Music / Reviews

Review: ArcTanGent 2023, Fernhill Farm

By Robin Askew Monday Aug 21, 2023

The great joy of the modern independent niche festival is that there’s no danger of having your eardrums assaulted by something unwanted, like those great hazards of modern mainstream fests: the ghastly Ed Sheeran wannabe or mediocre Afrobeat act. The loyal punters at Bristol’s well-established, super-friendly ArcTanGent like their music heavy and progressive, and that’s exactly what they get. They look like a standard festival crowd, albeit rather hairier, but are thoroughly good-natured and responsible, even when wasted. After three days of rockin’, the site is completely spotless, with none of the piles of crap (cans, bottles, discarded food cartons) you get elsewhere. That’s partly because of the teams of ruthlessly efficient litter-pickers and abundant, regularly emptied recycling bins, but also because this extreme music clearly attracts a better class of punter. Festival style note: apologies if I’m the last to notice this, but men in skirts is definitely a thing now. It’s unclear whether this is for reasons of comfort, fashion or, you know, gender, but I’m off to raid the missus’s wardrobe as soon as I get home.

It’s just after 11am on Thursday, and after a fortifying pint of cider we’re ready to rock. On the main stage, Swedish trio Barrens are just finishing up their festival-opening set. Their brand of dreamy prog-metal, or ‘post-rock’ if you must, is likely to appeal to anyone who enjoys Alcest. Dodging over to the Bixler Stage, we find Din of Celestial Birds serving up an agreeable set of trancey, riff-driven instrumentals. On the Yokhai stage, Belgians Pothamus give it plenty of plod as they fly the flag for sludge.

Back on the main stage, Chinese act Chinese Football are doing their emo thing. They’re very polite indeed and are clearly overjoyed at playing their first ever festival show. Butch Kassidy serve up a precision wall of noise on the Yokhai stage, and it’s back to the main stage for Wiegedood.

Independent journalism
is needed now More than ever

Keep our city's journalism independent.

Community member Find out more

Wiegedood. Pic: Jonathan Dadds

Lacking the theatrics of, say, Mayhem or Behemoth, the Belgian black metallers certainly succeed in kicking things up a notch with the best set of the day so far.

The first appointment performance of the day is over on the Yokhai stage, where Bristol’s very own Svalbard have pulled a huge crowd for their distinctive brand of feminist post-hardcore. It’s impressive how popular they’re becoming, and this upward trajectory can only continue now they’re signed to indie metal giant Nuclear Blast, with a new album due out in October.

Svalbard’s Serena Cherry. Pic: Carl Battams

Shame they’ve only been allotted 35 minutes, but they use it wisely with a career-spanning set that concludes with newie Eternal Spirits. Serena Cherry’s roar remains undiminished and she hails ArcTanGent as “the best festival in the UK”.

Elder. Pic: Derek Bremner

Over to the Bixler stage to check out The Guru Guru in the faint hope that they’ll sound something like 60s/70s Krautrockers Guru Guru. But they turn out to be more alternative rockers from Belgium. As splendidly named Biffy Clyro side project Empire State Bastard bash away on the main stage, a growing crowd at the Bixler clearly takes the view that listening to Elder soundcheck is more enjoyable than many bands’ full sets. Needless to say, the now Berlin-based prog-psych-doomsters conquer ArcTanGent with 50 minutes of pure class. Every old-schooler on site is here for this, even though it means missing Brutus, and by the time they conclude with Halcyon there’s a sea of banging heads. Band of the day and no mistake. They really should be headlining.

Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs. Pic: Carl Battams

Brit doomsters Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs know how to please a crowd, and as Yokhai stage headliners they even get an intro tape: AC/DC’s For Those About to Rock. They certainly deliver on the song’s promise with a set that’s particularly enjoyed by the obligatory bloke in a gorilla outfit down the front. Someone else has brought along an inflatable pig, so this is an audience that’s clearly up for a party driven by earthy, Sabbathy riffage. This is the porcine chaps’ third appearance at ArcTanGent and their first headline show here, which vocalist Matthew Baty jokingly attributes to an “administrative error”. He also tells us that ArcTanGent is one of their favourite festivals as they usually stick out like a sore thumb on bills headlined by the “fucking Stereophonics”. They leave us baying for more with A66 – a rare song about “a particularly dangerous stretch of road”. Yes, all this and motoring advice too.

Headliners Converge are clearly enormously popular and seem to be winning today’s T-shirt contest, but to these ears they sound like a pair of pitbulls fighting in a sack while a hardcore band plays in the background. After 10 minutes of this, I join the steady flow of Converge refugees at the PX3 stage for Bristol doomgazers Sugar Horse. They’re a tad droney and overblown, but melodic with it, which proves a welcome relief, and conclude with a new song that’s introduced as being “longer than time itself”. With just 15 minutes to the curfew, that’s a promise they can’t fulfil.

Witchsorrow. Pic: Jonathan Dadds

Day two and thunderstorms are forecast. But as Twisted Sister so wisely reminded us all those years ago, you can’t stop rock’n’roll. There’s light drizzle across the site and long queues at the coffee stalls. 11:30am too early for metal? Nobody told Farnborough trio Witchsorrow. “Come on ArcTanGent, let’s fucking go!” They’re billed as a doom act, but only have a couple of funereally paced numbers.

Punters appreciate Witchsorrow. pic: Jonathan Dadds

For the most part, this is good old fashioned, battle jacketed heavy metal of the variety that would be familiar to anyone who grew up with the genre in the sixties, seventies or eighties. By the time they reach To the Gallows, dedicated to “all the metal maniacs”, everybody’s headbanging. Wake the site? This lot could wake the dead.

Over on the main stage, Curse These Metal Hands are a collaboration between members of Pijn and Conjurer who have one of the weekend’s most amusing T-shirt slogans (‘I can’t believe it’s not Baroness’). In fact, they don’t sound that much like Baroness at all, but do boast some pleasingly old-school prog fiddly bits and guitar solos amid the punishing riffage. ArcTanGent likes them. A lot.

Caligula’s Horse. Pic: Derek Bremner

Still on the main stage and providing a lesson to Eurovision enthusiasts who thought Australian prog-metal began and ended with Voyager, Caligula’s Horse are playing their first show on British soil in four years. Fortunately for them, the prog-metal audience is both loyal and patient, so they receive a heroes’ welcome despite standing out on the ArcTanGent bill with their clear vocals, melodic guitar and choppy arrangements. Their brief slot only gives them time to play six songs and sound issues mar opener The Tempest slightly, but the Brisbane quartet soon get back on course. Vocalist Jim Grey is conducting a contest on the Euro metalfest circuit to see which audience can come up with the loudest “G’day mate!” It’s safe to say we beat Brutal Assault.

The St Pierre Snake Invasion. Pic: Jonathan Dadds

On paper, Bristol’s The St. Pierre Snake Invasion are an odd fit amid all the metal on the Yokhai stage, but they’ve played at every ArcTanGent since the festival’s inception. They rock hard and are agreeably quirky, while livewire Damien Sayell claims to be the festival’s funniest frontman. The bloke in the audience wearing the giant homemade plastic translucent wings with fairy lights flaps them in wild appreciation.

Dawn Ray’d. Pic: Jonathan Dadds

The painfully named Dawn Ray’d over on the PX3 stage prove to be a welcome surprise, being an anarchist British black metal band with a singing violinist. There’s a bit of politicking at the end, but no full-on diatribes and the music is rather refreshing.

The Ocean. Pic: Derek Bremner

Last seen in Bristol at the O2 Academy with Karnivool, Berlin’s The Ocean (sometimes billed as The Ocean Collective) bring their lengthy compositions based on geological epochs to the Yokhai stage. Their big, rumbling bass sound, stop-start rhythms and epic crescendos are built for ArcTanGent and they go down a treat. In fact, such is our appreciation that frontman Loïc Rossetti simply can’t stop leaping into the audience to crowd surf.

No sign of those promised thunderstorms, but the rain is becoming persistent. Your correspondent elects to spend the next hour watching Norway’s mighty Enslaved setting up for their headline show on the Bixler stage. But it’s impossible not to hear veteran noiseniks Swans over on the main stage. This lot were much loved by my cooler colleagues back in the day, and now seem to have been adopted by the alternative metal brigade as the precursors to the likes of SUNN O))). It’s all exceedingly loud, relentless and doesn’t seem to go anywhere. No change there then.

Grutle Kjellson and Arve Isdal of Enslaved. Pic: Jonathan Dadds

Like Elder yesterday, Enslaved are the kind of band who you know won’t let you down. For those of us who’ve followed them from their early days as associates of those crazy church burners to their more proggy modern incarnation, it’s always a joy to see these crazy Vikings win over new audiences. Tonight they showcase three songs from their excellent new Heimdal album: the epic title track, the proggy Forest Dweller and the hard-rockin’ Kingdom. All of these sit comfortably alongside old favourites Isa, Homebound and The Dead Stare. Especially impressive is the way in which recent-ish recruits Håkon Vinje (keyboards) and Iver Sandøy (drums) have slotted into the band alongside co-founders Grutle Kjellson and Ivar Bjørnson, broadening their sound with powerful clean backing vocals. Trying to persuade English audiences to sing along in Norwegian to Havenless is always fun too. “That was incredible,” remarks one bloke loudly as we file away. He’s not wrong. Surely Enslaved should graduate to the main stage next time.

Heilung. Pic: Joe Singh

Apparently, there’s been some whining on social media about ArcTanGent going full metal, to the detriment of the leftfield and experimental stuff. These people clearly aren’t aware of tonight’s main stage headliner: Heilung. The German-Norwegian-Danish experimental folk collective play no electric instruments at all, presenting instead an elaborate, highly choreographed ritual spectacle driven by heavy drumming (often involving human bones), chants, throat singing, exotic percussion, spear and shield bashing, fire juggling and the occasional spoken word interlude and blast on a horn. It’s bookended by two ‘ceremonies’ featuring the cast of tens.

Maria Franz of Heilung. Pic: Joe Singh

Vocals are led by Kai Uwe Frost and antler-wearing Maria Franz, whose high clear vocal style is reminiscent of Myrkur, while Christopher Juul leads the drumming. Quite what this all adds up to is a matter for the observer/listener, given that Heilung’s “amplified history from medieval northern Europe” is drawn from multiple sources taking in Old Norse, Icelandic and Latin poetry and prose, and no ethnographic authenticity is claimed.

Heilung. Pic: Joe Singh

But those mighty rhythms are certainly hypnotic and trance-inducing, while the elaborate folk horror stage dressing adds to their appeal. Much of the set is drawn from the Futha and Ofnir albums, with only Anoana representing the recent Drif, so far as I could tell. They make no attempt at audience communication apart from a final, whispered, “Thank you very much.”

Heilung. Pic: Joe Singh

This stuff certainly has huge crossover potential, and one could easily imagine Heilung performing to a field full of cavorting earth mothers at Glastonbury or WOMAD, or being feted by the broadsheets. But right now, it’s only the world of metal that has fully embraced these dramatic ceremonies for offering a very different kind of ‘heavy’.

Day three and sensible punters (i.e not me) have broken out the wellies to deal with the mud churned up during last night’s downpours, while opportunistic stallholders have expanded their ranges to offer ponchos and rain jackets.

On the main stage, a band called The Most are making what Frank Zappa would have called “a jazz noise”, with plenty of saxophone parping. It’s not exactly Weather Report, but is a pleasant and relaxing way to start the day.

Opening the Bixler stage are Bristol’s Copse. Being unfamiliar with them, I assumed that, in keeping with the name, they’d offer something mellow and bucolic. Not a bit of it: 30 minutes of post-black metal fury is on their agenda

Psychonaut. Pic: Jonathan Dadds

Next up are on the main stage are Psychonaut, yet another band from Belgium, making their ArcTanGent debut after cancelling last year. No wrongfooting here: the trio sound exactly as their name suggests, with lengthy, trippy, spacey compositions that provide a perfect soundtrack for that first spliff of the day.

It’s always worth challenging yourself with bands you’ve never heard of before, so it’s back to the Bixler for Spain’s Bones of Minerva. They’re that rarity, an all-female metal act, and receive a hearty welcome for their aggressive music. They’ve got a great guitar tone, but their vocalist is more impressive when she’s singing than when she’s growling.

Over at the smaller Elephant in the Bar Room stage, we find Thought Forms – a Bristol act with Portishead (the band) connections. They start by working up a drone that threatens to resolve into Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun at any moment, then hit a more Sabbathy groove for the rest of their set. It’s enjoyably atmospheric, but probably better suited to a club setting than a mid-afternoon festival slot.

On the main stage, Dutch band GGGOLDDD (two Gs and Ds are silent, which means I must stop referring to them as Ger-Ger-Gold-Duh-Duh) offer a moody alternative pop experience. It’s difficult to tell whether their muddy sound is intentional, but some more dynamics wouldn’t go amiss.

VOLA. Pic: Jonathan Dadds

They’re followed by the first of Saturday’s main attractions: ace Danish prog-metallers VOLA. This lot need a really clear sound to maximise their impact, and they certainly get that at ArcTanGent, with Asger Mygind’s powerful and soaring vocals making a refreshing change from all the shouting on other stages. Their set is mainly drawn from Witness and concludes with those audience favourites Head Mounted Sideways and Straight Lines. They go down an absolute storm. If ever there was a perfect ArcTanGent act, VOLA are probably it.

Igorrr. Pic: Jonathan Dadds

You know that scene in American thrillers where there’s a shootout in the bad guy’s Eastern European warehouse nightclub lair? All the extras are dressed up as a Hollywood casting director’s idea of what a modern punk rock audience should look like. When these people aren’t jigging around to terrible techno, there’s a striking looking, suitably ‘alternative’ band playing. Don’t be surprised if Igorrr turn up in this role eventually.

Igorrr. Pic: Jonathan Dadds

It’s easy to see why they’ve been making such waves. Named after founder Gautier Serre’s pet gerbil, the French collective take a dramatically eclectic approach. Few artists would think of combining cheesy dance music, black metal, opera and classical music. Fewer still would do so in a single song, with two vocalists performing in very different styles.

Igorrr. Pic: Derek Bremner

Gautier conducts the musical chaos from behind his decks and laptop, occasionally playing guitar too, while a steady stream of crowd surfers are hauled over the barrier. He uses the operatic vocals and classical music in a very different way to symphonic metallers and it all works remarkably well, but one can’t help wondering whether he’s got anything else to add to his box of tricks once the approach becomes familiar.

For those of us of a prog-metal persuasion, there follows a mad dash across the site to catch Brit heroes Haken headlining the Yohkai stage. Having outgrown the club circuit, they’re now perfectly at home on these larger stages. Ross Jennings is in particularly fine voice as the six-piece romp though an excellent set dominated by recent album Fauna, but which also reaches back to 2013’s The Mountain for crowd favourite Cockroach King, whose multi-part vocals recall the magnificent Gentle Giant.