Gig review - Arctangent Festival, days one and two

Live review: Arctangent Festival, Fernhill Farm, Bristol, UK, August 16 to 19, 2023

By BRENDAN DELAVERE

ARCTANGENT Fest UK: sunny one day, beautiful the next. Or rainy, or windy, or everything all at once. Fernhill Farm has its own micro climate, but that’s all part of the fun of camping festivals. Getting in early on the Wednesday afternoon, setting up camp on a lush patch of grass and sitting back with a beer to take in my surrounds as others do the same, there are trolleys loaded with camp chairs, kettles and crates of beers.

Pic: Brendan Delavere

The Wednesday night was a bit of a pre-party with only one stage operating. First act of the festival we caught goes to Hippotraktor, instrumental prog that melds Meshuggah grooves with rhythmic intensity. Vocals from Psychonaut’s Stefan De Graef rounds out the explosiveness of our first act.

From there the night only got heavier, with Pupil Slicer ripping discordant cuts of metal and hardcore, clean vocals instantly morph in to vocal chord shredding gutterals from front woman Kate Davies as bassist Luke Fabian stomps around the stage, dread locks whipping back and forth. Fans of Dillinger Escape Plan should check these guys out.

Purveyors of fine sludge, DVNE took it upon themselves to shake the foundations of the Bixler stage, rumbling their way through what felt like one continuous song. My chest still hurts from the barrage of bass and drums. And if that didn’t burst your ears, sludgy doom connoisseurs Conjurer certainly finished the job. Heavy and slow, this is epitome of being trapped in a pit of tar, the overwhelming noise surrounding, suffocating, crushing.

Conjurer. Pic: Brendan Delavere

Last set for the night was an amalgamation of synth, djent riffing and bass heavy electronica. Scalping took a piece of everything, compressing and exploding the amp stacks in a booming dance of genre splicing. Some punters danced, others banging heads, some, like me, just taking in the whole visual, visceral experience.

Thursday was looking a little overcast, a light smattering of rain but not enough to be a worry. The forecast was for rain Friday, but today at Fernhill it was normal English weather. After a hot cup of tea, English breakfast, it was off to experience the aural delight of Din Of Celestial Birds. Soaring soundscapes, crashing cymbals and galloping riffs, this was post metal at its finest. Burial Clouds followed with a more melodic approach, the vocalist at times softly crooning, only to release it all in a pent up rage. Four songs into the set and time was up sadly; definitely a band I want to hear more of.

Chinese Football. The name grabbed me so off to main stage, to discover, they were in fact from Wuhan, China. Soft, flowery indie rock, everything about them felt warm, right down to the very friendly wall of death. And as Arctangent is a world of contrasts, straight after, we had the blackened noise of bee keeper suit wearing Wallowing. Multiple vocalists, screeching guitars, bass heavy noise and a lot of smoke, got to calm those bees down.

Chinese Football. Pic: Brendan Delavere

More straightforward in the black metal department, Wiegedood pummeled us with a solid knock of atmospheric BM, buzzsaw guitars rising, drums crashing, a wall of sound emanating.

Still in the realm of black metal, French four piece Hypno5e fused atmospheric post rock, noodling guitars and sludgy riffing with both a soulful and heavy approach. “Acid Mist Tomorrow”, “On the Dry Lake”, meandering rhythms, backing tracks in French language conjure images of mist- covered waters. Beautiful stuff.

Cave In lived up to their name, crushing the ears of all at main stage. “New Reality”, “Pendulambient”, “Sing My Loves”, the band ran through a ripping set encompassing their solid back catalogue and a Fleetwood Mac cover, “I’m So Afraid”. Impossibly tight, their guitarists traded licks as the crowd roared, a few eager punters crowd surfing their way over the barrier.

If Chat Pile vocalist had a step counter on, he surely would’ve racked up a few miles as he paced the entirety of the Yohkai stage. If you haven’t heard of Oklahoma’s Chat Pile, they’re somewhere between Mr Bungle and a slam poetry night, with discordant jazz rock fusion, some punk hardcore chords thrown in and Raygun Busch’s drawl as he circles and circles the stage.

Empire State Bastard. Pic: Brendan Delavere

One band that had everyone talking and a huge crowd gathering at the main stage for was Empire State Bastard. The new project from Biffy Clyro frontman Simon Neil, it’s a supergroup of sorts also featuring Mike Vennart and Bitch Falcon’s Naomi Macleod. Recording drums, Dave Lombardo (though unfortunately not in the flesh this time, with session drummer Tom Rice in place instead). With the band bordering somewhere between rock and metal, the English crowd absolutely frothed that some version of Biffy was back on stage.

The biggest clash of the day, nay the weekend, was Belgian trio Brutus and-post doom rockers Elder. A hard choice but this reviewer had to go with Brutus and they didn’t disappoint. With her kit centre stage, drummer and vocalist Stefanie Mannaert’s crescendo vocals soaring to new heights, the Yokhai stage was overflowing as more people tried to push their way in. “Liar”, “Storm”, “What Have We Done”, the setlist heavy on last year’s incredible release Unison Life, closing with the huge sing along “All Alone” and “Sugar War”.

Brutus. Pic: Brendan Delavere

For the rest of the night it was running back and forth between main stage and Yokhai stage, with a quick stop to get some ale and some Bunny Chow chilli. Russian Circles, backed by a wall of amps, took us on a journey of sound and story. Opening salvo off classic record Station, the title track and Harper Lewis set the pace, beautifully rising and crashing, sounding massive in the tent, sounds bouncing off every surface in a huge wall of noise.

Russian Circles. Pic: Brendan Delavere

In contrast, British stoner rock Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs, or Pigsx7 for short, burst out of the smoke like a bull in a China shop. A mix of psych, doom and punk attitude, Pigs thoroughly smashed the shit out of Yohkai tent. Frontman Matthew Baty twisting about the stage like a snake, smoke machines were in overdrive and a few punters crowd surfed their way to the front.

Wrapping up the official day one, day two for those of us who got in early Wednesday, from Salem, Massachusetts, Converge. Bursting out of the gate with unbridled fury, “Dark Horse”, “Worms Will Feed”, “Axe to Fall” of the album of the same name, “Hell to Pay”, “Homewrecker” from seminal record Jane Doe, the band powered through an hour of explosive hardcore metal. Two encores yielded the screaming brutality of “Concubine” and the final encore saw the four piece cover “Wolverine Blues” by Entombed. Despite finishing 25 minutes early, the crowd was left ragged and for most it was time to crash, others partied into the night at the silent disco.