Reviews
The big review: ArcTanGent 2024
ArcTanGent brings home the bacon with a stellar 10th edition, as Mogwai, Meshuggah, Electric Wizard and more deliver the more unusual side of music to Bristol’s Fernhill Farm.
It's alright, lads.
We've all been there and done things we've regretted in our past – but Meshuggah guitarist Mårten Hagström apparently feels bad for creating an entire music genre…
Speaking to Rauta, the shredder joked: “First of all, we’re very sorry for creating that genre; we didn’t intend to – our bad. No, but it’s actually… I think it’s a misconception, that djent thing. I think it’s kind of hilarious.”
He then went on to explain how it came about in the first place:
“It’s our lead guitar player, Fredrik [Thordendal], being drunk back in the day, talking to one of our old-school fans, trying to explain what type of guitar tone we were always trying to get, and he was desperately trying to say, ‘We want that ‘dj_,’ ‘dj_,’ ‘dj_,’ ‘dj_.’ And that guy was, like, ‘What’s he saying? Is that a Swedish word? Must be.
Sounds like dj_, maybe ‘djent’? Maybe something like that.’ And that’s where it comes from. A drunk misunderstanding, as always with Meshuggah.”
So, how would Mårten describe the band's sound?
“Heavy, experimental music… I don’t care if it’s progressive or not – it’s heavy. And that’s the most… But the thing is, trying to define things… Either it gets into that math-metal, djent subgenre type of thing, that’s for other people to decide. We play aggressive, experimental music, and that’s basically it.”
Watch the full interview below: