Welcome to Bear Stone Festival: a liminal zone where only the best values of the outside world still apply. When the sun’s out, it’s beach vibes all day; when it goes down, the trees seem to close in and create a fairy glade where real magic and pleasant madness can occur. It might well be the best festival I’ve attended.

Swiss punk noisers, Torpedo, have released a gut-wrenching third album: What the Fucked Do We All Do Now? | – Lights, projecting us beyond the show, into the rawness of real life, that of you and me in our kitchens, weeping over a human world that has become unbearable for all the Living. . .

Stygian Waves is as challenging as their debut release, giving listeners more stories that are awaiting them for weeks, months, and the years to come.

On the eve of an extensive UK tour to celebrate their new record, we though it it the perfect time to find out a little more about what makes the Champs chime. So we asked Danny George Wilson to tell us about four albums that have been hugely influential on the creation of You Are Not A Stranger Here. And in a delicious twist, all of the albums Danny chose are visible in the band’s latest video…

If Immortal Waltz is the alternate soundtrack to Alan Moore’s 1988 controversial graphic novel of Batman: The Killing Joke, then Prophecy itself descends into complete themes of madness.

This album deserves a lot of recognition for the way Bill wanted to prove his fans that he was more than just a founder of Be-Bop Deluxe and Red Noise.

The finale ‘Death Atlas’ reaches a pinnacle of awesome heaviness and shocking tightness, which sustains its intensity and majesty for what seems like a glorious age, while Travis is right up the crowd dishing out hugs and screeching melodically into their ecstatic faces. It may only be January, but Cattle Decapitation set a very high standard indeed for extreme metal shows in 2025.  

The right album at the right time for to release their sole self-titled debut by kicking things off for 2025 with a big bang. And it’s a strong meditated release that’ll be talked about in the years to come.

The chemistry is there, the arrangements may take a while to understand from their previous two albums, but its quite an interesting listen, top to bottom.

I feel like I’m back in time, watching a classic band like Biffy Clyro or Muse at a small show about to make it big. Lizzard’s sound has certainly moved on from the Undertow-era Tool sound of their early material, becoming a little cleaner, more nuanced, yet still heavy, still strange.

The Gathering still holds up with a one-two punch that hits you very, very hard.

They unleash more comfort and intensive chemistry that is like a growling beast, ready for more attacks that awaits us.

No matter what will happen next, Quartet Diminished raises the temperature levels up to a maximum quantity.

It’s reassuring to see promoters operating as community rather than competition. From the stoner sludge of Hangman’s Chair and Dool’s galvanizing dark rock, to Mizmor’s emotive blackened doom and Inter Arma’s experimental extreme metal, there’s a real Smorgasbord of music to enjoy.

Instrumental metal has a world of possibilities and if you allow yourself, then Ghosts of Glaciers will take you there and then some.

ArcTanGent 2024 – FridayArcTanGent Festival, Friday August 16 2024Photos by Joseph Norman

An album that’ll make you understand why it deserves so much recognition for all of the hardship he’s done.

With their progressive songwriting, huge riffs, Nina’s magical voice, and the glorious melodrama of their performance, Lowen put on a spectacular heavy metal show that aligns them with the greats of the genre.   Go and see Lowen immediately before they get as huge as they deserve. 

The Verge’s sole self-titled debut is the album that can put you through a sonic trance with unexpected results that are earth-shattering, glorious, and keeping you on the edge of your seat.

One of the heaviest, metallic, ‘70s pop, and progressive orientations that she’s unleashed.

Storm Corrosion is a revelation by proving us that Wilson and Åkerfeldt are more than just the progressive orientations, death metal growls, extreme guitar textures, it’s an album that takes a lot of repeatable listens to see what they were doing behind studio doors, creating this immensely unsung gem.