Review: ArcTanGent 2025, Fernhill Farm

“Good morning. Can I search your bag?”

“Sure.”

“Got any glass bottles or drugs?”

“Nope.”

“Right – you’re in then.”

Yes, ArcTanGent (ATG) has learned the lesson from countless other festivals that if you treat your paying punters appallingly, no matter how ferocious they may look, they will respond accordingly.

In fact, all the staff at the region’s loudest festival are so polite that it occasionally feels as though you’ve stepped into a parallel, Twilight Zone-esque universe, where such music and the fashions it inspires are entirely acceptable.

Wednesday might seem an odd day to kick off a festival, but it was apparently the only day that headliners Wardruna were available, and the site is teeming with punters as the fourth heatwave of the summer takes hold.

After a swift (and delicious) mushroom curry from one of the many welcome vegan food stalls, it’s time to check out the music. Bordeaux’s Year of No Light are one of those many bands who pursue an atmospheric instrumental direction, which is perfectly suited to a mid-afternoon festival slot.

Mr. Colossal Squid – photo: Jez Pennington

Over at the PX3 stage, we find Colossal Squid, which turns out to be one bloke and a drum kit. And a lot of triggered sounds, obviously. Nothing is more ATG than this wildly experimental and off-the-wall music.

He appears to be having technical difficulties at first, but these are soon resolved. There is, however, something a little wearing about what is, in effect, an epic drum solo – no matter how technically impressive – and the feeling soon sets in that one could nip off for a three-course meal and he’d still be bashing away when you get back. (I put this to the test by heading off for a burger, and find that it is true.) But – hey! – maybe this where musical minimalism is going: after drum’n’bass, just drum.

Kalandra take full advantage of the bigger stage – photo: Joe Singh

Norwegian/Swedish folky proggers Kalandra are the first unmissable appointment performance of the day and to say they do not disappoint would be a massive understatement. If the quartet had been around in 1972 they’d have been absolutely enormous, but alas the musical landscape has changed a lot in more than half a century.

The Kalandra signing was wildly over-subscribed – photo: Derek Bremner

Fortunately, ATG absolutely loves them – and rightly so – and they’ve stepped up from one of the smaller stages to the much bigger Yokhai stage today. Frontwoman Katrine Stenbekk takes full advantage of the expanded space available, skipping about until she pronounces herself exhausted about three songs in. It’s all sublimely beautiful stuff and is rightly received with a tumultuous round of applause.

Einar Selvik of Wardruna – photo: Abbi Draper

Kalandra would easily be the band of the day, were it not for fellow Norwegian headliners Wardruna – best known to the outside world for soundtracking, and appearing briefly in the Vikings TV series – playing a set slightly expanded from the one they did at the Bristol Beacon earlier this year.

This is grand, atmospheric music displayed to best effect with lavish production, which it gets here with flaming torches and an evocative backdrop.

Wardruna put on a suitably dramatic show – photo: Jez Pennington

Like Heilung in 2023, their music is suitably ‘heavy’ without electric guitars or modern instrumentation, preferring instead a variety of exotic, traditional horns, flutes and stringed instruments. But unlike Heilung, frontman Einar Selvik and his seven-strong crew are concerned with keeping ancient song traditions alive.

He finishes with an unaccompanied Hibjørnen, which he describes as an ancient nursery rhyme about a bear. They’re always the best nursery rhymes.

Day two and it’s time for a fashion note. Big, beardy men in frocks seem to be thinner on the ground than last year, but there are a lot more babies and little kids as the ATG audience starts to couple up and breed.

It’s disappointing to find that Drongo are Swedish rather than Australian, but we resist the temptation to call them out for cultural appropriation and scuttle off to the Bixler stage for the appropriately named Horrendous, making their first appearance on British soil.

What ATG has been lacking so far is brash Americans, but they more than make up for that with their trad heavy metal posturing and thrilling brand of technical death metal. They also provide the festival’s first reference to the late Ozzy Osbourne, whish earns them extra kudos.

The Melvins take flight – photo: Joe Singh

Considering that they play here so often, it seems rude not to see the Melvins at least once. Given their status as the band without whom Nirvana might never have happened, one might expect to find them a little higher up the bill, but here they are in a late afternoon slot that draws an appropriately large crowd.

As expected, they’re a bit punky and fairly sloppy, though it’s a pleasant surprise to find Buzz Osborne playing plenty of old-school rock guitar.

Buzz Osborne of the Melvins – photo: Joe Singh

His unruly mop of hair may be completely grey now, but he deserves credit for keeping the flame alive. Quite why the Melvins feel the need to have two drummers remains a mystery, however.

Einar Solberg of Leprous flexes his incredible voice – photo: Abbi Draper

We fully expect Norwegian prog-metallers Leprous to be the band of the weekend, and they don’t disappoint with the best show they’ve played round these parts. Quite how frontman Einar Solberg keeps his multi-octave voice in shape remains something of a mystery, but he’s on top form throughout. Given the strength of the vocals, it’s all to easy to overlook the rest of the band, but they too are on terrific form.

As expected, Leprous put on one of the best shows of the festival – photo: Abbi Draper

Naturally, they’re eager to plug new album Melodies of Atonement, opening with Silently Walking Alone, but quickly reward the faithful with old favourites like The Price. Alas, it’s all over far too quickly and they should have been further up the bill, especially given what comes next . . .

. . . which is the lauded Godspeed You! Black Emperor, who always sounded like they should be a black metal band, but aren’t. I’ll probably be expelled from the Guild of Nerdy Music Critics for saying this, but I found their brand of  ‘post-rock’ tedious in the extreme and like many a refugee went to enjoy Australians Battlesnake on the PX3 stage instead.

Those crazy Battlesnake boys prepare to take the stage – photo: Carl Battans

This lot specialise in old-skool twin guitar metal, augmented by theatrics and costumes that can best be described as Blue Peter-level. Motorsteeple is particularly entertaining and they conclude with a cover of fellow countrymen AC/DC’s Let There Be Rock.

Mind the nuts! Battlesnake’s costumes don’t last long as they meet their audience – photo: Carl Battans

Easily 100 times more fun than Godspeed, they’re winding up a two-and-half month European tour at ATG and seem suitably gratified that so many of us have turned out to see them. No doubt most will be back again next time they visit the UK.

Brazil’s Papangu were one of the most pleasant surprises of the festival – photo: Jez Pennington

One of the joys of ArcTanGent is finding a great band lower down the bill who you’ve never heard of before. This year it’s Brazil’s Papangu, playing on the Bixler stage at lunchtime on Friday. It’s not only their first show in the UK, but their first gig outside their native country.

Too loud and exciting for the world music crowd, they sound in part like a heavier Santana, with plenty of percussion, wind instruments and, of course, guitar and keyboards. Papangu start by playing to a modest crowd, but this soon fills out and becomes more appreciative in a feedback loop of fun that results in a tumultuous round of applause. ATG would be wise to book them onto a bigger stage next year.

Emma Ruth Rundle – photo: Abbi Draper

Emma Ruth Rundle is on paper an odd choice for a heavy music festival, being one woman with a guitar (and a bunch of effects). But her dark songs fit right in and the main stage is packed for her performance, albeit with many punters in a recumbent position is the sweltering heat. When she runs out of time she gives the audience a choice of final song. Naturally, we all opt for Marked for Death.

Green Lung bring a welcome dose of occult metal to Arctangent – photo: Derek Bremner

“We don’t do odd time signatures. We play good old-fashioned British heavy metal, with deeply researched lyrics,” announces Tom Templar of magnificent London-based occult metallers Green Lung. Surely ATG headliners in waiting, the Lung evoke  the ’70s golden age of occult/folk horror (Blood On Satan’s Claw, The Wicker Man, Doctor Who and the Daemons, etc) which they’re way too young to recall first hand.

Tom Templar meets his audience – photo: Derek Bremner

They’ve got a new album in the can, but elect not to preview any of it today, delivering instead an audience pleasing set of old favourites, drawing heavily on the great This Heathen Land album. Augmented by a three-piece brass section, they’re clearly enjoying the freedom that a larger stage offers, with Templar racing around and bounding into the pit. It’s a dream set, taking in Old Gods, The Forest Church, Maxine (Witch Queen) and, of course, that fab riff-driven singalong Let the Devil In, which Templar precedes by getting what sounds like the entire site to chant “Praise Satan!” This must have alarmed any passing normie. They conclude their great show with a fabulous One For Sorrow.

If that had been it for ArcTenGent 2025, we’d have gone home happy. But there’s more to come. Over on the Yokhai stage, American prog-metallers Between the Buried and Me are playing their Colors album in full, which is a treat for the faithful

The unprolific Karnivool. Pic: Joe Singh

Playing their first show round these parts since they sold out the Bristol Academy in 2023, unprolific Australian prog-metallers Karnivool haven’t actually released a new album since 2013, so their set is pretty familiar. Like most bands from Down Under operating in this field, their music is unfailingly melodic with clean vocals and plenty of singalong moments for crowd participation. This is music that it’s impossible not to get swept along by, even if you’re not entirely familiar with it, and proves a fitting end to Friday night at ArcTanGent.

And that was it for B24/7, as we retired exhausted, possibly with incipient heatstroke, and missed the last day altogether. Sorry TessearacT, but I’m sue you were great, as usual.

Main photograph of Battlesnake at ArcTanGent 2025: Carl Battans