Arctangent festival 2019
Its now been two weeks to the day since Arctangent 2019, the UK's premier math- and post-rock/metal (and everything in between) festival kicked off, and boy did it turn out to be a beauty (flooding n all). Just LOOK at this line-up. |
1 | | Meshuggah Destroy Erase Improve
Saturday's headliners. Still the greatest metal band of the past 25 years. Simply untouchable. Immaculate live sound - the amount of bass in that tent melted ribs. Classic set-list - I'm certain my neck had grown at least an inch by the time Rational Gaze was over, before everything in sight was destroyed (erased improved) to Future Breed Machine. The (mud)pit during Stengah was like a 22nd century 4th dimensional rave, and I'm pretty sure I transcended when he bent that last note of the Straws Pulled at Random solo. They went out with Demiurge (>Bleed), and at this point I just surrendered my body and let the heaviest riffs known to man crush my jellified soul. Worth the price of the entire festival. |
2 | | Battles Mirrored
Friday's headliners. I didn't know much about them and was surprised they were headlining as there were bigger bands further down the pecking order... I reckon the organisers were trying to keep their math rock disciple core happy given the increasingly metal direction the festival has started to take. Pretty much just stayed for Atlas. |
3 | | Coheed and Cambria In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3
Thursday's headliners. Felt a bit out of place and they were announced late so perhaps a shoehorn, but incredibly entertaining and a brilliant live sound. Claudio sounds pretty immaculate still after all these years. A pleasure to sing along to classics like A Favor House Atlantic and IKSoSE3. |
4 | | Cult of Luna The Silent Man
My sweet eardrums. New single rips live. |
5 | | Carpenter Brut CARPENTERBRUTLIVE
Synthwave at a math/post rock festival? Yum. |
6 | | Daughters You Won't Get What You Want |
7 | | The Contortionist Exoplanet
Flourish is easily one of the most fun songs I've ever seen live. |
8 | | The Black Queen Fever Daydream
Was soooo gutted these dudes had to drop out, I haven't seen Greg live since Dillinger's last UK tour and this band is just pure sex. |
9 | | Mol JORD
This was my favourite album from last year and, after Meshuggah, I was actually probably most looking to seeing this band. Was a small crowd before absolutely everyone had arrived on one of the smaller stages, but from their presence you'd think they were playing at Wembley. Vocalist is a monster - not only does he currently have some of the best BM vocals in the game, but he was crowd-surfing, in the pit, sharing the mic with the few fans that were there (me included), just goin nuts. Didn't look like I expected him to for some reason lol. They got a fan up doing co-vocals for Bruma at the encore. Essentially just destroyed face. |
10 | | Zeal and Ardor Stranger Fruit |
11 | | The Ocean Pelagial
Only saw the final song (Permian) from these dudes as they were on at the same time as Sithu Aye and I'm a committed weeb (not rly). Well heard the last minute of The Wish in Dreams and was annoyed I didn't get there faster as that song RIPS :( |
12 | | Frontierer Unloved
In-TENSE. Whole show was a little bro-ey for me, and just made me realise how much of a hole Dillinger left in the scene. Often imitated, never equalled. Is that even a phrase? |
13 | | Three Trapped Tigers Silent Earthling
Awesome, awesome beat-y math rock. Should have taken Battles slot - they're that good. New album in the works apparently! |
14 | | Car Bomb Mordial
Biggest regret was missing these dudes - they were on at a really inconvenient time when I had to be packing up since I didn't want to miss CoL and Meshuggah. |
15 | | Thank You Scientist Terraformer
Obviously this site is obsessed with these lads - I'd barely ever listened but man they killed it. Saxophonist and trumpeteer(?) were going OFF and the vocalist can really sing even if he is annoying, also he's like mid 40s lol. Respect, definitely gonna jam these guys from now on. |
16 | | Russian Circles Empros
These guys are pretty boring for the most part but I suppose they're pretty big? |
17 | | 65daysofstatic One Time for All Time |
18 | | Conjurer (UK) Mire |
19 | | Palm Reader Braille
Dang this festival is mourning TDEP hard. |
20 | | Sithu Aye Cassini
This is my guy. Though what's up with not playing Set Course for Andromeda when I miss The Ocean to see you dude? |
21 | | Invalids Eunoia |
22 | | Midas Fall Evaporate
I peeped these guys album last year, pretty cool Lights Out Asia-esque post-rock melting into sweeping, female-fronted shoegaze. |
23 | | Polyphia New Levels New Devils |
24 | | Lost in the Riots Move On, Make Trails |
25 | | Covet effloresce
She clashed with Mol; sorry, there's only one option there honey :( |
26 | | Black Peaks All That Divides
Feat. Jamie Lenman. Not a bad replacement for The Black Queen eh? |
27 | | A.A. Williams A.A. Williams
This girl is out of her depth for the level of exposure she's been given, but her lighting is done pretty well. |
28 | | Azusa Heavy Yoke
Yeah these guys riff pretty hard can't believe I hadn't checked them. |
29 | | Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Feed The Rats |
30 | | And So I Watch You From Afar And So I Watch You From Afar
Played this in full. |
31 | | Conjurer and Pijn Curse These Metal Hands
Dream team. |
32 | | Nordic Giants A Séance Of Dark Delusions |
33 | | Bossk Audio Noir |
34 | | The Physics House Band Death Sequence |
35 | | Gnod Just Say No to the Psycho Right-Wing Capitalist... |
36 | | Letters From The Colony Vignette |
37 | | Kaguu Wistful
These guys were cute, they had rly thick accents and brought a Mexican flag on stage. The bassist was wearing a mudkip shirt and made everyone clap out of time, yet he's somehow in the rhythm section of a math rock band? Was a fun time. |
38 | | Good Game Don't Blow It.
Super fun pink, glittery, math-y emo. They had a new song called Math Rock Sucks, and they would be correct in this assessment. ;) |
39 | | Charlie Barnes More Stately Mansions
Completely out-of-place slow, acoustic singer-songwriter love songs for mathy metalheads - a perfect mid-weekend escape from the exhausting rhythms occurring all around. His 'for fans of' (which I'm pretty sure the artists themselves decide) listed Jeff Buckley, so you can imagine what the dude was like (anyone who dares compare themselves to Jeff Buckley...). Still, boy could sing. |
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