By Jase Walker
A bit of a disappointment to start the day off as the queues for the showers were incredibly long so ended up missing Five The Hierophant… bit miffed about that.
At least I’m here on time for Hippotraktor, who caught my ear when I was hunting through the lineup for hidden gems and this is very much it. These are sounding thunderous on ATG’s main stage, a massive wall of sound projects from the stage to every nook and cranny of the tent. The droney yet harmonized vocals that’s a pretty signature sound if their’s cuts through as well. They mention that this is their first ever show in the ÜK as well, so definitely adds onto the great feeling of this set as well. Hippotraktor are exceptionally tight as well, every groove is masterfully executed and when they get stuck into their heavier sections, they really go for it. Hopefully will see more of these soon!
A bit of a break and returning back to main stage for Covet who sadly seem to be having audio issues before starting with a pretty significant delay. But when they do get started, it’s clear that it was worth it with the beautiful soundscapes they’re putting out. Yvette always looks like she’s having a great time on stage too, dancing around while often playing some pretty complex parts like it’s a natural thing for her. They’ve also had the most wholesome and pleasant “moshpit” I’ve ever seen open up with people high fiving each other, somehow this isn’t completely surprising!
Oh wait, now they’re all on the floor rowing, that’s a bit more odd. We’ve also been treated to a couple of brand new unreleased songs as well and they sound bloody great, they seem to be experimenting a bit with glitch effects and the like. An ideal set for a sunny day in the middle of a field, see you again soon Covet!
And to make up for missing him at RADAR, it’s time for Jakub Zyteki! Sadly I couldn’t even get in the room in Guildford, but now we’ve got a big airy tent to appreciate his wonderfully jazzy solo stuff. I mean he’s got a pretty tasty bass player and drummer with him but this show is all about Jakub and his plethora of tasty licks. Admittedly it does seem a little quiet on the whole but it doesn’t affect the sound quality much, it’s got a great balance with punchy drums and you can hang off every note that Jakub plays. This is legitimately a fantastically atmospheric show, I’m a little bummed it’s only on a “through” stage rather than one of the named larger tents since people pass through it while talking loudly which distracts from the show a little.
Next up is Blanket on the PX3 stage, opting to open their set with a solo guitar song before bringing the rest of the band on stage a bit later. I’m missing their backdrop video a bit that they had with them the first time I saw them but it doesn’t detract from the performance though. Blanket are a real unique treat, there’s something about them being able to switch from dreamy and sometimes droney passages to discordant start stops and have it all remain cohesive is fantastic. The atmosphere of the set swells the further we move through it, it’s every bit as mesmerising as it was the first time I saw these live a while back. In this show it’s really standing out to me the subtle runs and melodies their bass player keeps doing, knowing exactly when to drone and when to layer with that little extra feel. Another real high quality set for ATG this weekend!
To my surprise I find out that Alpha Male Tea Party are still playing their slot! No doubt there’ll be a huge crowd given their unfortunate gear theft literally a few days before ATG. Just from the look of them bouncing around on stage, they aren’t taking this show for granted in the slightest. Time for another big helping of math rock! And just as I thought, there’s a huge crowd out to support them and I’m here with a big grin on my face, I’m so glad they made it! What an incredible sound they’ve got, that bass tone as well is sublime, even outside the tent it’s shaking my chest! I think it’s also a little unfair to just label them as math rock, they’ve got a lot more in the mix there and some of their sections go harder than most metal bands. This set’s been unreal, Alpha Male Tea Party have given everything they possibly could have to this show and I hope they manage to recover from their losses.
Keeping the day busy, I’m right back over to Arc to catch Caspian, and if I needed a reminder to put my ear plugs in, it was basically their first note because holy hell that was loud. Epitomizing post-rock, lots of reverb, lots of tremolo picking and an engrossing atmosphere. Caspian’s live show comes across as well honed and properly thought out, the pacing is keeping me locked in on them and the group I’m with is completely silent in reverence other than the odd quip about it being incredible. The euphoria of the music sweeps over me and I can actually feel my heart racing a bit during the crescendos of each song. Each member of the band is almost constantly jumping around, swinging their guitars and generally just having great fun on stage as well which is great to see.
Next up today before I have to go do some other press bits is Rivers of Nihil, one of my favourite prog-death metal bands right now. Most well known for their album, ‘Where The Owls Know My Name’ and it’s psychedelic influences and dreamy sax. I really cannot get over Jake’s vocals whenever I see these, they’re terrifying, there’s no other way of putting it. They’re unbelievably deep gutturals and the fact that he can keep this going live and for the amount of touring they do is a real feat of skill and endurance. Sadly no live sax this time but I think that might be because they’re moving on from ‘Owls’ as their defining sound. It’s fascinating how a band like this can go from visceral, brutal blast beats and chugs to dreamy psychedelic passages and have it make sense in the way that they do.
Rivers are definitely on the heavier end of the spectrum of bands that are playing this weekend, but ATG is clearly up for it given how massively packed out this tent is. Jake orders the crowd to go wild, throw their fists up or just beat the shit out of each other in the pit, they gladly obey and follow through. The “new” songs from ‘The Work’ sound bloody fantastic too, my face is starting to ache a bit from having a stank face on for quite literally 20 minutes straight!
Sadly my interview with Jake didn’t happen as I was stuck on the other end of the site since the shuttle bus wasn’t available!
Time for Scalping then! The moment they start I know I’m in for a treat: electro-rock along similar lines to The Crystal Method and some of the earlier Chemical Brothers. Accompanied with a massive screen behind them playing hypnotic visuals, this is a full audiovisual experience! The moment “Monolithium” starts I’m already busting shapes out in the crowd, massive banger! Screaming distorted synths and assorted bleep-bloop style effects, some real fat bass and tasty drumming, it’s all here and I’m actually quite glad they got called in at the last minute to fill a slot.
I genuinely don’t know what I was expecting with this, but it wasn’t this in the best way possible. There’s minimal crowd interaction, the band themselves are barely lit up, it’s just the music, the backing video and the subsequent (very red) light show. It’s all quite an interesting live performance, I do kind of wonder what this would be like in a much smaller and compact venue in near darkness, probably much more intense to say the least. Fully enjoyed this relentless assault on the senses, very happy I found these and got to follow that up with seeing them live shortly after.
TesseracT opens up and it’s time for my biggest draw of this weekend. I absolutely adore this band so much and unexpectedly they’ve opened up with a shedload of altered state songs! Not gonna complain about that though, it’s my favourite album too! I’m actually hoping we’ll get a few of the real old ones like ‘April’ or ‘Nascent’, it’s been a really long time since I’ve heard them play them! I’ll settle for ‘King’, with its aggressive chorus and immense breakdown though, massively euphoric. Seeing the laser show they’re putting on makes me feel like a child again, pure wonder at it.
Moving through more of the set it’s still surprising how much ‘Altered State’ is in here given that most of the times I’ve seen them previously it’s just usually been ‘Nocturne’ and that’s about it so I’ll forgive myself for getting my fill here. Oh boy, it’s ‘Concealing Fate’ time, and the crowd around me immediately goes fucking mental! I cannot overstate how packed this tent is, front to back, side to side, it’s filled with thousands of people just losing their mind to TesseracT. Were also getting treated to a brand new song here and believe me, it goes hard as fuck, what a tasty riff! It’s actually passing me by so quickly I feel like it’s only been a short time but an hour’s already passed. ‘Tourniquet’ as a more emotional one towards the end, also showing that ‘Polaris’ was a bit of an underrated album in their catalogue.
Honestly, this perfomance cements why I love this band so much, the massive production they’ve put on here is becoming of a band that’s got so much greater heights to achieve and it was truly awe inspiring being a part of it. TesseracT are on course to be the next ÜK prog giants and being along for the ride they’ve had over the last decade and a half has been a privilege.
- ArcTanGent returns to Fernhill Farm over the weekend of 16 – 20 August 2023. You can get your tickets HERE.
- All content © Über Rock. Not to be reproduced in part or in whole without the express written permission of Über Rock.