Is it a hot take to say that Arctangent is the best metal fest in the country, given the UK is also home to Download and Bloodstock? Yes. Is it something that I will gladly argue with each and every one of you about until you’re too tired to continue? Also, yes.
I’ve been a regular at the Bristol four-dayer since the pandemic, and over the course of those five years, I’ve never been to a festival that fosters the same sense of community and curiosity. For those who don’t know, it started as a post-rock event before gradually expanding its borders, now open to anything that pushes back against heavy music’s mainstream. Headliners have ranged from Converge to Devin Townsend, Heilung to Mogwai.
But, unlike at most fests, the top of the bill doesn’t paint the full picture. Arctangent has a reputation for booking quality bands from start to finish, and that’s where it and the audience become truly special. Everyone is there for the music, not just an excuse to get pissed, and there’s a strong chance you’ll walk away on Sunday having discovered a band you’ll be obsessed with for months. Examples I could name include West Country math rockers Fes and Brazilian proggers Papangu.
Arctangent is for genuine obsessives, and everything great about it returned in 2026. There were more underground revelations, such as Venezuelan post-rockers Zeta and crushing doomsters Believe In Nothing. Some bands, including Svalbard, trusted the fest to put on their last-ever performances, while others, like Agent Fresco and Arcane Roots, made it part of their long-anticipated reunions. Headliners Chelsea Wolfe, Primus and Cult Of Luna feat. Julie Christmas exemplified the truly broad range of non-commercial heavy music.
After my four days at Fernhill Farm this August (ATG’s final time on the site before relocating next year), I can easily say that it remains my highlight of the festival calendar. For a clearer breakdown, here are my favourite sets of the weekend:
Svalbard
Life sucks and then you die. Svalbard know it – having spent the last 15 years lyrically wrestling with depression, sexism and other harsh realities – yet added to the pain of it all anyway by breaking up way before their time. On Wednesday, the four-piece bowed out on home turf, tearing through a setlist that broke down the metal (Eternal Spirits), shoegaze (Open Wound) and hardcore (The Damage Done) components of their sound. Singer/guitarist Serena Cherry was all smiles, especially as Employed To Serve frontwoman Justine Jones crowd-surfed about half a dozen times. This last showing was nothing short of triumphant, but, damn, it still hurts so bad.
Psychonaut
Once content stacking enough acid-laced riffs to give you a contact high, Psychonaut retreated from excess (slightly) and emphasised emotion on last year’s World Maker album. It paid tremendous dividends, with single Endless Currents becoming one of their biggest songs. That ascent was reflected on Thursday, when they played before a main-stage crowd worthy of a headliner. Dual vocalists Stefan De Graef (also guitars) and Thomas Mischiels (bass) exchanged heartrending lines in between torrents of technical yet melodic prowess. Arctangent ate that shit up, especially the tapping marathon All I Saw As A Huge Monkey. A sign of incredible things to come.
Møl
Every time Møl perform, they’re a bit better than last time. The Danes had only been away from the UK for six months when they played the third stage on Thursday, but they’d evolved exponentially. Founding guitarist Nicolai Busse Bladt was back and the band put swirling hemispheres of spotlights on top of each amp, accentuating their vibrant take on black metal. Even though frontman Kim Song Sternkopf roared like he wanted to give himself a hernia, Garland and Crush showcased his ever-advancing clean vocals. The quintet entered a genre of one on this year’s Dreamcrush album, owing as much to The Smashing Pumpkins as Mayhem, and this set reiterated them as a singular force.
Chelsea Wolfe
It was a big weekend for California’s dark rock singer/songwriter. Headlining Arctangent on Thursday then releasing her 10th album, The Dark, the following day is one hell of a back-to-back. She played three new songs in succession to mark the occasion, which, like every other track she performed onstage, were endowed with an ear-rattling oomph beyond anything she’s ever touched on record. A guest spot from Alcest’s screamer-in-chief Neige during Vex only added to the intensity of it all, and by the end, I almost wanted to sit down. No time for that, though: the silent disco played The Dark in its entirety 30 minutes after she left to make the night a proper Chelsea-thon.
Arcane Roots
As well as tragic breakups (Svalbard, Heck), Arctangent was also the site of hopeful returns. Agent Fresco showed up as part of their first tour since 2019 and, on Friday, Arcane Roots continued their comeback with a main-stage stunner. Fiercely underrated during their original stint, the Londoners uncorked an even mix of math-metal theatrics, 10-ton melodies and earnest, emotional bits. New single A Wave, Across The Sea held its own against the oldies, and the expanded lineup with a keyboardist and a drummer/guitarist gave everything a newfound boost. Welcome back, boys – now make another album, for the love of God.
Perturbator
What’s this EDM doing at my prog festival?! Even though Perturbator was far from a ‘traditional’ Arctangent booking, he was perfectly placed as Friday’s sub-headliner, warming everyone up for the wackiness of Primus. The Frenchman famously declared his former genre of synthwave dead in 2021, and since then he’s refined his own brew of metal, dance and widescreen Blade Runner shit. Each song segued into the next as smoothly as a PowerPoint swipe, but if I were to single out a highlight, Apocalypse Now (featuring Ulver man Kristoffer Rygg’s silken vocals) would be it. Heavy, fun and just a bit weird, he may not have fit the ATG aesthetic, but he matched the spirit.
Eivør
Eivør didn’t draw the biggest crowd to the main stage, but she left with the teariest one. The Faroese singer/songwriter filled an hour using her distinct bridge between the past and present, casting rock textures and Massive Attack-like trip-hop against vocals plucked straight from Nordic tradition. The songs and arrangements were all excellent, particularly a heavy So Close To Being Free, but the pièce de résistance was that voice. Her graceful wails bounced off of the walls and rumbled the heartstrings of everybody within earshot. After finale Falling Free, as I turned and walked back through the crowd, there were more than a few glistening faces in the darkness.
Cult Of Luna x Julie Christmas
One of the top three live shows I’ve seen in my life. Cult Of Luna reunited with avant-garde dynamo Julie Christmas for the first performance of their 2016 collaboration, Mariner, in eight years. Both acts brought their greatest strengths, as Luna’s bruising metal and hellish roars framed Christmas’ piercing, idiosyncratic singing. The best bit, though, was the infinite smoke and dizzying light show, combining to make the stage’s edges disappear and turn the band members into silhouettes. Closer Cygnus evoked the same feeling of transcendence as the stargate scene in 2001: A Space Odyssey. It was jaw-droppingly immersive, to the point that I might have cried a bit. Maybe.
Arctangent returns at a new site in Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire from August 18 to 21.
