Bristol’s month in Metal & Prog – August 2025

We’ve got bands from as far afield as Tasmania and the US to look forward too this month as we gear up for the latest fabulous ArcTanGent Festival.

Psycroptic

Exchange, Aug 1

It’s very tempting to describe this lot as Tasmanian Devils, since they are indeed from Tasmania and the play technical black metal. Indeed, they did once release a charity single with proceeds going towards saving the little fellas from extinction. With no fewer than eight albums under their collective belt, they’ve just signed to Metal Blade and released a single entitled Architects of Extinction.

Undeath

Thekla, Aug 6

Zombie-obsessed US death metallers signed to Prosthetic, playing a warm-up show for Bloodstock, with support from Celestial Sanctuary and Mutagenic Host.

HR

Exchange, Aug 7

Yep – it’s him. Assuming he turns up. US rasta rocker HR (real name: Paul Hudson) is/was a founder member of legendary veteran Washington DC hardcore band Bad Brains, who played the Bierkeller in 1989 and later, bizzarely, Lakota in 1993. Expect the usual mix of reggae and hard rock (or ‘punk’, if you’re determined to be hip about it).

Kerry King

Electric Bristol, Aug 13

Yep – it’s him too. Slayer were always too big to play Bristol. But now that they’ve disbanded, talismanic founding guitarist Kerry King comes to town in support of his debut solo album, From Hell I Rise, which was described by Classic Rock as “the best Slayer album Slayer never made”. In truth, things are a tad confused in Camp Slayer. Perhaps wisely, they never said they were splitting up, thus avoiding all that tiresome ‘comeback’ nonsense, asserting instead that they’d get back together for one-off shows. But nobody could have predicted Black Sabbath’s Back to the Beginning show, for which Slayer got back together to join the metal royalty on stage. Prior to that, they headlined a huge event in Blackweir Fields, Cardiff, and now seem to be considering a full reformation. Quite where that leaves Mr. King’s excellent solo project remains to be seen, but  he’s assembled an outstanding band, including Death Angel vocalist Mark Osegueda, former Slayer drummer Paul Bostaph and former Machine Head guitarist Phil Demmel. This could be our only chance to see him in such a bijou venue.

ArcTanGent Festival

Fernhill Farm, Aug 13-16

Our heaviest festival returns for another “curated line-up of the very best acts in experimental rock, metal, prog, math, post, hardcore and electronic music” on the idyllic Fernhill Farn on the outskirts of Bristol. This year’s four-day blowout is front-loaded with great stuff. Wednesday’s headliners are the great Norwegian dark folkies Wardruna – who provided the soundtrack for (and appeared briefly in) Vikings. Great to see Norwegian/Swedish  quartet Kalandra bumped up the bill too, after they made such a great impression last year. Thursday’s headliners are Godspeed You! Black Emperor, but they’ll need to be on top form to upstage Norwegian prog-metallers Leprous. Also playing today are progressive US  death metallers Horrendous, veteran grunge-influencing Melvins and Australian eccentrics Battlesnake. Friday is headlined by Australian proggers Karnivool, ably supported by the like of rising Brit occultists Green Lung, dark folkie Emma Ruth Rundle and the masked men of Nordic Giants. And finally, Saturday sees Brit prog-metallers Tesseract headlining a bill that includes the bizarre Clown Core and ever-excellent Dvne.

Main image: Katrine Stenbekk of Kalandra at last year’s ArcTanGent festival. Pic: Joe Singh

COMING SOON

Here’s our essential diary of upcoming gigs that should be of interest to anyone of a rockin’ disposition.

FM, Fleece, Sept 11

Nekrogoblikon, Electric Bristol, Sept 18

Eivor, Electric Bristol, Sept 20

The New Roses, Thekla, Sept 24

Ricky Warwick and the Flying Hearts, Exchange, Sept 25

Atreyu, Electric Bristol, Sept 27

Blood Incantation, Electric Bristol, Oct 6

Testanent/Obituary/Destruction/Gostwhore, Bristol Beacon, Oct 7

The Utopia Strong, Cube Microplex, Oct 10

Glenn Hughes, O2 Academy, Oct 14

Paradise Lost, Electric Bristol, Oct 15

Battle Beast, O2 Academy, Oct 23

Reef, O2 Academy, Oct 24

Rick Wakeman, Bristol Beacon, Oct 29

The Vintage Caravan, Exchange, Oct 29

Anenra, Fleece, Nov 5

Focus, Fleece, Nov 6

Francis Rossi, Bath Forum, Nov 7

The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, Fleece, Nov 12

Saxon/Dirkschneider, Bristol Beacon, Nov 13

Orbit Culture, Electric Bristol, Nov 15

Conan, Thekla, Nov 21

Svalbard, Exchange, Nov 22

Jared James Nichols, Thekla, Dec 1

Katatonia, Electric Bristol, Dec 8

Orange Goblin, Electric Bristol, Dec 14

Clutch, Bristol Beacon, Dec 15

Fury, Exchange, Dec 18

Evil Scarecrow, Thekla, Dec 19

Epica/Amaranthe/Charlotte Wessels, Bristol Beacon, Jan 20

Pentagram, Thekla, Feb 2

Avatar/Alien Weapnry, O2 Academy, Feb 18

Jethro Tull, Bristol Beacon, May 10

Full Ov Hell, Fleece, April 7

Love with Johnny Echols, Fleece, April 30