INFERNO FESTIVAL 2023 (Oslo, Norway)
April 6-9, 2023
by Jorge Patacas
Traditionally, most Norwegians look forward to Easter holidays to have some rest at home or at their cabins in the mountains, go skiing, have some good food, read crime novels (yes, that’s a thing over here!) or just relax. For most metalheads, however, the Easter tradition is to be in Oslo city centre to attend Inferno festival which has been an annual meeting since 2001 with visitors not only from Norway, but from abroad as well. Some of the well-known venues and bars in the capital city are used for the concerts such is the case of Rockefeller Music Hall, John Dee, Kniven, Rock In and Vaterland, while this year Brewgata was also added as venue. Even though the shows are the main attraction, of course, Inferno has a lot more activities to offer. This year they had art exhibitions, tattoo fair, DJs, hiking tours, metal auction and a guided tour to the Munch Museum as well as the National Library where there’s currently an exhibition called “Dårlig Stemning” (“Bad Vibes” in English) about black metal where it’s possible to see the complete series of Slayer Magazines, a personal letter from Dead (Mayhem) to Slayer Mag editor Jon “Metalion” Kristiansen among many other things.
Wednesday – April 5th
The day before the official start of the festival, there was a kick-off party at a venue called SALT with performances by three bands from the Norwegian record label Indie Recordings. The first one was Eradikated (previously known as The Generations Army), a very young thrash metal band from Sweden influenced by Slayer and early Megadeth that puts a lot of energy on stage and have some really good riffs. They have potential to go further in their career, let’s see what happens with them in the future!
Up next was the Norwegian band Vorbid from the city of Arendal. These guys have been around for ten years already and won the Wacken Metal Battle Norway in 2017 which allowed them to represent the country at Wacken Open Air in Germany. Over the years the band has changed their style a bit, while in the early days they were clearly devoted to thrash metal, their current sound contains more progressive and technical elements. As expected, their performance included tracks from the latest studio album, “A Swan by the Edge of Mandala”, released last year, and was well-received by the audience.
The last band of the evening was In Vain, melodic and progressive death metal from Kristiansand, a city in the south of Norway. They have been in the scene for twenty years now and their latest effort “Currents” came out in 2018, so if you like prog and you haven’t listened to it yet, make yourself a favor and check it out!
Thursday – April 6th
Just like last year, Rise! was invited to the Inferno Music Conference, an event organized since 2006 that brings together around 300 delegates from all over the world including press, managers, artists, labels, producers, etc. to discuss important topics related to the music business. As every year, the event took place at the Clarion Hotel in Oslo, which basically becomes a metal hotel during the festival, where you can even hear metal music in the lobby. Among the most notable panels of the first day was the one that gathered Alex Okendo from the legendary Colombian band Masacre and Mayhem’s first drummer Kjetil Manheim with Miguel Navarro (Alone Records / Kromatik Musik) acting as translator and Harald Fossberg (ex Turbonegro) as host.
In this talk, Okendo and Manheim explained how their first steps in their respective scenes were and what it was like to be part of an underground band back in the late 80’s/early 90’s when they used to send letters to each other and trade demo tapes. Manheim then explained that Mayhem members thought Masacre’s music was very raw and so he felt a connection. On the other hand, the vocalist of the Colombian band emphasized how difficult it was to live in the city of Medellín in a period where violence, drug trafficking and corruption were commonplace.
All in all it was a very interesting conversation and this meeting after all these years was truly a very special experience for them and we were able to witness that moment.
Surprisingly, and despite the fact that spring had already begun, some snow began to fall outside, as if the weather knew about the festival to set the right atmosphere.
Nekromantheon was the band who kicked off the 2023 edition of Inferno. On the main stage at Rockefeller, a venue with a capacity for 1350 attendees, the natives of Kolbotn (same city where Darkthrone was formed), put on a powerful, raw and aggressive old school thrash metal show, as they usually do. They already have a reputation of being a great live act and their performance at Inferno reinforced it. These guys deserve even more attention, they’re really good.
Some time later, the same stage was decorated in a very minimalist way with only a few candles when the black metal band Djevel (means Devil in Norwegian) came out and put on a hypnotizing performance with almost no lights, creating the right mood. This band from Oslo was formed in 2009 by the guitar player Trond Ciekals and they’ve been very active ever since releasing eight albums and playing gigs and festivals. The current lineup also features Kvitrim (vocals), Nosophoros (guitar), Mannevond (bass), Izare (keyboards) and Faust (ex Emperor) on drums. There were clearly lots of attendees interested in their performance and they were not disappointed with the raw sound and melodic passages that build a soundscape that definitely draws you in. Even though they played only five songs, most of them from their latest album, “Naa skrider natten sort” (2022), it was enough to satisfy the black metal hordes.
One of the many special moments that this year’s Inferno had was the presence of the North American band Mutilated Tyrant who comes from the Navajo Indian Reservation (AKA Navajo Nation) which is located within the states of Arizona, Utah and New Mexico. Their music and aesthetics, however, are clearly inspired by Norwegian black metal, reminding me of the early Immortal and Gorgoroth in some parts. The band gave their 100% on stage as they were eager to perform in the European continent for the first time, and it was successful, since they had a very good response from those who were there at John Dee, a venue with a capacity for 400 people.
More black metal awaited us with the Swedish masters Dark Funeral who were the next to hit the main stage. The band spanned their discography starting their set with “We Are The Apocalypse”, “The Arrival of Satan’s Empire”, “My Funeral” and the classic “The Secret of The Black Arts”, quite a lesson in black metal. However, “Nail Them to the Cross” and “Unchain the Night” from the “Where Shadows Forever Reign” album (2016) were some of the highlights in terms of crowd cheering. Since they’re celebrating their 30th anniversary as a band this year, they decided to play “In the Sign of the Horns” from their self-titled debut EP which was a surprise since they usually play “Open the Gates”. The vocalist Heljarmadr also mentioned that their first show as a band was actually in Oslo. This happened on May 4, 1994 at the short-lived Lusa Lottes pub in the city centre.
During “Where Shadows Forever Reign”, the vocalist waved a flag with the Dark Funeral logo, and the song also got a very good response from the crowd, marking the end of their show.
Back down to the smaller stage, the girls from Nervosa were going to play their second gig with their new lineup, which consists of Greek guitarist Helena Kotina, Greek bassist Hel Pyre, Bulgarian drummer Michaela Naydenova and the only Brazilian who remains in the band, guitarist and founder Prika Amaral, who now also takes care of the vocal duties. The venue was packed and it made sense, the thrash/death metal band sounded tight and delivered a fantastic show with one song after another without taking a breath. Tracks like “Perpetual Chaos”, “Death!” and the new single “Endless Ambition” were the proof that the band is still in good shape despite so many changes and still have a lot to offer.
Then it was time for one of the best shows of the day, the one by the iconic death metal band Cannibal Corpse. I had seen them before, but this time in particular, the sound was flawless, the stage presence was impressive, the precision and technique of the musicians was insane (Alex Webster’s bass lines are still ringing in my head) and George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher’s energy was quite amazing to see. He’s 52 years old now and still headbang like no other, which he actually referred when he challenged the audience to “try” to headbang like him during “I Cum Blood”. He also dedicated the classic “Fucked with a Knife” to the women in the audience, joking that there were probably about 25 of them. The show was full of great songs from all periods, from old school fan favorites like “Stripped, Raped and Strangled” from the time Chris Barnes was still the band’s vocalist to “Inhumane Harvest” from their latest album “Violence Unimagined” (2021). “Death Walking Terror”, the brutal “Time to Kill is Now” and “Kill or Become”, single from their 2014’s album “A Skeletal Domain” were also part of the set, while the grand finale came with the classic “Hammer Smashed Face” perfectly executed. It should be mentioned that Corpsegrinder was not only wearing a t-shirt in honor of The Black Dahlia Murder’s late vocalist Trevor Strnad, but also dedicated a few words to him, who, by the way, had been present on that same stage four years earlier. RIP Trevor.
The last band of the night was one of the most anticipated by the festival goers who packed the venue, the legendary Emperor. What’s better than seeing one of the most important Norwegian black metal bands playing in their own country? Of course they did not disappoint, and they treated us with an epic show that lasted almost 90 minutes, where they played their debut album “In the Nightside Eclipse” in its entirety! “Into the Infinity of Thoughts” and fan favorites “I Am The Black Wizards” and “Inno A Satana” were definitely the highlights here, but there was time for anthems from other albums as well like “Curse You All Men!” from “IX Equilibrium” (1999) and “The Loss and Curse of Reverence” from 1997 (remember when MTV used to play the video for this song back in the 90’s?), closing their set with the mighty “Ye Entrancemperium”.
Friday – April 7th
The Inferno Music Conference continued on Friday afternoon with different speakers talking about topics like open air festivals, what to do with presales, passion and burnout, while Rotting Christ’s vocalist Sakis Tolis discussed his career with the band as well as his debut solo album, “Among the Fires of Hell”, which was self-released for made it available for free in 2022. In this 45-minute talk hosted by Frank Godla (Metal Injection), he touched on the early days when he bought his first guitar as a 12-year-old and the love he has for the instrument, but he emphasized more than once that he plays music out of passion and that the most important thing is to have a good time with the audience. Minutes before the panel, he also did an interview with us where he talked about other topics. You can read it here!
Then there was a panel about the black metal documentary “Helvete: The History of Norwegian Black Metal” which was directed by Thomas Alkärr and Håvard Bråthen for the state channel NRK. The panel was hosted by Finn Håkon Rødland (the man behind The True Mayhem Collection page in social media and friend of many black metal musicians), while Torben Grue (ex Mayhem, ex Vomit), Tore Bratseth (ex Old Funeral, Bombers), Marius Vold (Mortem, ex Thorns) as well as the documentary directors discussed details about it, and it was also great to listen to some stories from the early black metal scene told by those who were there.
It was time for the shows and the first band to take the stage was the Austrian outfit Harakiri for the Sky. Their post-black metal formula full of anger and frustration caught the attention of those who showed up early at Rockefeller leaving a good impression on them.
On the same stage a while later, the Norwegians Odium did an amazing performance with an incredible lineup that consisted of Secthdamon (Emperor, Myrkskog) on guitars/vocals, Demariel (Myrkskog) on bass, Destructhor (Myrkskog, Nordjevel, ex Morbid Angel) on guitars, the mighty Dominator (Nordjevel) on drums and both Mustis (ex Dimmu Borgir), who recently joined the band, and Morindune on keyboards. This symphonic black metal band got its start in 1994 releasing an impressive debut album called “The Sad Realm of Stars” in 1998, so we got to hear some of its malevolent songs before they closed their set with the single “Altering the State of Being” from 2001, which happens to be the last thing this cult outfit released to this date. The audience wanted more songs when the show was over and that tells you everything you need to know. Amazing atmosphere! Would definitely be great to see them performing live more often!
On the John Dee stage, the intriguing Italian solo artist Lili Refrain gave a very ritualistic performance which was quite different compared to what we are used to seeing at Inferno festival, but it seemed her inclusion worked well as the crowd seemed genuinely into it, and I mean those who were already familiar with her works, as well as those who were entranced by her sounds that involved drum beats, loops and percussion accompanying her mystical and quite unique vocals.
Legendary British industrial ensemble Godflesh were up next. Justin Broadrick (guitars/vocals) and G.C. Green (bass) performed as a duo, each one standing on opposite sides of the stage backed by a laptop with all the drum samples and other effects that was placed on the right side, so the crowd could get a good view of the giant screen in the back showing looping footage with each crushing sonic attack to set the right atmosphere. Fan favorites like “Streetcleaner” and “Like Rats” were part of a vibrant, intense and powerful set that will be in the memory of those who were there.
After having played in Spain days before, the legendary Colombian death metal band Masacre was performing for the first time in the Nordic country, celebrating their 35th anniversary. Before starting the show, many people from different Latin American countries could already be seen in the crowd as well as many locals, including members of Norwegian black metal bands. The guys from Medellín delivered a brutal and energetic show very much in the style of old school death metal with songs like “Cortejo Fúnebre” which was the opener, “Justicia Ramera”, “Sangrienta Muerte”, “Brutales Masacres” and the classic “Imperio del Terror”, causing one of the biggest moshpits of the festival, which even impressed the people who work at the venue. Great work on guitars by Juan Carlos Gómez and Jorge Londoño as well as the rhythmic base provided by bassist Álvaro Álvarez and the excellent drummer Wilson Henao, while Alex Okendo, who translated the song titles into English when introducing them, stood out with his guttural voice and encouraged the audience to be part of the show in addition to repeating on several occasions a typical Colombian phrase such as “Qué chimba hijueputa!”. The audience ended up singing along the chorus for “Death Metal Forever”, the last song of the set, and chanting the name of the band. Undoubtedly one of the best shows of the second day of Inferno.
The crowd looked more quiet when it was time to see the headliners on the main stage. There were the Finns Amorphis, who delivered a flawless show as usual, where each musician was visibly enthusiastic and the vocalist Tomi Joutsen impressed once again with his ability to shift between the growls and clean vocals. Such an amazing singer! The set consisted of songs from all eras, including “Silver Bride” and “Sampo”, one of the best songs from the “Skyforger” album (2009), the most recent “The Bee” and “Wrong Direction” from “Queen of Time” (2018), and some of the best tracks of their career including old gems like “Black Winter Day” and the always emotional “My Kantele”, closing with “House of Sleep” and its sing-along chorus putting an end to Day 2.
Saturday – April 8th
The third day started with a guitar clinic by Emperor’s Ihsahn at the Clarion Hotel where he talked about his early days as a musician, among other topics. He then played some fragments of Emperor songs as well as his solo material and there was also a segment for Q&A from the audience.
As we made our way to the Rockefeller building once more, Sakis Tolis was about to start his first solo performance to promote his amazing album “Among the Fires of Hell”, which bears resemblance to Rotting Christ’s more gothic/melancholic material from albums like “A Dead Poem” (1997) and “Sleep of the Angels” (1999). Accompanied by Giorgos Kalavrezos on guitar, Herc Booze on bass and Fotis Benardo (Nightfall) on drums, his performance was very entertaining and the audience responded in a very positive way to songs like the opener “The Silence”, the single “My Salvation” and its catchy chorus, and even more to “The Dawn of a New Age” and “We the Fallen Angels”. Sakis will be busy with Rotting Christ during the summer (in Europe) and we can’t wait to see him again with the band, but it was absolutely great to witness his first solo show and we’ll see if we are able to see these songs live again in the future. Fantastic performance!
Later on, the Oslo band Arcturus took the stage with their characteristic outfits that include masks, horns and goggles and brought their avant-garde where songs such as “The Chaos Path” and “Crashland” stood out. Special mention to Hellhammer (Mayhem) for his great drum work and Silje Wergeland (The Gathering) who was a guest vocalist on “Evacuation Code Deciphered” complementing ICS Vortex’s distinctive voice.
Svalbard was next with their particular and very difficult to categorize style, but there’s definitely a lot of hardcore influences there as well as metal, crust and post-rock. Guitarist and lead vocalist Serena Cherry and guitarist Liam Phelan take turns to scream, even though there are some clean vocals occasionally as well. It’s worth mentioning the story told by Serena that she had been at Inferno on many occasions as audience and that it was a dream come true for her to be playing at the festival with her band. The enthusiasm of the entire band could be felt as they put 100% of their energy into a powerful show that had its highlights on “Click Bait” and “Eternal Spirits”.
Rockefeller venue was really packed when the American death metallers Nile came out to annihilate everything in their path right from the start. Without anesthesia they opened with “Sacrifice Unto Sebek” causing a moshpit immediately and the biggest crowdsurfing of the festival, so the security guys had a lot of work during that time. The sound was great and that definitely helped to a successful performance where we were able to appreciate the experience of the talented Greek drummer George Kollias and the great job from the other three members who also did vocals, including the guitarist and founder Karl Sanders, guitarist Scott Eames (Vital Remains) and bass player Julian David Guillen who joined last year. Brilliant ending with the title track of the “Black Seeds of Vengeance” album released back in the year 2000. What a masterpiece! No doubt that Nile have a fanbase in Norway, so we hope they come back soon.
The headliners of the day were the Swedes Watain who had the Rockefeller stage turned into a temple equipped with inverted crosses, tridents, bones and lots (lots!) of fire. The black metal band is well-known for its chaotic show and use of pyro, where vocalist Erik Danielsson even throws blood at the audience, something that happened this time as well during “Devil’s Blood”. The band has a legion of fans known as “Watain Disciples” who support and help them in many different ways and many of them were there having a blast with each song of a ferocious set that included tracks like “Total Funeral” and “Malfeitor” before reaching the end with the 14-minute long “Waters of Ain”. Danielsson performed a ritual before leaving the stage and that marked the end of the day.
For some it was time for after parties in the different bars of the city, for others it was time to get some sleep and recharge for the last day.
Sunday – April 9th
The fourth and final day of Inferno started at the hotel with a drum clinic by Baard Kolstad from Leprous where he explained some concepts and techniques and played some of the songs followed by a Q&A session.
Minutes later, when arriving at the Rockefeller venue, the Norwegian black metallers Urgehal were delivering a great performance that involved pyros and lots of corpsepaint and huge spikes as usual. The rawness of malignant songs like “Satanic Black Metal in Hell” and “Nekromisantrop” had a great impact on the cheering audience, while a picture of the late vocalist Trondr Nefas who passed away in 2012 lied in the banner above the drum set to honour his memory. First Morten Shax (Endezzma) and then Sorath Northgrove (Ulvehyrde) were in charge of vocals, both of them doing a good job. No better way to kick-off the last day!
The atmospheric black metal outfit Afsky was next on John Dee. This is the solo project of Ole Pedersen Luk, who is also a member of the Danish black metal band Solbrud that performed at the same venue at Inferno last year. Backed by a great live band, Luk managed to convey the deep feelings of despair of his compositions and capture the attention of the crowd that filled the venue.
Back up to the main stage, New Orleans natives Crowbar, led by guitarist/vocalist Kirk Windstein, brought their sludge metal to Inferno, spanning their discography by playing classics like “All I Had (I Gave)” from their self-titled sophomore album released already thirty years ago. “I Feel the Burning Sun”, “Bleeding from Every Hole” from the latest album “Zero and Below” (2022), and the masterpiece “Planets Collide”, which got the best response from the crowd, were all there. Each band member stood out on their respective instruments. The crushing riffs, the bass tone and the pummeling drum beatings were just great.
Then it was time for the mystical Uada (latin for “Haunted”), a band from Portland, Oregon that was formed in 2014 and released their debut album “Devoid of Light” a couple of years later, giving them a name on the international scene very quickly. The mysterious Americans played at the festival five years ago at John Dee. Now it was time for them to play at Rockefeller and after a long intro, they kicked-off their set with the 8-minute long “Djinn” and delivered intricate harmonies, bombastic blast beats and a sense of desolation for about an hour through six intense yet melodic black metal songs.
Some days before the festival, Slegest was announced as replacement for Vredehammer, who had to pull out due to injury. The Norwegian outfit really impressed with a very entertaining black n’ roll show, which had people starting a moshpit almost from the beginning. Personally, it was the first time I saw them live and I can’t stress enough that you should check them out whenever they play in your area. Great band!
On the main stage, Abbath opened with Immortal’s “Triumph” followed by I’s “Battalions” from the “Between Two Worlds” album (2006). Then they continued with Abbath solo material from all three albums, “Abbath” (2016), “Outstrider” (2019) and “Dread Reaver” (2022). During “Harvest Pyre”, the former Immortal vocalist/guitarist/bassist left the stage to return with a flaming torch and started fire breathing resulting in one of the most memorable moments of Inferno 2023. Later on, “The Storm I Ride”, another great track from I’s album followed and the last one for the evening was “Winterbane” which was cheered by a very enthusiastic crowd.
But there was still more. The legendary Unleashed did what they do best, pure and aggressive old school death metal to a packed John Dee. They played one song after another where the classic “Before the Creation of Time” stood out and there was also a big moshpit as expected.
Rockefeller was less crowded when the headliners Elder hit the stage, probably due to people’s exhaustion after four intense days, but perhaps also because their psychedelic stoner rock seemed a bit out of place compared to the other bands that played at the festival. Anyway, we’re talking about a band that always delivers and this was no exception. This was their first live show after the release of their latest album “Innate Passage”, so a couple of songs (“Catastasis” and “Merged in Dreams – Ne Plus Ultra”) made their live debut here. Those who stayed until the end really enjoyed it.
All in all, this was an amazing edition of Inferno, a festival that not only has a good lineup every year, but also has a team that knows exactly what they’re doing, ensuring that everything is very well organized. See you in 2024!
