In others, however, everything has changed. Now in his fifties, guitarist Kurt Ballou has become one of modern metal’s most reputable producers. Vocalist Jacob Bannon holds the equally impressive achievement of co-founding the now well-established Deathwish Inc. record label; not to mention his various successes in visual media. This is all in addition to Converge’s accomplishments during the formative years of this century, when the band occupied a pivotal position at the vanguard of extreme music. It all adds to a return that many will greet with somewhat of a hero’s welcome. By now, Converge has nothing more to prove.

That said, ‘Love Is Not Enough’ is remarkably youthful. It is infused with a scorching ferocity that belies the band’s age and status. Bannon’s voice is at times scarcely believable for a vocalist this far into his career; the apotheosis of oral aggression. His upper register, which he deployed to a somewhat strained extent throughout ‘Bloodmoon: I’, is better refined here, with moments like ‘To Feel Something’ offering emotional light between the shade cast by his ferocious roars. Ballou’s riffs are equally affecting, sounding as blistering on the title track as they do chunky on ‘Force Meets Presence’.

‘Love Is Not Enough’ is a trim half-an-hour, with no song within the album’s opening half exceeding three minutes. It’s Converge’s shortest album to date, but it’s also one of their punchiest. The five songs that constitute the album’s first half are expectedly imperious, but the songwriting remains consistently slick too. The aforementioned ‘To Feel Something’ is a highlight thanks to the song’s loose tempo changes, themselves backed by an approach to percussion that has us questioning just how many drums Converge has at their disposal. Meanwhile, ‘Distract and Divide’ has a scuzzier feel, with instruments that sound like they’ve been dragged through dust-ridden wasteland, only to be plugged into amplifiers with frayed cabling and sparks flying.

According to Bannon, the new album does something that no other Converge record has previously. “It keeps ramping up,” he says, “and that’s definitely by design.” The quantifiable effect this has on the album is twofold. Firstly, the songs become longer as the album progresses. Secondly, the album’s latter moments are its most expansive. It’s to Converge’s credit that the record finds cohesion in its variety. It’s a short album, but one that’s underpinned by a diversity of sounds that coalesce into a bundle of listless intensity. A band who consummately executes melodies and rhythm are often applauded. In Converge’s case, the same acclaim should be afforded to their use of texture.

Beginning with the somewhat unadventurous ‘Amon Amok’, this portion still sees Converge at their domineering best. And that includes a penchant for the unpredictable, as is demonstrated to great effect when Ballou injects an almost cinematic pomp into the dizzying final stages of ‘Force Meets Presence’, or with the dour introspection that sees ‘Gilded Cage’ transform the band into lovers of ‘90’s shoegaze. It’s commendably executed too; with the song seamlessly finding a place within the album’s wider scenery.

Then there’s ‘We Were Never The Same’; a meditation on loss that finds comfort in collective anguish. The song’s setting – a funeral – is the theoretical epitome of grief, yet the common-ground found between attendees engenders a chain-reaction of healing. In a moment of philosophical sincerity, Bannon questions why “we all gather to mourn yet not to cherish” – to consequently end proceedings with a strangely sweet demeanour.

Yet it should be to nobody’s amazement that these closing moments see Bannon as a sentimentalist. After all, Converge are not a new band and time makes romanticists of us all. “Being past your average middle age, we’re starting to see deeper than before into a variety of places,” as Bannon himself says. To be so consistently indebted, however, to a lifetime of music within a genre that falls all too frequently between the cultural cracks, requires not just dedication, but emotional investment. “We still identify this band as the outlet that’s essential to our lives,” Bannon says. It is thus apropos that, for those who feel similarly, ‘Love Is Not Enough’ will represent both an outpouring of commitment and a jubilant return.

BEN WILLIAMS

Thursday was also the first day that standard ticket holders could gain entry to the site, and all five stages were open, instead of the one that was operating the previous day. As a result, the whole site immediately felt much busier and that ‘first day of the festival’ buzz was palpable.

Words: Ash Bebbington  Images: Paul Lyme

Apidae

Electro-indie project Apidae kick off Thursday bright and early on the Elephant in the Bar Room stage. Unsurprisingly given the time, the tent is sparsely populated but those in attendance take to the Londoners well, bopping their heads while drinking their coffee or eating breakfast. Their dreamlike electronic indie soundscapes are lush and engrossing, and a lovely way to kick off the day before the onslaught of much heavier bands.

Mountain Caller

Recent Church Road Records signing Mountain Caller make their ArcTanGent debut on the mainstage at midday, as many festivalgoers are still arriving and setting up camp. From the scenes inside the tent, you wouldn’t have guessed it. The mainstage is absolutely packed with people losing their minds to the London instrumental trio’s dynamic prog metal soundscapes. They sound absolutely colossal, melding crushingly heavy sections with beautiful melodic ones. With a performance and reception like this, it surely won’t be long before we see Mountain Caller back at ArcTanGent, and this time higher up the bill.

Chinese Football

Next up on the mainstage, Wuhan’s Chinese Football play their first ever gig in the UK, and their first festival gig outside China to a deservedly positive reception. While their name is a reference to emo royalty – American Football – the Chinese quartet’s music is much sunnier sounding than that of its namesake. The music is chock full of jangly happy melodies and joyous anthemic vocals, and even though very few people in the crowd appeared to be familiar with the songs, the vast majority of them seem to be having a great time. If Chinese Football return to the UK to tour, they’ll surely find an audience awaiting them with open arms.

Svalbard

After lingering too long listening to the joyous melodies of Chinese Football, the Yohkai tent where titans of the UK metal underground Svalbard are playing is so busy it’s basically impossible to get in. Those lucky or early enough to have bagged a spot inside the tent are having a whale of a time; bouncing, screaming, and moshing along to the raw, viscerally heavy music. Singers Serena Cherry and Liam Phelan have an incredible stage presence, delivering blasts of harsh vocals with seemingly endless reserves of energy. They play a few songs from their upcoming record ‘The Weight of the Mask’, due out in October, to a positive reception. Tracks from the four-piece’s last record, 2020’s ‘When I Die Will I Get Better’ get the best response, however, particularly ‘Open Wound’ and ‘Click Bait’. After the latter, Cherry asks the crowd to repeat the chorus refrain one more time, this time without music; ‘fuck off!’. Everyone present gleefully obliges. Silly? Yeah. Bags of fun regardless? Absolutely.

Chat Pile

Despite only forming four years ago, noise rock hurricanes Chat Pile have already made a hell of a name for themselves, particularly with their stellar record ‘God’s Country’ released in 2022. They were comfortably one of the most talked about bands on the ArcTanGent site in the run-up to their show, so it’s hardly a surprise that their tent is completely full 10 minutes before they started. They open up with ‘Why’, a brutally simple critique of the homelessness crisis, to a rapturous reception. Their sludgy noise rock is crushingly heavy, a cacophony of guitars, drums, and bass crashing in waves as singer Raygun Busch lets out tortured and anguished howls, stomping around the stage like a mildly annoyed toddler.

In contrast to the relentless nastiness of the music, their stage patter is incredibly light-hearted and tongue-in-cheek. They’re known particularly for talking about movies that were shot locally to where they’re playing in between songs, but said that they could only find “a bunch of Doctor Who episodes,” online. They’ll be kicking themselves to discover that they missed Hot Fuzz, filmed 8 miles down the road from Fernhill Farm in Wells.

Empire State Bastard

Empire State Bastard is the widely hyped new side project of Biffy Clyro’s Simon Neil, former Oceansize singer and multi-instrumentalist Mike Vennart and Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo (though the latter was not present at ArcTanGent). Perhaps a large part of the hype is in the mystery surrounding the project – at the time of their show at ArcTanGent only a handful of tracks were available to listen to on Spotify. The only way to find out what they sound like is to go and see for yourself.

It’s immediately clear that Empire State Bastard is a very different proposition to Biffy Clyro. Unshackled from the guitar he is perpetually strapped to in that band, Neil ranges around the stage screaming over a musical canvas that switches between chaotic metallic hardcore, off-kilter cleaner sections, and synth-laden parts. It’s certainly an intriguing show, and many will have left keenly anticipating their debut record.

Brutus

Following Chat Pile on the second stage, Belgian post-hardcore 3-piece Brutus played what was certainly one of the most anticipated sets of the festival. The sheer amount of Brutus merch on display across the weekend – much of it from their last UK tour – is notable. Once they hit the stage, they pay back that anticipation in spades. Both the crowd and the band feed off each other’s energy throughout the 50-minute set, each egging the other on to go just that little bit crazier for each new song. Much of the setlist is dominated by songs from their recent album, ‘Unison Life’, though some older favourites get a run-through, most notably fan favourite ‘War’. During this track, the crowd go so feral that the band clearly couldn’t keep the smiles off their faces. Neither can most of the crowd. Moments like this are what ArcTanGent is all about.

Russian Circles 

Chicagoan instrumental prog-metallers Russian Circles are no strangers to Fernhill Farm, with this year being their fourth appearance. However, there is a slight air of unfinished business about this set, with their 2019 show being disrupted by torrential downpours that played havoc with their tech. Their return is a cathartic display of expansive heaviness, filling out the festival’s biggest tent and leaving barely any room to squeeze in. The atmospheric lighting adds to the mood, leaving band members looking like black silhouettes against the backdrop. ArcTanGent has plenty of people who love their music heavy and without vocals. During Russian Circles’ set, not a single one of them appeared to want to be anywhere else.

Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs

“We can only assume someone at ArcTanGent made an administrative error, but we’ll take the slot!” quipped Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs vocalist Matthew Baty as the Tynesiders open a barnstorming second stage headline set. The crowd laughed, but this band are no laughing matter. Their particular brand of Black Sabbath riffing with a punk edge has won them many admirers, and the reception they get from the ArcTanGent faithful shows that this booking is no fluke. They don’t do anything particularly original – after all, many bands have tried to mix punk, metal, and classic rock before – but they execute it with so much groove and soul that it’s impossible not to get swept up in it, banging your head with a big grin on your face. ‘World Crust’ from 2020’s ‘Viscerals’ is a particular highlight, as is ‘Ultimate Hammer’ from their latest release ‘Land of Sleeper’.  At a festival with a lot of dark, heavy, and serious bands, PigsX7 are a much-needed injection of fun and levity.

Converge 

Converge are a legendary hardcore band who require no introduction to the ArcTanGent faithful. While your average person on the street may not know who they are, ask anyone on Fernhill Farm and they’ll start talking in reverent tones. Indeed, roughly every fifth t-shirt or hoodie on the Thursday had Converge’s name written on it, and there are more than a few tattoos of their seminal 2001 record ‘Jane Doe’ proudly on display. After Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs finish their set, the Converge wrecking ball is already in full motion, so any chance of getting to the front is now close to zero.

It’s just as well that their performance is absolutely electric, then, even from the very back of the mainstage tent. Converge sound unbelievably tight as they storm through a career-spanning set with minimal stage patter.  Vocalist Jacob Bannon is a bundle of energy, his shoes seemingly touching every square inch of the stage across an hour-long set. Drummer Ben Koller puts on a particularly mesmeric performance, on occasion thrusting one arm into the air, or putting one arm behind his back and still playing things that are more complex than any other drummer on the lineup.

There’s a lot of heavy bands and a lot of fast bands that are playing ArcTanGent Festival this year, but there were none who can pull off both to the level of quality that Converge do on Thursday night. Everyone in attendance are watching true masters at work.

Things began looking up for them after recruiting the stunning abilities of former Tides Of Man vocalist Tilian Pearson in 2012 and they’ve been on a never-ending upwards trend ever since, releasing gem after gem as they develop their unique eclectic sound into a magnificent, towering, and eye-catching work of art. Pearson, along with fellow vocalist Jon Mess, guitarist Will Swan, bassist Tim Feerick, and drummer Matt Mingus, have unveiled their brand new record ‘Afterburner’ – a bright, bubbly, and ever so slightly bonkers addition to their ever-evolving catalogue.

This is a record that does exactly what you want it to do, packed tightly with everything Dance Gavin Dance do best. From the elating, spine-tingling chorus of lead single and album opener ‘Prisoner’ right the way through to the sun-soaked atmospheric closer ‘Into The Sunset’, it presents you with every feeling and sensation you could imagine. Happiness, sadness, excitement, anger, hilarity, frustration, amazement, confusion – it’s like a rollercoaster through the emotions, hurtling down the tracks at unbelievable speed with nobody to operate the brakes. That isn’t a problem, though. You won’t want it to stop.

If you want an infectious summer anthem to pair with the rising temperatures and sunny skies, head to ‘Three Wishes’ and let the upbeat vibes radiate through you. It’s so summery that Mess’s worryingly jolly screaming of “multiple stabwounds” won’t threaten the rays with any storm clouds whatsoever. ‘Parody Catharsis’ has the same kind of feel, opting for a faster, more chaotic pace to create a boozy outdoor festival anthem primed for crowd interaction. ‘Nothing Shameful’ feels a bit more hypnotic than sunny, boasting an almost dream-like melody that will transport you to otherworldly plains as the continuously changing landscape washes over you. There’s even a little guest vocal spot from their touring guitarist Andrew Wells and boy, are his vocals silky and truly goosebump-inducing.

There’s a fair amount of heaviness scattered through this album, and it all hits like a cannonball to the teeth. ‘Say Hi’ is one of their darkest and most brooding songs to date, opening with cascading walls of menacing distorted chords and powerful bellowing screams. It almost sounds like a Converge track in places, each band member operating at their most chaotic for its duration. ‘Born To Fail’ is another intimidating number, wallowing in the dark at first before allowing a gigantic chorus to transport it to brighter pastures. ‘Night Sway’ is a frantic and frenzied powerhouse that at first glance looks like it could be a lullaby, but in reality contains some of the most blistering guitar work the record has to offer – and one of the most unrelenting paces too.

If there’s anything this band are good at it’s variety, and ‘Afterburner’ has plenty of it. There’s the uplifting fun-fest of ‘Strawberry’s Wake’, complete with some very enthusiastic “HEY” chants from Mess, there’s shape-shifting groove-laden funk-a-thon of ‘Parallels’ spiced up with some urban influence – there’s even a fiesta in the form of ‘Calentamiento Global’, featuring some luscious Spanish flair from Pearson. This record is far from predictable, but it’s exactly what fans would expect from this band. A mixed bag, full to the brim of nothing but goodies. 

Imagine what it might be like to take every drug at once. It would likely overwhelm your senses, flooding your head with thoughts and feelings and colourful pictures from all angles, most likely ending in nightmares or a hospital trip. That’s what this record does, only you don’t need to take anything and you definitely won’t end up in a bad place – you’re pretty much guaranteed to have a good time.

Some tracks will have you dancing in circles belting out Pearson’s silky smooth melodies, some will have you reaching for the nearest breakables to launch at your walls, and some will have one of your eyes twitching as you try to process exactly what you’re hearing. Package them all together and the lasting effect is one that you’ll want to revisit over and over again, immersing yourself in their complex soundscapes as they demonstrate once again that they’re in their own league.

Simply put, there isn’t another band like Dance Gavin Dance. No one else is able to blend genre gymnastics with infectious pop-tinged sensibilities like they can, with every single new offering rewriting their own rule book to create something mind-bendingly brilliant. They churn out material at twice the pace of most bands and manage to retain a level of quality that a lot of them fail to reach. ‘Afterburner’ is no exception to this, thrusting thirteen tracks of solid gold straight down your ears – a prize that your brain will be more than happy to cash.

DAVE STEWART

Thankfully, blistering hardcore quintet Sect have more than enough clout to invigorate the crowd. Every single member of this band has a serious CV (the band boasts members of Cursed, Earth Crisis, Undying and…err…Fall Out Boy) and this pedigree is reflected in tonight’s performance. Chris Colohan is a hardcore icon for a reason; his delivery on tracks like ‘Open Grave’ and ‘Crocodile Prayers’ is nothing short of ferocious, and the band behind him back him up with razor-sharp riffs that are executed flawlessly. Andy Hurley puts in some serious work behind the kit, leaving those only familiar with his arena-filling pop-punk work gasping at how fast, tight, and technical his playing really is. Sect’s set feels brief, but the bar has been set extremely high.

Terror, tonight’s main support, are a bit of a marmite act. Some people love their overly earnest, no frills approach to hardcore, whereas others find them a bit cringeworthy, and they’ve become a bit of a punchline in some circles. Whichever side of that fence you sit on, there is no denying that Terror have some serious chops when it comes to putting on a live show. Vocalist Scott Vogel is the quintessential hardcore front man, demanding action from the crowd at every opportunity and hurling the mic into the audience so that the eager punters can bellow out the lyrics to hardcore anthems like ‘Spit My Rage’, ‘Lowest Of The Low’ and set-closer ‘Keepers Of The Faith’. The band’s performance is tight and energetic and effortlessly gets the crowd riled up, despite the presence of a barrier and a sizeable gap in front of the stage. Terror may not be the most innovative band in the world, but they’ve been doing what they do for the best part of two decades now. They know how to do hardcore and they do it extremely well. If it ain’t broke… you know the rest.

Converge, on the other hand, are no strangers to innovation. They were a fairly unique band when they first appeared on the scene in the late 1990s, but since then they’ve become one of the most interesting and unpredictable bands in hardcore, and developed crossover appeal to all corners of the heavy music spectrum without ever losing their ferocity. Their live performances are renowned as some of the most visceral on the planet, and tonight’s set is no exception. Vocalist and hardcore paradigm Jacob Bannon quickly asks the audience if they’re ready before the band explode into ‘A Single Tear’ and honestly, no, we weren’t ready. Kurt Ballou’s sprawling riffs are crystal clear over Nate Newton’s bone-rattling bass tone, whilst Ben Koller pulls off superhuman feats of drumming behind it all. Converge are a rare example of a band where every single member is as worshipped in their field as each other, and for good reason. No other band could blast through erratic tracks like ‘Dark Horse’ and ‘Aimless Arrow’ and make it look so easy. Jacob Bannon’s voice sounds fantastic tonight, both on the cleaner, spoken word-like passages, and when he kicks into his distinctive rasping scream.

The set itself is a solid mix of old and new, with classics like ‘Eagles Become Vultures’ and ‘Black Cloud’ nestled in amongst newer material like ‘Sadness Comes Home’ and ‘I Can Tell You About Pain’, but perhaps more surprising is the inclusion of deep cuts like ‘Locust Reign’ and ‘Forsaken’ from the band’s pre-‘Jane Doe’ days. Regardless of what song is being played, the crowd reaction is the same: passionate and manic. People absolutely LOVE this band, and it’s easy to see why. As they close out on the brief but devastating ‘Concubine’, Converge can walk away knowing that their reputation as a life-affirming live act is safe, if not stronger than ever.

LIAM KNOWLES

Unfortunately an early set time combined with having to negotiate through London at rush hour meant missing openers Grave Pleasures, but if anyone in the crowd was still needing a jolt after their set then Thou more than delivered it with their oppressively dense brand of sludge metal. Vocalist Bryan Funck possesses (alongside a fantastic name) a harrowing, ear-splitting screech that soars above the monolithic guitar tones. Thou may not have many tricks up their sleeve, but they do the one thing that they do extremely well; create an otherworldly racket that’s impossible to ignore.

Just like Converge, main support Crowbar have been going since the early 90s and are incredibly influential, having helped pioneer sludge metal alongside the likes of Eyehategod and Down. Many consider their 1998 opus ‘Odd Fellows Rest’ to be the jewel in their crown, so it’s no surprise that tracks like ‘Planets Collide’, ‘…And Suffer As One’ and ‘To Carry The Load’ are rapturously received. That said, every track in the set sounds monstrous and judging by the number of fans in the crowd, Crowbar could have headlined this venue without too much issue. They certainly have enough riffs to fill it, and probably a truckload to spare.

Converge receive a riotous reaction when they take to the stage, but throw the audience an immediate curveball by choosing to open with ‘Reptilian’, the slow-burning, Sabbath-worship-heavy closer from their most recent album. This false sense of security makes the blistering double whammy of ‘Dark Horse’ and ‘Aimless Arrow’ that follows feel even more ferocious, whipping the crowd into a frenzy that few bands can generate. It’s clear at this point that Converge have brought their A-game tonight; Ben Koller’s inimitable drumming is delivered with military precision as usual, and the tones of both Nate Newton’s bass and Kurt Ballou’s guitar are somehow utterly disgusting and crystal clear simultaneously. The last piece of the puzzle, iconic vocalist Jacob Bannon, stalks the stage delivering gut-wrenching lyrics in his distinctive rasp. This is a perfectly honed band, every element is exactly as it should be, and the confidence with which they deliver their assault shows that they know exactly how god damn good they are.

Ten of the eighteen tracks played tonight come from ‘The Dusk In Us’, which for most bands with large, popular back catalogues would be considered a brave move. Not Converge, though, as they know they’re consistent enough to do pretty much whatever they want set-wise and the crowd will lap it up. ‘I Can Tell You About Pain’ and ‘Under Duress’ should undoubtedly go on to be staples in any Converge set, and the more subtle numbers like ‘Trigger’ and the poignant ‘The Dusk In Us’ perfectly balance the overall pace. That’s not to say the older material can’t hold its’ own, as ‘Eagles Become Vultures’ and ‘Last Light’ still sound as urgent and vitriolic as they did upon their release.

Closing with the short but devastating fan favourite ‘Concubine’, Converge can rest easy knowing that they knocked yet another performance out of the park, and that their reputation as one of the best live bands in heavy music remains steadfast. Hopefully next time they come to these shores they’ll do more than two shows so that more people are able to witness their majesty.

LIAM KNOWLES

Converge, Comeback Kid, Discharge, Conflict, Doom, Weirdos, Wisdom in Chains, Coffins, Damien Done, Drowning, For the Glory, Get the Shot, Greg Bennick, Headshot, La Jungle, Moskwa, Paura, Process of Cult, Slope, Acidez, Albez Duz, Crossface, Hexis, Jodie Faster, Psycho Enhancer, and Zonastre will play the Belgian festival from the 10th to the 12th August.

More info can be found here.