For over a decade, the ArcTanGent Festival has blossomed to become a highlight of the UK festival season. Having carved out a niche for highlighting the best in math rock, post-rock, prog metal, experimental, and everything in between, this year’s events promised to be another stellar one for the South West gathering. Over the course of four days, a devoted fan base immersed itself in what ATG had to offer, and we were there to witness it all.
Diverse Headliners: Mixed Results
The setting of Compton Martin is friendly and compact, making it easy for you to see as many bands as possible. With four days full of music, there is a lot to take in. However, ATG 2025 delivered by justifying its headliners. Wednesday night saw the main stage open up solely for Wardruna. While many festivals wouldn’t consider having a Nordic folk group as a headliner, it’s simply accepted by the ArcTanGent faithful. For close to two hours, they compelled the crowd with a mix of atmospheric drone and ambient folk, all delivered in their Nordic tongue with traditional, hand-made instruments. It’s unique and thoroughly memorable.
Thursday brought a stark contrast, both in tone and setting. Witnessing Sungazer‘s captivating and charismatic display of experimental jazz with flashes of math and prog rock in the nearby Bixler tent is colourful. However, main stage headliners Godspeed You! Black Emperor are anything but. The Montreal group perform in a pitch black tent, with only red lights on the band. As a post-rock fan, I struggled to engage with what they provided. Fortunately, the weekend’s remaining headliners proved more engaging.
A pairing of prog metal to close out the final two nights is a questionable choice. Karnivool (Friday night) had the biggest task to justify their billing. Yet with the vocal talents of Ian Kenny and a razor-sharp-sounding band, the Aussie just about succeeded. Whereas TesseracT‘s return as headliners is engulfed by a bigger production, allowing their brand of tech-metal to sound almost cinematic. Thanks to Daniel Tompkin’s emotive vocals and the seasoned musicianship on show, TesseracT provide an immersive finale.
Festival Favourites and Fresh Discoveries
Away from the headliners, ATG 2025 was packed with standout sets. Wednesday saw local indie post-punk Sans Froid open the festival as the first of several names to return. Among them were Leeds sludge metallers Hundred Year Old Man, and chaotic math-rockers God Alone. The latter proves to be feral and infectious. Meanwhile, Nottingham black metallers Underdark are an example of how you can discover a new band at a festival. Although they’ve been going for a decade, their emotive blasts, towering distortion and Abi Vasquez’s venomous screams are magnetic and impressionable.
As you can expect from any festival, Arc provided a platform to champion new bands. Industrial metallers Tayne, who had the difficult task of clashing with Leprous‘ high-production main stage display, prove to be ferocious with sleek electronics. A humbled Lemondaze showcased their alluring brand of shoegaze, ticking the box as “ones to watch”.
Nevertheless, it was the array of returning names that elevated ATG 2025. The Callous Daoboys‘ Saturday main stage is one of the weekend’s most anticipated, and duly delivers. Their second outing at the festival is more structured, yet the frenzied ‘Two-Headed Trout‘ and ‘Pushing The Pink Envelope’ exemplify the Atlanta’s dizzying, genre-spanning abilities. ‘Lemon’ gets its first touring outing with appreciative results. While closing with a cover of Enter Shikari‘s ‘Sorry, You’re Not a Winner,’ (labelled as “your national anthem” by frontman Carson Pace), bravely succeeds.
Chicago post-metal instrumentalists Pelican‘s return to ATG after seven years proves to be a pull, with crowds spilling out of both sides of Yohkai tent on Thursday. It’s easy to see why, as they deliver big, fuzzy riffs aplenty. Earlier in the day, Lost In Kiev provided a solid wake-up call as the French group opened the main stage. Their sound and production shouldn’t be so good for a band low down on the bill.
Showcasing Technical Mastery
Elsewhere, The Fall of Troy brought their seemingly never-ending celebration of ‘Doppelgänger’ to the main stage. Through their impressive fret play and mathcore melodies, the trio were better than expected. The dynamic Colossal Squid highlights ATG‘s experimental arm. Adam Betts is a one-man drum machine, proving to be complex and compelling.
ATG thrives in highlighting technical prowess. For example, Car Bomb long-overdue return proves to be a success. Their main stage set on Friday afternoon showcased their unique time signatures and rampant tech metal guitars with a crushing heaviness. The following day, Between The Buried And Me performed the second set of the weekend. Having performed ‘Colors’ in full less than 24 hours before, their main stage outing is fluid, colourful, and kaleidoscopic. Whether you were a longtime fan or just discovering the North Carolinian prog-metalcore outfit, this set was a blistering introduction.
Emotional Landscapes and Cathartic Moments
Even though ATG offered plenty of heavy and experimental moments, it’s the softer, introspective offering that lasts longer in the memory. Norway’s Kalandra prove to be beguiling and enchanting with Nordic folk weaving through their cinematic prog rock, with Katrine Stenbekk being an ethereal presence on vocals. Whereas We Lost The Sea and Overhead The Albatross succeed where GY!BE didn’t. Both We Lost The Sea‘s sets undoubtedly showed why they should be put amongst post-rock elites. Thursday’s main stage set was stunning, bravely closing with the epic 27-minute ‘Blood Will Have Blood’. Alongside Friday’s ‘Departure Songs’ album playthrough, the Aussie collective demonstrated their brilliant ability to structure and pace their music with effective emotion. Friday’s main stage openers, Overhead The Albatross, proved to be even more emotional. Delivering one of the sets of the weekend, the Irish band’s use of gorgeous soundscapes and affective visuals tells a grief-laden narrative. By the time the final chant of “Farewell to you, We’ll meet again” ends, there is hardly a dry eye in the tent.
Catharsis reappeared as Envy combines post-hardcore screams with textured post-rock. Tetsuya Fukagawa’s Japanese tongue is full of anguish and melodrama. The long-tenured group manages to tow the fine line between the light and dark with precision.
Milestones and Farewells
Later on Friday, Maybeshewill provided one of several significant sets of the weekend. Celebrating their 20th anniversary, their Yohkai stage headline set on Friday was rich and monumental. Aided by a string trio, the urgent angst of ‘Not for Want of Trying’ is countered by ‘Red Paper Lanterns” hypnotic, twinkling build. Alongside throwing in rare gems like the rigid ‘Last Time This Year,’ the Leicestershire instrumentalists celebrated their 20th birthday in fine form, showing why they’re always welcomed back to ATG.
Rolo Tomassi were also celebrating two decades together. They also used the occasion to utilise a string section, if not better. Adding rich poignancy to their mathcore roots, ‘Crystal Cascades’ and the graceful ‘Aftermath’ exemplify their musical growth. While ‘A Flood of Light’ offers another therapeutic respite for the weekend. Yet the juggernaut pairing of ‘Cloaked’ and ‘Prescience’ amplified Tomassi‘s sonic assault, bringing a standout set to a close.
Despite some bands celebrating their longevity, for Ithaca, it was a case of closure. Their early Friday afternoon send-off began with a singalong to Robbie Williams’ ‘Angels’, yet soon erupted with a gut-wrenching reminder of their gritty metalcore prowess. Guest vocalists Ed Gibbs (Devil Sold His Soul) and Kate Davies (Pupil Slicer) stop by to show their appreciation. ‘They Fear Us’ roars as defiant as ever, before they bow out with the frenzied ‘Impulse Crush’. Uncompromising until the very end.
Likewise, Danish outfit Mew arrived at Compton Martin as part of their farewell run. Considered an “outlier” to the festival’s use mix of styles, they don’t pull the biggest main stage crowds. Nevertheless, their dreamy brand of space-rock weaves its way through blissfully, allowing ‘Am I Wry? No’ and ‘Comforting Sounds’ to ethereally soar.
Away from the anniversaries and farewells, there was the small matter of Clown Core. They were one of the weekend’s most intriguing sets. Arriving with a parental advisory warning, the unknown masked duo lean into the performance art aspect. Disturbing visuals are projected behind, and paired with avant-garde jazz, electronica, and grindcore blast beats. It’s a bizarre yet compelling performance. One that is chaotic and polarising.
Conclusion
For all its diversity and musical range, ArcTanGent 2025 was a success, built on shared catharsis and community. There is a trust between its organisers and festival attendees. In turn, that allows them to make brave booking calls (Wardruna, Clown Core, and Mew). It’s backed up by a reliable scope of bands (Maybeshewill, Rolo Tomassi, TesseracT) and styles. ATG emphasises, even celebrates, how diverse and powerful music can be. Whether it’s the gratitude shown to longtime festival favourites, the rampant thrill of frantic mathcore, the technical proficiency of prog and tech metal, or the emotional cleansing that the likes of We Lost The Sea and Overhead The Albatross can produce. These shared moments of vulnerability and release create an unspoken bond among festival-goers, transforming individual experiences into collective catharsis.
Ultimately, ArcTanGent 2025 allowed people to connect, escape, grieve, and find joy. Very few festivals can do that, and that’s why it continues to be a significant part of the UK’s assorted festival calendar.
ArcTanGent Festival 2026 will take place at Fernhill Farm near Bristol from Wednesday, 19th August to Saturday, 22nd August 2026.
Tickets are available here.
Find out more about ArcTanGent Festival on: Website | Facebook | X (Formerly Twitter) | Instagram | TikTok | Spotify | Linktr.ee
All photos provided by ArcTanGent Festival and Good As Gold. Main Photo by Abbi Draper-Scott (@abbidraperphoto).
