Introducing … England’s ArcTanGent Festival

By BRENDAN DELAVERE

EUROPE! A continent with thousands of years of history, bastion of civilisation and a melting pot of culture. Also home to some of the biggest metal festivals in the world.

Festivals like nothing Australia has or possibly ever will see …  that’s why thousands of Aussies make the pilgrimage across the world for the likes of Hellfest, Download, Graspop or the metal Mecca that is Wacken Open Air in Germany. A hundred bands, 100,000 punters spread over 100 acres of farmland, transformed into a gathering of battle jackets and heavy metal!

Those of us at Hot Metal have made the trek over the years to cover some of these enormous outdoor festivals and once again we will be packing our bags for another venture into the heart of heavy metal territory. Previously we have documented the likes of a burning hell in France; Hellfest, where Australia’s Airbourne ripped to 50,000 screaming French. We’ve seen Parkway Drive set the stage ablaze at Jera On Air in the Netherlands and eternal greats Slayer, Guns N’Roses, Metallica and Black Sabbath play some of the biggest sets we’ve ever witnessed. We could go on and on about these mega festivals and why you should attend them – because honestly you should – but in this series of articles, we’re going to focus on the somewhat smaller, lesser known festivals that Aussies may not have come across just yet.

First in the spotlight, in the gloomy depths of southern UK, (which is geographically but no longer politically Europe), a noise like no other: ArcTanGent Festival. Held in the western stronghold of Somerset, ArcTanGent has been slowly gaining popularity amongst prog and post-metal fans for the past decade. Held over three days at Fernhill Farm, only a stone’s throw from beautiful cities of Bristol and Bath, the eclectic, left-of-centre metal fest will be celebrating its 10th birthday this year, having been born in the summer of 2013.
Previous lineups have featured names such as Opeth, Cult Of Luna, Meshuggah, Battles, Ihsahn and The Dillinger Escape Plan, and the 2023 lineup will be bigger than all of them.

Fans of quirky time signatures, sludgy riffs, meandering, atmospheric post rock or black metal, downtuned post hardcore or in the case of this year’s headliner, Heilung, traditional Germanic folk music, will be frothing on the monstrous lineup. Scrolling the festival poster, a new name jumps out every time and takes us by surprise. Headliners Converge and the aforementioned Heilung will close out the first two nights and heavy metal royalty Devin Townsend will bring the weekend to a wacky and explosive end. Further down the bill for extreme metal folks we have the likes of Enslaved, Chat Pile, Igorrr and recent visitor to our shores, Deafheaven, performing Sunbather in full. If giant, atmospheric soundscapes are more your thing then rejoice. Russian Circles, Holy Fawn, And So I Watch You From Afar and the longest name in metal, The World Is A Beautiful Place And I’m Not Afraid To Die, will have you entranced.

Want something sludgier perhaps? LLNN, Bell Witch, Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs have got you covered. And if none of that has you already champing at the bit, then surely Rolo Tomassi, Pupil Slicer, Health, The Ocean, Swans or any of the numerous other sub genres of rock, metal or hardcore might tickle your fancy.

Held across four days, form August 16 to 19, in sunny old England, ArcTanGent Festival should definitely be one to keep your eye on. Tickets are still on sale for this years Fest, though days are numbered and tickets are dwindling. Will we see you there!?