Right-now might just be the most miserable time of the year; nothing much particularly happens, and the sky, which perpetually remains the colour of dodgy porridge, seems to insist on dispensing excessive quantities of water over our weary heads. But there is a light! For, like a glimmering beacon, the UKs very own ArcTanGent festival – the mecca of niche yet uncompromisingly quality rock – casts a shining ray of hope: they’ve just released the first 50 acts due to play this year’s show.
Firstly, joining the abrasive growling and nimble riffery of seminal metalcore group Converge and the gentle twinkling of post-rock greats Explosions in the sky (the two main headliners) will be a double-whammy of prog-metal titans: TesseracT and Sikth, a group who, after having to pull out of ATG 2016, are finally bringing their pioneering Dj0nT to Fernhill Farm.
And if heavy is your thing, you’ll be pleased to know that the metal is strong this year, with The Number Twelve Looks like You, OHHMS, EMPLOYED TO SERVE, TOSKA, HARK, BOSSK and many more, all playing sets over the weekend.
Math also boats a tasty selection, with Japanese group Tricot making their long awaited ATG debut, while veterans TTNG play the festival for the fourth time in five years. He Was Eaten By Owls, GUG, Wot Gorilla?, FB faves Strobes and proggy legends The Physics House Band are also on the bill.
But fear ye not post-rockers; GOD IS AN ASTRONAUT return to the festival for a third set, Lost In Kiev, Right Hand Left Hand, and Sleepmakeswaves are also set to make an appearance, and for those who are impartial to a wee bit of droney, sludgy goodness BORIS and Hemelbestormer will also be around to satisfy your needs.
Elsewhere we’ll see Defeaterand Listener repping post-hardcore, Future Of The Left and Tall Ships championing alt-rock, Nitkowski bringing dark mathy noise rock, and Worriedaboutsatan standing as the soul electronic artist, on the bill so far. Other notable acts include Living Bodies the fleshed-out reincarnation of loop-based math artist Juffage, joyously random fellas The Evil Usses and the much-requested Britney, whose immense, thrashing, cathartic noise fest is NOT TO BE MISSED.
We’ve no idea whatsoever how many tickets are left, but at this point we’re not guessing its loads, so if you’re interested head over to the ATG website ASAP. We’ll see ya on the farm x