ArcTanGent started life in 2013 as a niche festival to celebrate all things post-rock in nature. Over the years, the festival has branched out and become an all-encompassing fair that celebrates the left-of-field and experimental side of music. As the sister event, it complements the equally diverse and accessible 2000 Trees festival. Broad in nature, ATG covers a wide spectrum of genres, including doom, prog, math rock, shoegaze, death metal, and even the most out-of-the-world, left-field experimental music – looking at you, Clown Core!
As an outsider to the genre and festival in general, the first impression I had was that the vibe was extremely welcoming and inclusive. It seemed like all paths of life came together to celebrate the unique and wonderful niche subgenres they all loved.
The Grey
Not even seeing The Grey two weeks before could have prepared me for the soul bender they delivered at 11:30 in the morning. Catharsis before lunch, with tears included for that extra bit of seasoning. Joined by Will Haven’s Grady Avenell, the band turned the Bixler tent into a pressure cooker of roars, riffs and raw feeling. It was heavy and not just in sound: if you looked around you could sense the weight of hope and dread, the kind that makes one’s chest tighten and somehow loosen up all at once. The Grey are living proof that post metal still means something, whatever the time of day. A hell of a way to wake up. Caffeine could never. (DR)
The Sad Season
The Sad Season kicked off the second day of the 2025 edition of ArcTanGent on the Yokhai stage. Despite an early start at 11:30 a.m., the crowd gathered eagerly to witness the quartet’s brief yet immersive set. The side project of Mike Goodman, one of Sikth’s original vocalists, delivered 30 minutes of prime stoner rock, opening with a slow, tranquil pace. By the end of their performance, however, a surge of energy had swept through the tent, leaving the audience utterly captivated. (KM)
REZN
First up of the day for myself, REZN. REZN’s set on the main stage was a masterclass lesson in atmosphere heaviness. They opened with a low-end bass fuelled doom-laden wall of sound that also oozed a healthy dose of stoner metal energy. This pulled the crowd into their world of groove-heavy sludge metal.
The ethereal vocals floated above the pulverising riffs which added a haunting contrast. As the set continued, REZN surprised me with an experimental avenue to themselves – introducing a saxophone into their sound and some synth programming – pushing their genre boundaries even more without losing their distinctive initial sound. I can see why the band have been welcomed with open arms into the festival and given an early afternoon slot on the big stage.
Maud the Moth
Before REZN, Maud the Moth completely took over the Bixler stage. I’ve witnessed Maud the Moth weave her looping incantations solo before, but this was something else. With drums and guitar alongside, her sound became something larger, heavier, more visceral. The addition of a live band elevated the music into something towering, and her performance became a storm.
Maud’s latest album is already one of my favourites this year, and hearing it live only cemented my love for it. Amaya Lopez Carromero’s voice filled the tent with a raw, emotional clarity that tapped into something deep and intuitive, a fierce connection to feminine energy. She has the rare gift of transforming sound into art, presence into something ritual-like and profound. One of my generation’s most powerful voices – I only wish I’d caught her the day before, too, with healthyliving. (DR)
Horrendous
Horrendous, living up to their namesake, delivered an incredibly surprising set at ATG, especially for this reviewer who had only just briefly heard their name while preparing for the festival. This is their long-awaited debut at the festival and their first time being in the UK – reflected in their remark midway through their set, “sorry it took so long for us to come over!”
Before the band even began, they were met with rapturous applause from the audience. They launch headfirst into a fast thrash-tinted version of death metal – technical yet melodic. The one stands out from Horrendous is that they are absolutely full of pure metal showmanship, encouraging the crowd to bang their head and move as they also throw themselves around the stage – clearly loving every moment of it just as much as the crowd. A nod to recently passed Ozzy Osbourne (RIP) added a moment of remembrance and stillness before closing with an almost hardcore-tinged finale with the pit erupting in pure chaos and bodies slamming.
I have an unhealthy (but beautiful) obsession with Horrendous (and anything prog-death-adjacent, really), so this was one of the sets I was foaming at the mouth for. And boy did they deliver. I was entranced by the riffs and the way the band members bounce off each other like chaotic cacklers: they effortlessly held the crowd in their claws. I stumbled out afterward with neck pain, a permagrin, and the slight concern that I may never blink again. Yelling “Keep on climbing!” during Cult of Shad’oah with a swarm of sweaty maniacs gave me full-body goosebumps and is now firmly cemented in my brain as a core memory. (DR)
Lowen
Meryl Streek
Personally speaking, this was one of the most anticipated acts of the festival. Best described as a politically-charged punk artist, they stood out from the general vibe of every other act. I wanted to see how the ATG crowd would react. Their music is raw, political, confrontational, yet deeply emotional and personal, hailing from my own homeland, Ireland.
After hearing on the “Two Promoters One Pod” podcast when Meryl Streek was interviewed, I was keen to see the implementation of live drums rather than having all instrumentation as a backing track for his set.
Opening the set with a declaration that his songs are “about real fucking people” he jumped right into “Counting Sheep”, quickly winning over the prog/math rock crowd that might not have expected this visceral energy. The addition of a live drummer heightened the atmosphere.
Fully aware of his use of backing tracks, Meryl leaned into it, declaring: “Yeah, another dickhead with a backing track — but it’s about the message.” He doubled down without hesitation: “Anyone who complains can go fuck themselves.” True to his namesake, he wasn’t afraid to call out, as he’d put it, the “pricks in charge,” planting his flag firmly on the side of the people.
There’s a solemn and emotional break during the set when he plays “Uncle Paddy”, a song of remembrance for his much missed uncle, singing “you’ll always be loved and you’ll always be missed”. This stillness and tenderness are quickly shaken up by diving back into “Death of the Landlord” tackling the Irish housing crisis head-on, showing his ability to channel anger into purpose and challenge all of us to take on those who exploit us in what should be a basic human right. Meryl closes out with the hopeful yet cathartic, “If this is life”, – wanting a life full of purpose and meaning outside of the mechanical callous machine of day-to-day life under oppressive capitalism.
Although one of the most impressive, cathartic yet uncompromising sets of the entire weekend, Meryl lamented at the end, acknowledging, “It’s a little bit differen,t but thanks everyone”
Fall of Troy
Vianova
Up next for me, Vianova brought purpose and swagger to their ATG set, delivering a tight, hardcore-adjacent performance filled with technical metal breakdowns and an expected flair. Dressed in matching but striking outfits with the vocalist sporting a Ushanka and full suit, the aesthetic was as distinct as their sound. Opening with piano-supported vocals, things quickly descended into off-the-walls chaos, perfectly moving from soaring highs to crushing low ends. The crowd swayed and moved, beckoned by the singer, fully locked into the moment. Vianova closed their set with a brand new single released just a day prior, cementing their place in lockstep with the festival’s forward-thinking, alternative metal hotspot for anything out of this world.
Melvins
Kylesa
Leprous
Next ones to take to the main stage were Norway’s own progressive metal band Leprous. They serve as the penultimate act on the main stage before “Godspeed You! Black Emperor” headlines later in the evening. From the first low, earth-shattering rumbles of bass, this was met with a roar from the audience, and the atmosphere turned electric. Their distinctive blend of clean, melodic vocal highs and technically proficient instrumentation further accentuated this vibe. This is a standout example of the type of progressive metal the festival champions. The visual production behind the band heightened their performance with synced animations, creating a full sensory delight. By the second song, the band had locked the audience in its enthralling sensory allure.
Pyro midway through the set enhances the experience even more. Every interlude was met with thunderous applause from the crowd. Even those outside the tent were engaged, swaying and clapping to the rhythms. Marking their third appearance at the festival, Leprous noted how “it gets better and better” before launching into “Pitfall” with energy reborn. A paradigm of atmosphere and technicality from Leprous at what they even called “one of the most inclusive festivals around”.
Arab Strap
Just before the headliner of the night, I managed to make headway over to the Yohkai stage to catch Arab Strap, another personal highlight for me. As an outsider to the prog and mathrock world, Arab Strap brought a brooding atmosphere full of indie, spoken word, post-punk, electronic, and post-rock hazy textures.
They opened their set with waves of signal distortion, manufacturing an ominous tone before layering in a heavy pulsating bassline underneath their iconic Scottish-accented spoken word style vocals. It felt like a haunting indie disco storytelling brought to life on stage, laid over dark, moody instrumentation of programmed basslines and electronic beats, with definite post-rock influences harking back to early Mogwai albums. The stage lighting only further encapsulated this with the burning orange incandescents glowing over the artists’ building tension. At times, this evoked a sense of gritty surrealism akin to the likes of Trainspotting. Arab Strap leaned into their sardonic charm, introducing a track as “a song about shagging” in their thic,k dulcet Scottish tones. Overall, the band well and truly set the tone for what was to come later.
Godspeed You! Black Emperor
Now it was time for the headliner on the main stage on Thursday. Godspeed You! Black Emperor (GY!BE), the Canadian post-rock outfit, returned to ATG after headlining all the way back in 2016. Crowds of people hurry into the main tent in preparation for the next 100 minutes of an experience of sprawling cinematic post-rock soundscapes illustrating the doom and collapse of Western civilisation through the medium of sonic soundwaves. The lights dimmed to the darkest depths as the ominous drones of the accurately titled opener “Hope Drone” opened the set. As they open, the crowd erupts with rapturous applause, bringing life to the soundscapes of dystopia.
There are absolutely no stage lights, just the projection of burning film stock. This is a scenario where hallucinogens or any other mind-altering substances would absolutely send you to the depths, enthralled by the experience. As GY!BE continued through their set, it felt transcendent, almost like a religious experience of peril and post-rock apocalypse laid out through their musical notes. And in what felt like an instant, 100 minutes of tones and drones flew by. This set of dark transcendental sounds will sit and haunts the audience for a long time to come.
Battlesnake
At precisely the same moment, in a galaxy regrettably close to this one (commonly referred to as the PX3 stage), Battlesnake are engaging in an enterprise that defies both logic and, at times, health and safety regulations (more riding on inflatable dinosaurs at gigs, please). The performance is unrelenting, merciless, and staged with Monty Python levels of theatrical gusto. It is patently ridiculous, and thus, unavoidably delightful.
This, in essence, is the peculiar genius of ATG: punters are invited to either transcend the earthly plane, or, should that prove too strenuous, to simply rock out with an almost indecent enthusiasm. Both choices are equally valid. Choose your fighter. (DR)
