The typical Norwegian Easter-celebration consists of taking your family to a cabin in the woods or mountain, seemingly never-ending ski-trips, and hot chocolate under the winter sun. However, when all the traditionally minded families migrate to their secluded havens or fancy resorts, the streets of Oslo quickly fill with a wholly different breed. Every year at Easter-weekend, black-clad people from all over the world occupies every street corner, pub, and concert venue in Oslo for their black celebration; the Inferno Festival.
As always, the band-assortment covers all sides of the extreme metal spectrum, with a strong emphasis on bands with roots in the underground, both newcomers and genre veterans. Of course, this being in Norway, the beer prices are insane (try 7€/$9 for 0,5 l), yet somehow that doesn’t seem to stop people from engaging in intoxicated fun. The first day of the festival stretches around different clubs all over town, but the three main days of the festival are concentrated on the sister-venues John Dee and Rockefeller.
Wednesday
The honor of opening the club day this year belonged to the new, but by no means inexperienced band Sarke, featuring Sarke himself (Tulus, Khold) and the Darkthrone-legend Nocturno Culto. To my knowledge this was the band’s first live performance, and it wasn’t hard to see that it’s been a while since Nocturno Culto last took to the stage. After a somewhat lackluster start, the band seemed to get comfortable half-way through their 30-minute set, finishing with a fresh dose of blackened thrash metal. The concert also served as a pre-release party for their upcoming debut album Vorunah, which should have hit the streets by the time you read this.
The hour following Sarke’s performance presented a dilemma, as all the club concerts would take place simultaneously. I took the trip to the classy gothic-style venue Victoria for a healthy dose of avant-garde and doom. The Norwegian band Vulture Industries gave an outstanding energetic performance, channeling Arcturus with an extra injection of madness. Props to the vocalist for looking like he just escaped from a mental asylum, raving like a total maniac while giving an excellent performance.
Even though Vulture Industries quickly got the crowd’s attention, it was obvious why most of the crowd had taken to Victoria this Wednesday night. The founding fathers of drone doom, American juggernaut Earth, provide an outstanding atmosphere on record, but could their minimalistic droning work out in a live situation? Unfortunately, seeing four people play slow drone for almost 90 minutes is not very exciting, even though many knees were about to buckle under the sheer magnitude of the mighty bass. The performance was akin to crawling through a vast desert without any water whatsoever, for whatever that’s worth. Even though they recreated their drought-like atmosphere with great precision, I can’t help but feel that some visual elements (perhaps a video-backdrop?) would lift their performance significantly.
Thursday
Day two of the festival begun at Rockefeller, with the Romanian mystics Negura Bunget. Having played in the small club Maiden at last year’s festival, the demand for an encore was so high that the Inferno management chose to bring them back again this year. The hordes took the stage by storm, launching into a series of eerie and majestic soundscapes from the Carpathians. Giving rock-solid evidence of why the demand was warranted, they performed as enthralling as ever, pleasing old fans and undoubtedly recruiting some new ones.
The next band on the schedule, in between several beers and social diversions, was the old favorites Kampfar. As the pale skinny body of frontman Dolk appeared out of the smoke, the stage was set for some true Norwegian pagan metal. Mixing traditional Norwegian music with less traditional black metal elements, Kampfar is a favorite in their home country. With an excellent selection of songs spanning the band’s whole career, Dolk and the boys were an impressive sight to behold, and the pyrotechnics really gave the band justice as not just good performers, but a visually interesting phenomenon as well.
Alright! Bringing denim, bullet-belts and balls back to thrash metal, The Batallion are a powerhouse of masculinity and awesome riffs. While their musical output isn’t breaking any new ground, they more than make up for it with a fantastic stage presence, and it’s not often you see Norwegian metal bands looking like they’re genuinely enjoying themselves on stage. The sound at Rockefeller wasn’t completely satisfactory, as the drums tend to drown out the guitar and vocals at times, but the charismatic bad-assery of frontman Stud Bronson provides a pure crowd-pleaser. Being the short-notice replacement for no-show headliners Meshuggah, they have a lot to prove, and try out a couple of new songs to help their cause. They are The Batallion, and we are impressed!
Arising from the aftermath of a rift among the ranks of Electric Wizard, British doomsters Ramesses have since strayed their own way in the heavy-as-fuck stoner doom field. Not having heard too much from them beforehand, I wasn’t sure what to expect from the Dorset trio, but as a sworn devotee to the Wizard I knew they could not be missed. The crushing riffs are overwhelming as they send the audience into a doomy trance, and it soon becomes obvious that they get by just fine without having to reference their past. This was also my first John Dee-concert of the night, and being a much smaller venue than Rockefeller, the sound absolutely slayed the poor Rockefeller mix.
Back to the larger stage, the Greek symphonic black metal powerhouse Septicflesh are ready to please. While their album Communion was one of the most impressive releases of last year, transferring such a grandiose sound to the stage can be a challenge. Since live orchestration is reserved from the true big boys of the genre, Septicflesh have to depend on a backing tape to supply their symphonic elements. While understandable, this detracts a little bit from the experience, and even though the band gives their everything I still find myself seizing the opportunity to get another overpriced pisswater Ringnes beer at the bar. The highlight of their set is undoubtedly the crushing “Anubis”, which works even better live than on CD, even with the dreaded backing tapes.
Another doom band I wasn’t too familiar with beforehand, New York stoners Unearthly Trance are a long way from home. Fortunately, they are more than able to prove their worth, launching into a set of some extremely heavy sludge doom. In fact, the band is so heavy that bassist Jay Newman breaks a string, but like a true champion he changes it mid-song without missing a beat. Not a neck remains unharmed when the Brooklyn-trio disappears from the stage, and I find myself taking mental notes to take a deeper dive into their discography.
Being the last band of the night, Dutch death metal legends Pestilence has the advantage of a quite drunk and bloodthirsty Oslo-crowd. Their live set is rather tight, with a few high-points, but ultimately somewhat boring for an admittedly non-death metal fan like myself. A moshpit starts brewing around mid-set, but (un)fortunately Norwegian metalheads are too polite to do any real damage, and as a result only a couple of skinheads are left brawling on the floor. Nevertheless, the death metal maniacs seem to be pleased, and everyone returns to the dwelling or bar of their choice with a wicked smile on their faces.
Friday
The Czech black metal veterans Root might be most remembered for Varg Vikernes’ “borrowing” the riff of their song “Pisen Pro Satana” for his semi-classic “War”, but tonight we will see that they didn’t become cult-heroes only because of Burzum. The vocalist Big Boss is like a crazed satanic priest (he actually founded the Czech branch of the Church of Satan), bellowing out the Czech lyrics with a powerful operatic voice. In addition to this aging satanist who could be taken straight out of a Hammer Horror film, there are some solid songs being performed here, and all in all Root proves to be a positive surprise.
[Editor’s note: Much of Friday was missed because of illness]
Saturday
The performance of Norwegian black metallers Koldbrann is the embodiment of what makes Inferno such a great festival. As if the energetic performance wasn’t enough, more than just a few guest musicians shows up to do their part during their rather short set. First the notorious Shining-vocalist Kvarforth appears on stage to perform what might have been a new Shining-song (my memory is clouded at this point), also giving a short firebreathing-performance. Later they are joined by a extraordinarily grim-looking trumpetist for a cover of a cult Russian speed metal song (Korrozio Metalla’s “Russian Vodka”), which is oddly compelling and absurdly hilarious at the same time. For the last song, three guest-guitarists and one vocalist (who I was unable to identify) came on stage for some full-on black metal carnage. Only at the Inferno Festival!
The next band to take to the Rockefeller-stage were the exquisite four-man viking horde Helheim. Using a huge projected digital backdrop to enhance the overall experience, they played a set spanning their entire career, stirring up the hungover crowd. With a ferocity to send chills down even the most frostbitten spine, and a guest performance by Root-frontman Big Boss, they left a strong impression. Not wanting to be outdone by Koldbrann, for the last song frontman H’grimnir jumped into the crowd and played a solo while being surrounded by confused yet delighted fans.
Not having heard anything else than the songs on their MySpace page, I was not sure what to expect from Swedish heavy/doom metallers Grand Magus. However, it didn’t take more than their opening song “Like The Oar Strikes The Water” to win me over, with its monstrously epic riff and powerful vocals. Being one of the few bands of the festival to not having growling or screaming vocals, they provided a nice diversion from an otherwise very necro line-up.
Another band I’ve never really been able to get into, Samael still have a legendary status to live up to. The main concern for many Inferno-attendees this night was whether the Swiss legends would play much old material, and luckily they took a few dives into their past. Using pre-programmed drums, their drummer/keyboardist focused on the synths, but also filled in with some additional pummeling, which actually worked out quite well. The performance was energetic and powerful, and there was no shortage of shit-eating grins amongst the audience.
Mixing black metal with industrial and a lot of other genres, the multinational ensemble are the true definition of an experimental band. With a performance blending so many different influences, they made for a interesting visual and aural experience. With only one album behind them, and a second one on the way, they could pick out many fan-favorites to keep the audience pleased, and served some delicious avant-garde brews to a hungry crowd.
The task of closing the festival this year was undertaken by the often under-appreciated veterans Carpathian Forest. The band already having promised a spectacular live show with many songs that had never been performed live before, expectations were naturally very high. After a 20-minute delay it was finally time for the curtains to fall, and Nattefrost and his crew to come onstage. Curiously, the first people to appear in the smoke wasn’t the band, but four people wearing underwear and gas-masks. The two men were holding Norwegian flags, while the two women were posing for the crowd. Then Nattefrost appeared with a gothic woman dressed as a bride, marking the beginning of this perverted ceremony. Later highlights in the stage show included one of the women wearing a strap-on dildo, and the other girl being forced down on her knees to perform fellatio on it. On the musical side, the band delivered what they had promised, with often overlooked classics like “A World Of Bones” being played alongside familiar favorites like “Knokkelmann” and “He’s Turning Blue”. All in all it was an entertaining and solid performance, proving why Norway should still be considered a bastion in the black metal scene, and ending the festival on a perverted yet pleasing note.
As the night grows older, the horrible truth dawns on your humble scribe and his traveling-companion. The time is slightly past 3, and our plane leaves at the ungodly hour of 9 AM. As such, it’s time to open the last few bottles and reflect on yet another excellent black Easter spent stumbling around the chilly streets of Oslo. Others might take great pleasure in family fun-times and long ski-trips (just ask Fenriz!), but for the rest of us there’s only one place to spend these most holy of days. Some might call it blasphemy, but for a metalhead there is no better way to escape your everyday chores than to bang your heads and drink overpriced beer. Something tells me I’ll be back again next year!
