kent’s Bossk, experiencing something of a boom of late, delivered here with a whole variety of musical display from trombones-induced solos to heavy, hardcore, earblasting jams. My next band was later that evening and my favorite of the final day, Brontide – running from Tonitro through to Matador, with a triumphant ode to instrumental rock. The main stage gave rise to And So I Watch You From Afar’s excellent setlist – plenty of people were watching from afar outside the main stage tent by this point, no doubt shattered from a few days of dancing and spent in tents, but they served to be fantastic and well worthy of their new album. It was an upbeat, harmonized, and synch melody from guitarists who never missed here.
My Arctangent continued with Electric Wizard, doom metal offering many of the crowd a chance to get high and embrace in the sheer chaos of packing as much as they can into an hour-long set. Black Sabbath fans will find themselves right at home with this band and they more than delivered – as a film buff it was really cool to see them dip into the deep cuts for their 60s and 70s horror films for a stunning visual montage that was among the best of the festival; and indeed – they might as well have been one of the best sets of the festival, on fire as ever.
The main draw of Arctangent
And then came the big one. The main draw if you will. Mogwai , I’d come all the way to Arctangent to see, and their chilled vibe felt like a comedown after Electric Wizard, but they were excellent all the same – post-rock felt like they deserved better than the crowd that was lacking the sheer numbers of Meshuggah the night before, but as loud as it could ever be and a real entrancing, almost life-affirming nature of a set. Transcendent and spiritual in equal measure, their effortless grove and perfect delivery made sure not a single moment was missed by the time I staggered back to my tent ready after four days for a proper bed and shower. They’re a rock band rather than post-rockers, ferocious and terrific with gusto. Capable of selling out Alexandra Palace in 2022 and a soundtrack album for a film about French footballer Zinedine Zidane feels like an odd choice, but a welcome career move. Never slowing down – always inventing.
My favorites of the festival then, were of course Meshuggah, I mean how could they not be? Closely followed by an excellent as-ever Blood Command, who have such riotous energy this won’t be the last time I’ll see them, and Ihsahn, the Norwegian Death Metallers whose 2024 album I adore. You can almost guarantee this was the best 10th birthday celebration that anyone’s ever had – major props to festival booker James Scarlett for assembling arguably the best collection of names across four nights as anywhere, bigger and better than shoutier festivals like Reading and Leeds and Boomtown, I’m sure to return. An unmissable stop on the festival circuit.
Arctangent will return in 2025.
Learn more about the festival at their website.
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