ArcTanGent Festival 2025 – Wednesday
Since pre-historic times, people of varied cultures, creeds and religions have travelled to sites of particular significance to gather, worship and celebrate. From the solstice ceremonies at Stonehenge, to Ancient Greeks walking along The Sacred Way, to medieval pilgrims travelling to the Holy Land and the millions of Muslims who today undertake the Hajj, people have sought spiritual fulfilment through journeying to and gathering at places that resonate. And while most medieval Christians would not have had a Skoda, a sense of pilgrimage was in the air as we made our way to ArcTanGent Festival for another four days of sublime music, reverent toe-tapping and appreciative chin-stroking at Fernhill Farm.
The 2025 edition of ArcTanGent(Ian’s fourth and Tim’s third) has some tweaks from previous years – multiple stages for Wednesday’s festival warm-up and the removal of the Elephant in the Bar Room stage being most notable – but the overall formula is the same. A relatively small attendance (perhaps 8,000-10,000 for the main three days), dozens of bands spanning genres from dark techno to math rock to post-metal to doom. Add to that excellent catering, on-site camping, friendly staff, and an accommodating vibe that caters to accessibility needs and celebrates humanity in all its diversity. It isn’t hard to divine why such an event draws attendees back year after year.
Our Wednesday experience began with Hundred Year Old Man, who were also a highlight in 2024. Opening with The Forest, from their 2018 debut album Breaching, Leeds’ finest centenarians blew the festival cobwebs away with a pulsating performance that showcased their post-metal credentials. Layers of distorted guitars combine with crackly voice samples, belligerent drumming and singer David Duxbury’s guttural vocals. This sumptuous recipe that was reprised for their closing track – the sprawling I Caught A Glimpse Of Myself In The Fire – a sixteen-minute epic that starts with gentle guitar notes and restrained drumming, before a false ending is abruptly ruptured by crashing guitars and Duxbury, joined by Grady Avenell from Will Haven, bellowing that ‘the sun will never set on us’. Truly a superb spectacle.
Next up was God Alone – an Irish five-piece whose blistering and bewildering energy was barely contained by the PX3 Stage. Mixing aggressive guitar-work with constantly switching rhythms, they provided a change of pace from HYOM and got the crowd jumping. Healthyliving were a more thoughtful affair, featuring the vocal talents of Amaya López-Carromero (Maud The Moth). Languid drumming and restrained guitars suited the chin-stroking sections of the audience, until the more pulsating tracks Until and To The Gallows picked up the pace and showcased the best of López-Carromero’s exquisite singing.
After a short break, we returned to the Yohkai Stage to experience festival-favourites Year Of No Light’s sublime blend of riffs, drumming and dread. The menacing opening guitar and synths of Objuration gave way to the twin-drummers pounding a slow march of the damned, with layer upon layer of music building to provide an aural foundation to the triumphal final guitar melody and crashing cymbals. We also revelled in the superlative Alètheia, where a catchy hook on a solo guitar starts another sonic saga with more strata than an archaeological dig.
The next two acts provided confirmation that part of the joy of ATG is the sheer variety of music available to the eager listener. First, we jumped into Adam Betts’ bathysphere to experience his solo drumming and electronica project Colossal Squid. Betts has presumably channelled his inner many-tentacled sea monster in the pursuit of this endeavour – demonstrating virtuoso drumming skills that left one wondering just how many limbs he might have – alongside a quirky repertoire of samples and noises that put one in mind of being in a particularly manic video game.
Maintaining the nautical theme, Teeth Of The Sea provided a similarly techno-infused affair that fused powerful guitars with synthetic drums and keyboards. The energy of both acts was certainly high – and it seems that between the two bands, they could fashion a fully-functioning four-piece – Colossal Teeth Of The Sea, perhaps?
Our evening ended with Slift (another ATG 2024 highlight) demonstrating their elan and elegance with a performance that was quite unlike that which they provided last year. Opening with the catchy and spirited Ummon from the eponymous 2020 album, Slift were clearly in stadium-rock-mode rather than psych-noodle-mode as they swaggered their way through a set oozing with heavy riffs and French flair (with a mind-melding background projection that looked at various times like a swarm of tadpoles or an exploratory mission to the duodenum). Playing their last show of 2025, they left nothing in the tank after a performance that capped a return to the wondrous pilgrimage site that is ArcTanGent.
