The return of the now legendary festival, ArcTanGent are going all out for their latest edition. But of course, you already know that. By now you’ve probably already got a rough schedule for the weekend in place. We don’t need to tell you to go and see the big names atop the lineup. Once again, the lineup for ArcTanGent is god tier, and you all know it.
But beneath the big names and scene favourites lies an utter treasure trove of new and fresh artists playing across the weekend. And with that in mind, here’s our top picks for the artists you would be utterly foolish to miss next weekend.
As you are most likely aware, one of blackgaze’s finest exports are performing next week. They’re a band that are universally praised as one of the most vital acts of the genre and a collective that stands as a pillar upholding the integrity that this musical movement has become globally renowned for. Furthermore, they’re a band that will be performing one of their records in full at this very festival. We’re referring to Copse of course. Fronted by Ed Gibbs of Devil Sold His Soul, the South West blackgaze quintet will be performing their brilliant and majestic new EP Old Belief | New Despair in full on Saturday morning in what set to be an overwhelming and fatally beautiful exercise in blackened emotion and obsidian tenderness. Copse have become one of the genre’s most promising acts in recent years, with recent sets with the likes of Dawn Ray’d, The St. Pierre Snake Invasion and Calligram showcasing their seemingly effortless penchant of harnessing the core dynamics of blackgaze in a way that’s freshly dynamic and intensely concise, further animating the genre they’ve already essentially mastered. Simply, if you like that there other blackgaze band playing main stage, Copse isn’t a band to be missed. – Dan Hillier
There’s almost nothing that can be said about The Callous Daoboys that accurately represents the utterly manic, batshit genre-smashing of their sonic assault. Mathcore? Check. Violins? Check. Jazz pop breaks, saxophone parts and deliriously unhinged, but catchy melodies? Check, check and check again. The Atlantan sextet blew the doors off the mathcore scene with last year’s Celebrity Therapist, a screaming chimera that raged against cults of all stripes, from nationalism to gun nuts to the alt-right. Most of all though, it catapulted the group into the consciousness of fans the world over that longed for something new to the scene, one that took its freewheeling approach and injected an unhinged creativity that ensured every disparate element hung together. Plus, with mosh calls from this year’s Radar Festival like “show me how free your healthcare is,” can you really afford to miss them? – Will Marshall
A frankly terrifying mix of mathcore and sludgy hardcore, Belgian crew BEAR are bringing the serious side of chaotic, unpredictable music to ATG. Think of them as the more sadistic, angular yin to the more scattered, unhinged The Callous Daoboys yang. Channelling influences as obvious as The Dillinger Escape Plan and Botch with an undertow of Cursed and Coalesce, expect one or two new tracks from their upcoming new album Vanta, mixed with ragers from their 2020 breakthrough Propaganda. One of the more likely bands to instigate some spin kicks and swinging fists at the festival, they’re certainly one to watch and though not a new band, will certainly come away with more fans and admirers. – Chris Earl
You can’t go wrong with a band named for a Simpsons quote (Good old Dr Nick Riviera if you’re wondering), and you certainly can’t go wrong with having former Black Peaks duo of Wills (Gardner and Larkin) as part of that band. Far removed from the more serious, progressive sound of their former band, Skin Failure play rollicking, crossover thrash that just oozes fun. Last year’s debut Radillac was a high octane piece of punky-thrash goodness, and their live shows so far have matched the records no holds barred approach. If you’re at the festival early doors on Wednesday, these guys are an absolute must see. – Chris Earl
As well as hosting some of the biggest and inspirational names in post-rock, ArcTanGent has long been a launchpad for some of the best new talent in the national scene and beyond. In fact, it’s common to see acts scaling up the rungs of the lineup over the years. However, one such band set to ascend right to the top of the bill in record time are Din Of Celestial Birds. Performing just days after the release of their phenomenal debut LP The Night Is For Dreamers, the Leeds collective intricately and emotionally detail the mercurial nature of the human form in a way that’s moving, tender and utterly spellbinding. Truly, as the aforementioned record attests to, their craft explores the entire spectrum of human emotion in way that makes language seem utterly redundant. Also, they have a song literally about ArcTanGent, naturally called ‘Downpour’ of course. – Dan Hillier
Comprised of members Liam O’Connell (Guitars, Vocals, Keys), Issac Ellis (Double Bass, Vocals), Jordan Woolgar (Guitars, Synth) and Oliver Cocup (Drums, Vocals), the Bristolian experimental prog collective are a unit utterly devoted to forging their own path. With their sound harkening thoughts of The Guru Guru, Genghis Tron, King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard, Helms Alee and even Psychedelic Porn Crumpets, the group totally forgo convention and genre in order to offer something truly mercurial, idiosyncratic and larger and life; something quite literally true given the band’s seven-odd foot double bass.
However, the band aren’t just weird for the sake of being weird. Nor are they making some sort of convoluted and ultimately creatively redundant stand against the notion of genre. Instead, My Octopus Mind are the sound of pure musical creativity and ingenuity, with their craft being the product of nothing but driven inspiration and boundless musical charisma. As heard within their two previously released records – 2019’s Maladyne Cave and 2020’s Faulty At Source – and as seen at performances alongside the likes of Paranoid Void, The St. Pierre Snake Invasion, Bicurious, Mother Vulture and others, the band are unit that implore one to live their own truth; even if it means pushing yourself and others beyond the parameters of what one would call ‘normal’. New single ‘Moving Slow’ is a documentation of this.
Taken from the band’s forthcoming record – aptly titled Trying To Be Normal – ‘Moving Slow’ see’s the band and O’Connell documenting the failure of trying to fit in societal norms when one exists beyond them. Containing the group’s unique swagger and sultry yet progressive nature, the single see’s the band harnessing the power of prog in a way that’s intimate, bizarre yet utterly captivating. ‘Wandering Alone’, the latest track to be taken from the record also highlights this nature, it’s fuzzed bass and balkan rhythms highlighting the band’s charm and their penchant for creating art that’s beyond that cannot be categorised, pigeonholed or really compared.
With Trying To Be Normal being released November 3rd via Drongo Records, we caught up with My Octopus Mind for a chat.
With some impressive albums under their belt already, the band decided to do things differently this time around, working more flexibly, and alongside producer Josh Schroeder (Lorna Shore, King 810, Tallah) for their new record Amongst the Low & Empty. “We’ve always written everything at my house with tonnes of time and been able to just pump stuff out, but we had so little time to write because of touring, it was really hard to come up with enough material this time.”
“We couldn’t have done the album without Josh – we almost wrote the whole album with him. We showed up to the studio with a month of prep time and showed him everything we had. His response was basically ‘so you want to write psycho music?’ and we said ‘yeah. whatever happens, happens’.”
A completely different approach to the band’s usual methodical one, Bobby told us how the band worked together to stitch up a modern deathcore masterpiece.“Me and another person would be working in this little room while David and Michael would be writing vocal stuff in another room. We’d airdrop ideas to each other, then get together with Josh and start tracking drums to build the song. It wouldn’t have come out the same way without doing it like this, and I did not expect the record to come out as good as it did at the end! I would never want to come to the studio that unprepared again, but it ended up working out really well.” Bobby chuckles.
“Josh pushed us really hard but then also let us do what we wanted. He’d guide me in the right direction by saying ‘how can you make this transition better?’ and it really changed the way I thought about writing music.”
“He’s been producing for most of my life, so he definitely has the experience. It’s not so much that he says ‘I’m a producer, you should do this and this’, he puts you in a comfortable environment where can freely develop ideas. He made me realise that you can be a heavy band but also have melody and be musical and create things that suck people into the music.”
But of course, you don’t need to be told to go and break your neck in the circle pits to the likes of Megadeth, Meshuggah and Triptykon. There truly is more than meets the eye at this years festival. From the main stage to the Jagermeister stage, here’s our picks for the bands not to miss this year.
London based grove metal squad, Lokust, appear on the festivals best kept secret area, the New Blood Stage. With their debut album, titled Infidel along with their blend of groove/death/thrash metal, you know they’ve got big things coming when they release the album. First stop is their spot on the New Blood Stage, which will see them lay waste to the stage with their razor-sharp riffs and breakneck speed. Second stop, touring the world with every waking breath they have for domination. A band that truly needs to be discovered and experienced at this year’s Bloodstock.
The Portugal based black metal quintet made waves in 2022 with their fourth studio album Mirage and have been touring and growing their fan base ever since. With their aggressive distorted sound, they’ve taken the black metal world by storm and are coming to unleash their blast beats, fiery riffs and feral vocals to the Sophie Lancaster stage on the Friday. With an impressive back catalogue of raw and grisly black metal behind them, they’ll no doubt bring the Sophie stage to rubble.
Bristolian death metal 4-piece Embodiment are taking a leap from supporting bands such as The Black Dhalia Murder and Cattle Decapitation to taking the stage before Zeal & Ardor with an impressive slot on the Sophie Lancaster Stage on the Sunday at Bloodstock to inject the tired and sleep deprived crowd with a much-needed adrenaline boost. Although they’ve only released two albums, they’ve got plenty of riffs and headbanging moments to propel them to this much needed spot they’ve worked so hard for since winning the Metal 2 The Masses many years ago. Along with being the nicest bunch of people you’ve ever met, they’ll blow you away with their pure ferocity and stage presence.
The London based metal trio released 2021’s Serpent & Spirit to critical acclaim. And now two years later they have A Feast On Sorrow releasing on the horizon. Their appearance on the main stage at Bloodstock has been a long time coming and rightly deserved as their mix of droning riffs, speed influenced drums and everchanging vocals will ring out across the festival. You could argue that their genre twisting metal would be best experienced on the Sophie stage, but when they play that first note, you’ll be pulled into their world of mind melting songwriting and be an instant fan.
Metalcore legends, Killswitch Engage, make their first appearance at Bloodstock and have the honor of headlining the Friday. Some may say that they wouldn’t be able to headline such a festival, but those people are dead wrong. Their catalogue is filled with more hits that you count, and many more that you will find yourself singing along to that you’ll had forgotten about. The riffs, singalongs and circle pits will be out in force when the band hits the stage. And with their first major UK headline slot, you know they’re going to pull out a few tricks from their sleeves to make a bang.
London alt-rock trio Deliare The Liar have at last unveiled the follow-up to 2021’s excellent Eat Your Own along with latest single angel number. that sees the band taking a rather different tack than before. While they’ve always done gut-wrenching emotion well, with angel number. bassist Em Lodge takes centre stage for vocals too, for a haunting, soaring performance. Its refrain of “you get what you give / and you won’t give an inch / nobody’s gonna hurt you / if nobody can get in” tells the song’s story of hurt and heartbreak in arresting fashion, with a post rock-esque swell at its midpoint. Along with previous single bite trap. it’s abundantly clear that Delaire The Liar are back in a big way, with new EP Self Defence sure to continue their run of stellar emotionally fraught, anthemic alt rock. – Will Marshall
Host Body is left leg ILENKUS, right leg The St. Pierre Snake Invasion, left arm Ogives Big Band, right arm Lightning Sharks and torso of BOKOTONO, but together they combine for one chaotic heavy mathcore mind fuck. When you bring together various parts of the some of the most respected bands in the UK underground, you will surely be rewarded and the quintet bring this in spades with their debut single ‘Mouth’. A barrage of noise as Conor Geraghty’s drums are relentless and the duo of Josh Guyett and Steve Roberts’ vocals are terrifyingly brutal. Even as the pace slows in parts the guitars lean in with a threatening tone. The song parts in almost three acts, each as hefty as the next with added abrasive synths at points to keep the listener on their toes. This could very well be an exciting prospect live so if you’re at ArcTanGent in two weeks you may want to swing by the Elephant Bar stage to witness their debut performance. – Adam Vallely
To be put frankly, Suds are having one of hell of a year. Kicking off 2023 by signing to the arbiters of the scene Big Scary Monsters and releasing their fantastic EP In The Undergrowth, the indie/emo quartet have spent the summer thus far smashing pretty much every festival under the UK sun, conquering events such as 2000 Trees, Truck and The Great Escape with effortless ease. Now, SUDS are set to ring out the year with the release of their debut LP The Great Overgrowth. ‘Paint My Body’, the first cut to be the taken from the record – which is released November 3rd – demonstrates why SUDS have become the topic of such devotion in the past eight months, with its summer-blessed disposition contrasting beautifully with its inherent sense of subtle and autumnal melancholy. Truly, with its fuzzed out leads and blissfully pacifying textures, ‘Paint My Body’ is a wonderful proof of concept for what is surely to be destined as a late stage album of the year contender courtesy from band utterly devoted to emotive and human storytelling in its most haplessly lovable form. – Dan Hillier
There’s no denying that the past five years have been grim and cold. Thankfully for all, R&Beatdown mavericks Bad Rabbits are back with ‘Goin’ Up’, a single that can only be described as a shot of pure sun-kissed serotonin. The group’s first single in years, ‘Goin’ Up’ is not only the first track to be taken from the band’s yet to announced new record, its also a testament to the optimism, friendship and love that has been inherently vital to their success as a trio. The video for Goin’ Up makes such a fact visually palpable. Filmed in Ghana – the family motherland of vocalist Fredua Boakye – the video bear witness to Bad Rabbits‘ story as underdog legends. “Making this song (and our forthcoming album) was fueled by the freedom of shedding burdens, the courage to embrace change, and the wisdom earned from learning through adversity”, state the band. “I think Bad Rabbits is a testament to resilience, and in the light of this rebirth, we have found the power to create a future that surpasses the limits of our past.” – Dan Hillier
Taken from the band’s forthcoming record LP Giant Elk – released October 20th via Big Scary Monsters – ‘Eutherians (Ultramarine)’ once again sees the delightfully wholesome ME REX weaving another tale of grief and pain in the key of splendour and whimsy. The anchoring track of the forthcoming record, the track bares witness to Giant Elk’s central theme of defeated grief and anxious growth, albeit in a way that’s far flung from the negative connotations of the album’s binding lyrical focus. In fact, with the track brightly harkening through of acts such as Martha, Frightened Rabbit and even Noah And The Whale, ‘Eutherians’ sounds brilliantly positive with its adolescent energy and charming refrain. “Eutherians is a clade of mammals that includes humans”, states Myles McCabe on the track. “The word can be translated contrastingly as either ‘true beasts’ or ‘good beasts’. The lyrics follow the album’s central metaphor of a creature cursed to continue life split in half, grieving the violent separation from itself, while trying to become whole and finding some meaning in that striving. The Ultramarine referred to in the song represents alternately the infinite, domineering sky and the chaos and danger of the sea.” – Dan Hillier
The most exciting band on the heavier end of the metalcore, Dying Wish are back and they’ve announced what is probably the most anticipated album of the latter part of 2023. Symptoms Of Survival drops November 3rd and the second single ‘Watch My Promise Die’ is a certified monster of a track. A circle pit inducing drum intro gives way to some classic metallic hardcore guitar work and Emma Boster’s vitriolic voice. It’s heavy as absolute hell, mixing thrash parts, crunching breakdowns and a soaring chorus featuring Emma’s goosebump inducing cleans. Dare it be said that this album may actually be heavier AND more melodic? All we know is that with Randy Lebeouf on production and letting Sam Reynolds loose a bit more, it’s shaping up to be a late AOTY contender. – Chris Earl
It’s no exaggeration to say that Empire State Bastard’s upcoming album Rivers of Heresy is one of 2023’s most intriguing and hotly anticipated releases. The brainchild of Biffy Clyro frontman Simon Neil and Oceansize’s Mike Vennart, the duo have rounded out their lineup is stunning fashion with the addition of Slayer’s Dave Lombardo and Bitch Falcon’s Naomi McLeod and the quartet are firing on all cylinders on the hugely impressive ‘The Looming’. A song of two distinct halves, ambition is the order of the day here. The first half of this song is a doomy, expansive dirge that delivers some of Neil’s most misanthropic and nihilistic lyrics to date. The song then transitions into its second act, offering up savage death growls from Vennart and feral, piercing shrieks from Neil, amping up the ferocity before the track ends in the same gentle fashion it begins in. – Jordan Aldridge
Melodic hardcore up-and-comers Koyo enlist the help of post-hardcore legend Daryl Palumbo to produce one of the summer’s biggest singalong tracks on the excellent ‘Message Like a Bomb’, taken from their highly anticipated debut album Would You Miss It?. Koyo haven’t been on the scene for long but they are already building a reputation as a band who combine fierce, impassioned instrumentation and emotional, hook-laden vocals to produce impactful and uplifting anthems in the mould of some of the 00s biggest and best bands. Packing a massive chorus that is tailor-made for live audiences, listeners will feel like they’ve had this song in their lives for ages even after just one listen. By the time the aforementioned Palumbo chimes in to add his trademark vocals, a song that is already high in emotion ascends even further into a banger of mammoth proportions. – Jordan Aldridge
Sweden and metal go together like apple pie and cream. The country responsible for the Gothenburg sound seemingly has a never ending array of fantastic bands from all over the heavy spectrum. On the post metal end of things, come Blodet. With a sound that’s as expansive as it is melancholic, the group blend crushing darkness with uplifting, euphoric light, aiming to capture the true experience of being human. The first single off their upcoming album Death Mother is its title track, part of an entire album wrought with sorrow and sadness. Writing begun with their former guitarist Rickie, but he sadly passed away from cancer before it was finished, with the band pulling together and completing the record out of grief and a desire to pay tribute to their friend. As a result, this blend of Chelsea Wolfe and Cult of Luna is not an easy listen. The crushing rhythms, vulnerable and introspective vocals and a sorrowful soundscape won’t be for everyone, and this track is only the first part of the album. However, come the 29th of September when the full album is released, even if you’re not one for post metal, this record will be an essential listen. – Chris Earl
The first single to be taken from the bands upcoming debut LP Boisterous Love – released later this via Stolen Body Records – Brandishment sees the Bristolian math rock collective Ogives Big Band express themselves in the only way they know how – loudly. Featuring bellowed lyricism as abstract as the polyrhythmic soundscape that characterises this song, ‘Brandishment sees the Ogives Big Band in their most driven, maniacal and downright menacing form to date; especially with the band’s newfound focus on sludge and drone being prominent within this mathematical beast of a track. Should you be at ArcTanGent Festival in just a few weeks, ensure to trudge down to their set to witness one of the most promising new bands in the national math rock scene. – Dan Hillier
