FESTIVAL REVIEW: ArcTanGent Festival 2023 Live at Fernhill Farm


 

ArcTanGent Festival, a yearly outdoor four-day fixture at Fernhill Farm near Bristol, attracts a devoted following to its niche yet eclectic lineups of artists who generally have an association with post-rock, progressive metal, or experimental rock. It’s “sort of” a metal festival, but the range of acts it showcases steers towards the more left-field and eccentric end of heavy music and at times stretches beyond what could reasonably even be labelled as “rock”.

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ALBUM REVIEW: Mutoid Man – Mutants


 

Mutants (Sargent House) is album number three from Stephen Brodsky’s heavy, quirky and often colourful side-project Mutoid Man. And much like his work in Cave In, the music Brodsky creates with Mutoid Man encompasses a whole host of influences, to create a myriad of sounds.

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FESTIVAL REVIEW: Roadburn Festival 2023


 

Let’s get one thing out of the way, Roadburn is still the premier underground fest that it has always been. I know so many people who went into this year’s fest expecting it to be their last, saying the lineup wasn’t for them, or that they didn’t like this change or that change. But I can tell you, they have all already booked rooms and bought tickets for next year. Change isn’t bad.

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Arctangent Festival 2023 Announces Their Final Main Stage Headliner Devin Townsend


The mighty Arctangent Festival 2023 today announces their final main stage headliner for this year’s event, The incredible, truly one-of-a-kind Devin Townsend will be closing out the whole festival on the main stage, Saturday night. The festival will be taking place between August 16th through to August 19th, at Fernhill Farm, a short drive from Bristol City Centre. Also announced today include Haken, Yourcodenameis:Milo, Ashenspire, Clt Drp, The Guru Guru, and many more. Acts already announced include Heilung, Converge, Deafheaven (playing ‘Sunbather’ in full as a UK exclusive), Swans, Empire State Bastard, Sikth, The Fall Of Troy, Cave In, Igorrr, Pigs7, Elder, Russian Circles, Chat Pile, Svalbard, Jaga Jazzist, Brutus, Loathe, Rolo Tomassi, Svalbard, and many more.Continue reading


Ghost Cult’s Albums of the Year 2022 Part 3 (20 – 1)


Press on, intrepid reader, to find out our top albums of 2022, as voted for by the cast, crew and hangers-on of the good ship Ghost Cult. Over 275 albums were nominated (including one stray and errant vote for Stryper… we’ve had words), some people lauded albums as the greatest of all time that no one else noticed, other albums picked up a steady stream of votes across the board without tickling the top of anyone’s charts, but through it all, we’ve been able to compile our team list of the best 75 albums of the year. And there are some absolute corkers, here. 75 of them, to be exact…

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Arctangent Festival 2023 Books Deafheaven, The Fall Of Troy, Cave In, Igorrr, Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs, Elder, Russian Circles, Svalbard, Brutus, Jaga Jazzist, and More


Arctangent Festival has announced a second wave of bands for the 2023 event! Among the new names on the bill include Deafheaven (performing Sunbather, UK exclusive), The Fall Of Troy, Cave In, Igorrr, Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs, Elder, Russian Circles, Svalbard, Brutus, Jaga Jazzist, And So I Watch You From Afar, and more. ATG dates are 16th,17th,18th,19th for August 2023 and tickets are on sale at the link below. The festival had already announced bands such as Bicurious, Conjurer, Dvne, Five the Hierophant, Hippotraktor, Scalping, and Skin Failure.

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ALBUM REVIEW: Marissa Nadler, Amenra, Cave In – Songs of Townes Van Zandt Vol. III


I’ve been a fan of Townes Van Zandt for some time now after a chance hearing some years ago of ‘Pancho & Lefty’ on a movie or film I’ve long since forgotten the name of. This combined with a love of all things Yob eventually led me to Mike Scheidt’s contribution to Vol. II of this wonderful series of tributes released in 2014 also on Neurot Recordings and My Proud Mountain: needless to say, I was hooked. Eight years on, I wasn’t expecting a Vol. III but I’m very glad that it has arrived.

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FESTIVAL REVIEW: Oblivion Access – Various Venues – Austin, Texas


 

After a two year postponement, Oblivion Access Festival finally happened! Although I couldn’t attend all four days of festivities, I drove up to Austin, TX on Saturday to catch the legendary hardcore Youth of Today! It only took over three decades to finally see them lol. The festival was quite an undertaking, involving a lot of local Austin venues on 5th, 6th, and 7th Street. After 3 /12 hours of driving I was ready to stretch my legs, get some blood moving and stay cool in the humid Texas heat. Picking up my passes was a breeze as there were signs posted at Native Hostel directing you to the kind staff who greeted people with friendly smiles and words of encouragement to enjoy themselves.

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ALBUM REVIEW: Cave In – Heavy Pendulum


Released some twenty-five years into a career that saw them burst out of the east-coast hardcore scene in the mid nineties, Heavy Pendulum (Relapse Records) is Cave In’s seventh album, and is a landmark release for the band who sadly lost their bass player Caleb Schofield to a car accident in 2018. Schofield also provided many of Cave In’s heavier vocals, and his role in the band is assumed by close friend Nate Newton (Converge, Deathriders), and who also has a mean voice himself.

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