There are few festivals like Arctangent, and that becomes clear when you set foot on the 5,000-capacity field in Somerset that this prog-rock festival calls home. It’s independent, not run by the big Ticketmaster/Live Nation backed festivals, and its small friendly appeal makes it one of the most charming, welcoming festivals in the UK. And also – the best.
From the off there are four days of music where you can see over 50 bands plus silent disco if you wanted to. Due to work; I could only make it down for Slift – and wasn’t even stopped or searched by security. It’s a friendly, easy-going vibe, people wave you through – and has learned lessons from countless festivals not to disrespect its partygoers. Staff are friendly, welcoming and respectful – they know Arctangent has its niche; and it won’t cause as much chaos as say, Boomtown or any of the events under the All Points East umbrella. Put it simply, nobody is making it down on a Wednesday to see Scandinavian folk unless you really want to, and it’s all the better for it. The audience is respectful, welcoming – and the friendliest group of metalheads you’ll see anywhere. Bloodstock culture could learn a thing or two.
Wardruna have had music in Vikings and they look like extras from the show as they craft a set that’s expanded from the Bristol showing earlier this year. It’s magical, lavish and flaming torches herald their arrival like something out of the old gods. It’s got echoes of Heilung, utilising horns, traditional folk music and Einar Selvik keeps the traditional format of ancient song alive and proves there’s an audience for it. It’s lavish, making the main stage full of depth and detail – and all the better for it.
Thursday saw us start with Lost in Kiev, Parisians on their third album, a real treat live and almost as cinematic as Wardruna the night before. Then over to The Sad Season; 60s inspired grunge that feel a touch like the next Iggy Pop, swaggeringly confident and appropriately primitive in nature. Over to the PX3 Stage to shoegaze outfit Lemondaze and you’ve already seen 3 bands before 1pm – but Lemondaze are one of my favourite bands of the whole fest – shoegaze a welcome break from the metalcore flavoured weekend and a touch of class brings them through; appropriately nervous but assuredly confident for their biggest ever show to date. All the bands on before 3PM are awed they’ve got a big turnout this early – and Lemondaze live up to expectations.
Then it’s off to the Bixler stage for Maud the Moth, an appropriately gifted, haunting singer songwriter with searing vocals. After that – As Living Arrows, back at Arctangent and on PX3 Stage – touring their second album – the math rock outfit remain compulsively watchable. For the first of two sets, We Lost the Sea are appropriately myth-making and tear-inducing on Arctangent’s main stage, capable of emotionally detaching from anyone. It’s hard to pick what set is better.
Lowen are a middle eastern Iranian metal band and live they are a tour de force of nature. They sound like they are waging war against god and the ferocity of this record is something that has to be seen live to be experienced. Back over to the main stage after for The Fall of Troy, capable of delivering insanely good riffs and as one of the many overlaps between Arctangent and sister festival Radar up in Manchester, show up with a set about the shared but singular experience; highlighting the joy and freedom of youth.
Pelican are masters of the riff and they make the most of their post-metal world-building that feels appropriately rich in mood and atmosphere. I also caught Melvins, festival regulars, and their punky, old-school rock. It was terrific to see such a legacy act highlight their best songs – grunge and sludge metal make the most out of their influence on early Nirvana, Soundgarden, Green River and many other famous bands – including Tool themselves.
Leprous are one of the best bands of the weekend and future stadium-fillers in the making, they’re going to be BIG. The cause of controversy for the weekend when Bloodstock announced their lineup for 2026 with the band playing in the wake of a promised festival exclusive at Arctangent, which rightly pissed off booker James Scarlett in the 2 Promoters 1 Pod live show, they brought the fire and fury to the weekend with plenty of pyrotechnics. Einar Solberg’s vocals have sheer chaotic range that are one of the band’s biggest strength, and Silently Walking Alone is massive – plugging new album Melodies of Atonement it was a real festival highlight.
Were it not for godspeed! You Black Emperor they’d be the headliners of the festival and I loved the 20-minute length songs that godspeed! Had to offer at arctangent, appropriately grandiose and big in scope. They feel and look epic – lush, lavish and immersive – appropriately mega. There are only seven songs across the hour and a bit and having just taken their music off not just Spotify but every streamer, getting the chance to see them live is more crucial than ever.
Friday up next – three days of chaos continues. I’m there for Overhead, the Albatros, but the real star is Ithaca, coming onto an emotionally cathartic singalong of Robbie Williams’ Angels before going into one hardest shows you’ll ever see. Vocalist Djamila Boden Azzouz is terrific – They Fear Us goes haard – and it’s the end of the band that have been around since 2012; ferocious and raw in nature, and I’ll miss them so much. They’re one of the bands who can’t afford to keep making music due to the cost-of-living crisis and how unsustainable touring is for the acts lower down the pecking order, and it’s a real shame to lose such a talented outfit.
I really like Arctangent as a festival because it books acts like lyricist Emma Ruth Rundle and puts her on the main stage. The song choices are emotional, dark and twisted – Marked for Death gets you through the heat effortlessly and by the end the crowd is emotionally transfixed by this glorious one-woman show. Arctangent is also great because you get acts like Green Lung; tipping into the occult for ‘70s folk horror and British myth and legend – “we play good old fashioned British heavy metal,” Tom Templar teases, “with deeply researched lyrics.” Just like Leprous – give it a few years; they’ll be headliners. They’ve already promised they’ll be back with a new album.
We get to see We Lost the Sea do Departure Songs in full, another set, another tearjerker for them. The clash with Between the Buried and Me’s colours set was biblical, but it paved the way for prog-metallers Karnivool who have been touring their same set since they released their last album in 2013. It’s familiar, but impossible not to enjoy. I preferred the 20th anniversary tour of maybeshewill on just before; promoting No Feeling is Final with the use of programmed and sampled electronic rock mixed in with heavy guitar, base and keyboard/drums.
The beauty of Arctangent is that it runs from Wednesday to Saturday so you get the Sunday to recover; and can go all out on the Saturday. It makes it rewarding and surprising when 2 Promoters, 1 Pod is packed out in the PX3 Stage at 10:00AM to let James Scarlett do his talk on the trials and tribulations of running a festival: the festival highlight: they moved their booking closer to local residents this year; and after months of trying to appease them – someone promptly shat in their field of goats causing them to resorting to paying security £50 to remove it. Gavin McInally bigs up Damnation Festival – and it’s a joy to watch these two knowledgeable music heavy weights explore the behind-the-scenes chaos and the making of the festival as a whole.
Then the Saturday follows suit with Sugar Horse, one of the best new discoveries of the weekend; capable of mixing doom, hardcore, stoner and punk all together for a great brand of chaos. I was taking it easy on the last day – so next act for me was The Callous Daoboys, who like Leprous, are going to be big and act like it. I went up and crowd surfed and photographic proof exists of this, and I couldn’t be happier with how fun that set was. Proper mental work with gorgeous eclectic visuals of a mix of skateboard failures, anime and wrestling ko’s. I also really appreciated the excellent guitar technique of Sometime in February, a real gem of the weekend.
Sleeyptime Gorilla Museum brought their brand of wholesome eccentricity to the lineup and I found my people in the Unprocessed mosh, mega chaos at every turn and a whirlwind of fun. Their prog tinged riffs had the energy to rival Animals as Leaders and their support for TESSERACT has earned them plenty of attention. Both acts an excellent booking for this festival and Frontman Fernandes is able to utilise his confident; forceful vocals to captivate the Yokahai stage. From there it’s onto the double headliner of Rolo Tomassi and Adebisi Shank, which is where my night had to end – but both acts provided a whirlwind of emotional chaos, Rolo Tomassi mixing in riffs with powerful screamo vocals.
This was the end of the night for me – I couldn’t quite hack God is an Astronaut, returning giants Clown Core or Tesseract (how good were they at Radar last year?) – but all three sets were reportedly superb; and what I saw of Tesseract sounded terrific. My favourite five sets of the weekend were hard to pin down; but if I had to – if I absolutely had to – Unprocessed, We Lost the Sea, Wardruna, godspeed! You Black Emperor, and the wonderful Ithaca, RIP. What a weekend. See you next year – it’s the one festival I always make plans to go within a few seconds of leaving.
Arctangent will return in 2026.
Learn more about the festival at the official website.
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