LIVE REVIEWS
ARCTANGENT 2025
Tesseract and Wardruna bring the majesty to Somerset’s forward-thinking fest
FERNHILL FARM, COMPTON MARTIN
WELCOMING ITS 11TH edition in the midst of a heatwave, Arctangent continues to cement itself as the go-to festival for metal’s most experimental and radical sounds. With their panoramic prog folk adding new weight to the word ‘beauty’, Norway’s KALANDRA set the bar early on the Wednesday, with the most wholesome performance of the festival. Katrine Stenbekk’s seraphic vocals even prompt a few tears among the audience during the heart-wrenching Borders. SLIFT, on the other hand, open up a wormhole in space and time. With their metallic psych-rock and mind-expanding video projections, the Frenchmen make their hour slot feel as if it’s half as long. They threaten to steal the weekend before it’s properly begun.
WARDRUNA seem to form a collective primordial organism. A drumbeat pulses at the heartbeat of their headline set, as their performance unfolds like an ancient and instinctive folk ritual. It’s as spiritually inspiring as the stars shining over the main stage tent.