INFERNO FESTIVAL 2025 (Oslo, Norway)
April 17-20, 2025
by Jorge Patacas
Wednesday, April 16:
As it does every year during Easter, Oslo once again turned black with the arrival of metal fans from all over the country and abroad.
This year’s edition was deeply emotional, as the festival director, Jan-Martin Jensen, sadly passed away on the 10th of February. Not only was he one of the creators of the festival, but he had a long history in the Norwegian music scene as a promoter, sound technician, manager and concert organizer. Through his agency Radar Booking, he has been responsible for the organization of hundreds of concerts of local and international bands that have performed in the country. He touched many lives and therefore deserved a very special tribute that was held at a venue called SALT the day before the festival began. We were invited to this event where his family, friends and acquaintances were also present to celebrate his life. Artist Kim Díaz-Holm (AKA Den Unge Herr Holm) created a painting with Jan-Martin’s face in his memory and people were able to have their photo taken with it. The photos were taken by the American photographer Jeremy Saffer, who has worked with countless artists. A limited edition of Inferno t-shirts with a photo of Jan-Martin as a young man were also available for sale, with proceeds going to the cancer research fund of his family’s choice. A guestbook was also available for people to sign, which was to be gifted to his children.
Anders Odden (Cadaver, Order) gave a speech about Jan-Martin and how the Black Metal Bus Sightseeing tour came about. This bus takes tourists to the most important places related to the black metal history and Odden is the tour guide there. He also founded the Inferno Music Conference together with Jan-Martin in 2006, so he certainly had things to say about the festival organizer. A few minutes later, Sylvaine performed an acapella song and it was very special to hear her haunting voice in this context. Then the stage was open for anyone to say a few words and share stories about Jan-Martin, so we could hear Jens Fredrik Ryland (ex Borknagar), who co-founded Inferno Festival and was involved in the organization of the first two editions, as well as many other players in the music industry who had a close relationship with him. In addition, many pictures of Jan-Martin were shown on a big screen with metal music in the background. It was a very emotional and touching evening for all those who got to know him or have been in contact with him in one way or another. He will be deeply missed by many.
Thursday, April 17:
Apart from the live shows, Inferno always offers extra activities to make the experience memorable, and this year was no exception. In addition to the aforementioned Black Metal Bus Sightseeing, there were other guided tours, such as Edvard Munch’s key locations in Oslo, a tour through the snowy forests and Vettakollen, from where you get a great view of the fjord. There are also signing sessions with some of the artists, an auction where Tore Bratseth (The Batallion, ex Old Funeral) offers rare black metal material, and an art exhibition held at the official festival hotel (Clarion – The Hub), the same place where the Inferno Music Conference takes place. This conference has been a tradition year after year and provides a great opportunity for all players in the music industry to meet, mingle, network and make new business deals. There are always panels with a moderator and different speakers talking about some interesting and important topics from different aspects of the industry with the possibility for the audience to ask questions at the end of each panel. One of the most anticipated panels this year was the one titled “In Defense of Valhalla” moderated by Metal Hammer journalist Gunnar Sauermann, in which Amon Amarth vocalist Johan Hegg, British archeologist Ben Raffield and the former president of Iceland (!) and history professor, Guðni T. Jóhannesson, discussed the vikings and the misuse of Norse symbols in modern times, the impact of pop culture and the importance of protecting cultural heritage.
Another great panel on the first day was “The OGs” featuring some industry veterans like Mike Gitter (Century Media, ex Roadrunner Records), Michael Faley (Metal Blade), Michael Berberian (Season of Mist) and Munsey Ricci (Skateboard Marketing, ex Polygram, ex CMJ Media). These guys have signed some of our favorite bands and have seen all the changes in the music industry from the 80’s to today, so they had a lot of stories to tell. Some of them were very interesting, some funny, and in the end the question was what does the future hold, what will be the next big thing or what genre will be at the forefront. Everyone gave their point of view, but all agreed that there’s a lack of rebellious attitude in the younger bands.
The next panel was “Metal in the Middle East” featuring the Heavy Arabia Entertainment CEO, Gigi Arabia (Saudi Arabia), Trivax guitarrist/vocalist Shayan (Iran), and Lelahell frontman Redouane Aouameur (Algeria), who has been in the metal scene for three decades now. Shayan, who now lives in the UK and has a podcast called Iblis Manifestations, explained, among many other things, how playing or listening to metal in Iran is considered a criminal act. Gigi Arabia shared her story on how she was able to start her own company, being the first and only one dedicated to promoting heavy metal in the country. She was responsible for bringing the Canadian band Cryptopsy to Saudi Arabia, which was the first international metal concert in the country. For his part, Redouane told the audience how he discovered and started playing metal while living through a civil war. He then talked about the European tour his band did and how he booked all the dates himself, which surprised many. At the end of the conversation, everyone encouraged people to support the bands and listen to them as music, and not just because they are from that region.
Concerts:
Due to some unfortunate circumstances related to the Rock In bar, the bands that were originally going to perform there ended up playing at a nearby venue called Dattera til Hagen. Other venues where bands performed this year were Brewgata, Vaterland, Goldie and Kniven, while Rockefeller and John Dee were again the main venues. Once again, the schedule was planned in such a way that when one band played at Rockefeller, there was no other band playing at John Dee at the same time. Both stages belong to the same complex and are connected through a staircase, which makes it easy for people to move from one stage to the other, although sometimes, depending on the band, it gets crowded downstairs at John Dee, so you have to wait for someone to come out.
In addition to the bands, there was also a tattoo fair featuring some of the best tattoo artists in the world, as well as merch, food stalls and DJs on the rooftop, where you can find space to hang out while contemplating some artwork.
The Norwegian avant-garde black metal band Dødheimsgard, led by the always theatrical vocalist Vicotnik, opened the Rockefeller stage. They delivered a mesmerizing set that spanned part of their discography, including, of course, their acclaimed latest album “Black Medium Current” (2023). However, one of the surprises was the appearance of their former vocalist Kvohst, who joined them towards the end of the show for two songs, “All Is Not Self” and “The Snuff Dreams Are Made Of” from the album “Supervillain Outcast” (2007).
A relatively recently formed Norwegian black metal band called Syn opened the smaller John Dee stage, so it was a great opportunity to see something new. They only have one album out called “Villfarelse”, which has been released in 2023 via Terratur Possessions, so we got to hear most of the songs included in it. Their atmospheric yet aggressive sound left a good impression on the audience, so let’s see what the future brings for these guys.
A more raw and visceral mix of black and death metal awaited us upstairs at Rockefeller with the presence of Necrophobic. This Swedish outfit has been around since 1989 and is already an institution when it comes to putting out great albums and live shows, and this one was no exception. Always with a strong stage presence, corpse paint and studded leather included, the five-piece unleashed an intense set that went back to their classic albums alternated with tracks from their latest effort, “In the Twilight Grey” (2024).
Back at John Dee, it was the live debut of Udåd, a side project created by the mastermind behind Mork, Thomas Eriksen. The debut album came out last year, so fans were curious to see him live with this band. Musically, it’s definitely more mid-tempo and atmospheric than Mork, and while it’s still raw, it has haunting melodies and a song structure that keeps you on your toes the whole time. Great stuff!
Next up at Rockefeller was the legendary Swedish band Tiamat, who haven’t played in Norway in a long time, so there were high expectations around this show. Their set was focused mainly on the most acclaimed albums of their career, like “Clouds” (1992) and “Wildhoney” (1994), so we got to hear some classics like “The Sleeping Beauty” and “Whatever That Hurts”. However, the crowd response was at its peak with the catchy “Vote for Love”, which they sang along to.
Batushka always leaves a good impression both musically and visually. We’re talking about Krzysztof Drabikowski’s incarnation of the band, since the other side lost the legal battle for the name and had to change their name to Patriarkh last year. The cloaked band members appeared and began with the lightning of candles on a stage adorned with iconography, incense smoke, an altar and other imagery typical of Eastern Orthodox liturgies. Their atmospheric black metal intertwined with Orthodox chants and lyrics in Church Slavonic language really fit the Rockefeller stage, and the whole crowd seemed completely immersed in the show and hypnotized as if they were in a trance. Brilliant performance!
Closing the night was Abbath playing exclusively Immortal material, since that’s what his current “Return to the Raven Realms” tour is about. When the initial smoke curled upwards and Abbath appeared on stage in his traditional corpse paint and body armour, the crowd erupted in cheers. The band immediately opened with “Withstand the Fall of Time” from Immortal’s album “At the Heart of Winter” (1999) followed by the title track of “Sons of Northern Darkness” (2002). “All Shall Fall” and “Solarfall” were next, but one of the best parts of the performance came with “One By One” and its crushing riffs, and “Damned in Black”, which featured the use of pyros adding more impact to the visual aspect. At this point, old school and newer fans alike were thrilled with the set, but there were still more gems to come. The icy and majestic riffs continued with two classics, “Call of the Wintermoon” and “Blashyrkh (Mighty Ravendark)”, which sounded truly epic that night. Abbath’s charismatic stage presence and sense of humor are a trademark, and so is the music, black metal in its purest and frostbitten form. “The Sun No Longer Rises” from “Pure Holocaust” (1993) sealed the night and now it was time to rest a bit and get ready for three more days of great shows.
Friday, April 18
The second day for us started again with the Inferno Music Conference which had more interesting panels, including one called “Pass the Buck” in which Kathrine Shepard (Sylvaine), Leoni Dowidat (Nuclear Blast), Toke Holt (Copenhell Festival) and Gisli Sigmundsson (Sátan Festival) discussed topics related to promotion. They expressed their views on whose responsibility it is when an album succeeds or fails, and whether only social media posts are enough to promote an event or whether it’s necessary to keep handing out flyers or putting up posters on the streets, among other things.
As for live shows, the Portuguese post-black metal band Gaerea opened the Rockefeller stage. The last time they performed at Inferno was at the smaller John Dee venue, but lately they’ve been getting bigger and bigger, so it was a matter of time to see them on the main stage. The band delivered an intense performance in which the vocalist Guilherme Henriques stood out with his contorted movements as they performed some of the songs from their latest album “Coma” (2024), as well as some older cuts.
One of the most anticipated bands of the day was undoubtedly Blood Incantation. They are a very experimental and ambitious death metal band from Denver, Colorado that in the last few years has been on the top lists of some of the most important metal media outlets around the world, especially with their second album “Hidden History of the Human Race” (2019). Now they are back with a new album called “Absolute Elsewhere” (2024) which was played in its entirety at Inferno in front of a cheering crowd that moved and moshed to the more brutal parts and paid close attention during the progressive and psychedelic passages. It’s always good to see bands that still manage to create something original within the death metal genre and these guys pulled it off.
The next band to take the main stage was Kylesa, who have been on a long hiatus since 2016 and are now back to celebrate their 25th anniversary. The American quartet, led by Laura Pleasants and Phillip Cope on guitars and vocals, is known for their mix of stoner and sludge metal, and although their sound was quite different compared to the rest of the bands of the day, they got a good response from the crowd.
Some time later, the Greek symphonic death metal band Septicflesh unleashed their fury with one of the most powerful performances of the entire festival. They took the stage determined to win over the audience right from the start with “The Collector”, from their latest album, “Modern Primitive” (2022), and they succeeded. In addition to the constant interaction with the audience and a great set that included classics like “The Vampire from Nazareth”, “Portrait of a Headless Man” and “Anubis”, the performance was flawless and unforgettable.
The last band of the night was 1349, who released a new album (“The Wolf & The King”) last year. This time they had the drummer Kevin Kvåle (Gaahl’s Wyrd) replacing Frost, who was busy playing a show with Satyricon in Stockholm. The set started with a fire breather and from there, it was all pure, merciless black metal, alternating old school classics like “Riders of the Apocalypse” and “I Am Abomination” with recent songs like “Ash of Ages” or “Shadow Point”. A great conclusion to the second day.
Saturday, April 19:
There were no panels on Saturday, but there were events that were part of the Inferno Music Conference. One of them was the ESP guitar clinic with Nergal, Orion and Seth from Behemoth. The band was in a very good mood and shared insights of their signature ESP guitars and gear and played through some of their new songs like “Lvciferaeon”, which Nergal said was going to be part of the setlist for their show the next day. At the end there was also a Q&A session where attendees could get more info about the techniques and gear the band uses.
Once the clinic was over, it was time to head to Rockefeller, where Coven, the legendary American occult rock pioneers from the late 60’s (!), were about to begin their set. The band released three albums back in the day, “Witchcraft Destroys Minds & Reaps Souls” (1969), “Coven” (1971) and “Blood on the Snow” (1974), before calling it quits a year later. However, the vocalist Jinx Dawson reformed the project in 2007 and has been active ever since touring everywhere. She’s now 75 years old and has a new lineup with younger musicians who retain the early 70’s aesthetic, and what a great show they put on together! Musically and visually it was outstanding. It began with Dawson emerging from an upright coffin while the stage was adorned with candlelights and the screen in the background projected images of witchcraft and occultism. The highlights were undoubtedly the iconic “Black Sabbath” and “Wicked Woman” before things came to a close with “Blood on the Snow”.
Later on, Norwegian legends Aura Noir injected the dose of uncompromising black/thrash metal the day demanded at that point. Blistering riffs, aggressive vocals, pounding drums, it was all part of their merciless show and the crowd responded accordingly.
Combining elements of doom and death metal with symphonic layers, Abyssic captivated the crowd at the John Dee venue, which was packed at that time. The current lineup consists of some well-known names in the Norwegian scene like Memnoch (ex Old Man’s Child, ex Susperia) on vocals and contrabass, Elvorn (Susperia) on guitars, Makhashanah (Asagraum, ex Sirenia) on bass, Borg on keyboards and Tjodalv (Old Man’s Child, Susperia, ex Dimmu Borgir) on drums. They created a very dark atmosphere with their outfits, candles and stage lightning that worked perfect for their haunting performance that included songs from their latest album “Brought Forth in Iniquity” (2022) as well as from their first, “A Winter’s Tale” (2016)
As soon as the Greek legends Rotting Christ entered the Rockefeller stage, the audience erupted in a loud roar. Sakis Tolis (guitars/vocals), Kostis Foukarakis (guitars), Kostis Heliotis (bass) and Themis Tolis (drums) delivered an impressive show with a lot of energy creating a special connection with the fans who sang along to all the songs even moshing and crowdsurfing on some of them. The highlights were definitely “King of a Stellar War” and “Grandis Spiritus Diavolos”, but the entire setlist was as great as it could be, from the ever present “Non Serviam” to the single “Like Father, Like Son” from their latest album “Pro Xristou” (2024), concluding one of the best shows of Inferno 2025 with “The Raven”. It’s also worth mentioning that, like other bands during the festival, Rotting Christ also dedicated a few words in tribute to the late Jan-Martin Jensen to the warm applause of the audience.
The venue was absolutely packed when Satyricon, headliner of the day, took the stage. The band is in the middle of the “Unholy Trinity” tour with Behemoth and Rotting Christ, so all three bands got to play at the festival. Satyr (vocals) and Frost (drums) have been working together as a unit for decades now and are still as strong as ever, this was proven once again at Inferno. This time without Anthrax’s Frank Bello, who toured with them last summer, but with Phil Pieters Smith on bass, Steinar “Azarak” Gundersen and Attila Vörös on guitars, and Anders Hunstad on keyboards, the black metal outfit delivered classic after classic right from the start with “Now, Diabolical”, “Repined Bastard Nation” and “Black Crow on a Tombstone”, with the crowd singing along to all of them. The 90-minute set covered most of their discography even going back to their first two albums with “Walk the Path of Sorrow” from “Dark Medieval Times” (1993) and “Hvite Krists Død” from “The Shadowthrone” (1994). Another classic, “The Pentagram Burns” also got a great response from the audience and “To the Mountains” was dedicated to Jan-Martin.
As soon as the first notes of “Phoenix” sounded, Sivert Høyem, lead singer of the Norwegian rock band Madrugada, appeared on stage and the audience erupted in cheers. He was the guest vocalist on the studio version of the song and this was the first time in six years that he joined the band on stage. That was a great collaboration that caught many by surprise when the album “Satyricon” came out in 2013, but it was something else to experience it live with the audience singing along. A memorable moment! But there was still more. The anthemic “Mother North” was absolutely phenomenal with an ecstasic crowd. The show could have ended there, but they went for one more classic in the form of “K.I.N.G.”. An amazing way to end the evening!
Sunday, April 20:
It was clear that there were less people on the last day of the festival, but still a decent amount of fans were there early to see the Danish band Lamentari. These guys started in 2019 and released their first full-length album “Ex Umbra in Lucerm” last year, winning over the symphonic black metal fans. The band creates a perfect balance between orchestral compositions, brutal riffs and harsh vocals and this worked perfectly live.
Thus, another band from Denmark opened the John Dee stage. These guys from Aarhus were the winners of the Wacken Metal Battle last year at Wacken Open Air and have an EP under their belt called “The Terminal Condition of Existence”. This gig at Inferno marked their live debut on Norwegian soil and we will probably hear more from them in the future. They left a good impression on the crowd with their death metal with some technical elements, thrashy parts and melodies.
Hailing from Umeå, Sweden, Naglfar was formed in 1992 and has released seven full-length albums, with “Cerecloth” (2020) being the latest one to date. More melodic in nature, but still very aggressive, the band is led by founder Kristoffer Olivius, who really knows how to put on a show getting the attention of a totally devoted crowd. The band sounded tight and gave a masterclass on how to play melodic black metal the Swedish way.
The Norwegian trio Tsjuder delivered a fierce performance of cold and aggressive black metal playing some of their classics like “Mouth of Madness”, “Ghoul” and “Kill for Satan”, but if that wasn’t enough, they did the Bathory tribute once again, but this time the original Bathory bassist, Frederick Melander, joined them on stage! Fans were then able to enjoy old gems like “Sacrifice”, “The Return of Darkness and Evil”, “Woman of Dark Desires”, among others. Simply amazing!
The French band Celeste was the last to perform at John Dee. They took the stage in total darkness, lit by red headlamps that created a claustrophobic atmosphere that worked well with their original fusion of sludge and post-black metal that had an impact on the audience.
Behemoth were in charge of closing the night and the festival with an intense and bombastic show full of flames and smoke. They opened with “The Shadow Elite” from their new album “The Shit ov God”, followed by “Ora Pro Nobis Lucifer” from “The Satanist” (2014), bringing the crowd to their knees immediately. It was clear that most people were there on the last day of the festival to see them and their expectations were met. The setlist was a selection of some of their well-known songs like “Conquer All”, “Blow Your Trumpets Gabriel” or “Bartzabel” with a couple of new songs in between like “The Shit av God” and “Lvciferaeon”. The audience response was as good with these songs as with the older ones, so it seems these new singles have the potential to become new classics in the future. At the same time, fans were also able to enjoy older stuff like “Chant for Eschaton 2000”, “Christians to the Lions” and an unexpected one, “Cursed Angel of Doom”, the first song written by Nergal back in 1991! A triumphant performance to end this year’s edition of Inferno, a festival where you can not only see some of the most important bands of the scene, but also discover great underground acts. However, it’s not just the music that plays an important role in making this festival the unforgettable event that it is. It’s the unique atmosphere that surrounds it, where you meet a lot of people, share your passion and even make friends for life. Hats off to the organization, crew and everyone who contributed to making this year’s edition a great success despite all the challenges and difficulties. It was one for the books for sure. Jan-Martin would definitely be proud!
