The Inferno Festival Live Pics 20050324-26

All images by H. Hallberg

Taakeferd

Nebular Mystic

Morbid Angel

Aura Noir

Aura Noir

Arcturus

Arcturus

Arcturus

Nattefrost

Nattefrost

Nattefrost

Nattefrost

Nattefrost

Tsjuder

Tsjuder

Tsjuder

Gehenna

Gehenna

Gehenna

Dissection

Dissection

Dissection

Dissection

Dissection

Vesania - 2005 - God the Lux

Out of Poland comes this Black Metal act with their second fullength. 12 tracks of slow to mid-paced, slightly melodic Death/Black Metal with keyboards is what we are presented with here. There is an industrial feel to the music as well. Musically this sounds like later Malignant Eternal and Dimmu Borgir as well as Emperor and Arcturus with a distinct Death Metal approach.

The vocals sound like those in Behemoth, which really comes as no surprise since it's the same person singing in both bands. More towards the darker, deeper spectrum, actually reminding me somewhat of the deeper vocals from earlier Cradle of Filth. They remind me of those in Malignant Eternal as well.

The production is full and quite industrial sounding. More towards a Death Metal production, really. The keyboards are present throughout the album. At times they play their own thing, and at times they are just laying down background ambience, but this is actually handled rather well. I am usually not a big fan of keyboards in the music I listen to.

Standouttracks are "Rest in Pain", "God the Lux", "The Mystory" and "Legions are Me".

Monday November 27 2006, by :Vragh:

Grimm - 1993 - Nordisk Vinter 7"

Presented on this 7" by Norwegian Black Metal band Grimm are three tracks, including an intro, of mid-paced, slightly melodic and harsh Black Metal. The production is quite good, this does sound very much early '90ies, both when it comes to the music and the production.

The first track, "The Embrace of the Cold" sounds very similar to Carpathian Forest, which might not be such a big surprise, since Nattefrost handles the vocals here, and most of the bandmembers are in Carpathian Forest now. The second track, "Born in the Hands of Doom" is musically similar to
very early Emperor mixed with My Angel era Arcturus and some Metal influences added to that.

The only annoying thing here is the intro, "Darkest Depth", which unfortunately is too long, and not too good. This is the only thing that was released by Grimm. Well worth checking out. This release is included on the Carpathian Forest DVD We're Going to Hell for This - Live Perversions as bonus audiotracks, and as an added extra bonus the intro is not included here.

Monday November 1 2004, by :Vragh:

Corpus Christii - 2001 - The Fire God

Out of Portugal comes this Black Metal horde, with their second album. This here is the rereleased tape version with two bonus tracks, eleven tracks in all, one of which is a cover of "Buried by Time and Dust" featuring Necrobutcher on bass. The music presented here is not at all what I expected. Mid-paced to fast Black Metal with piano parts when you least expect it, sounding like something you'd find on an Arcturus album, and some minor industrial touches, due to the pounding drum machine. I do not mean that there are interludes with piano, they have the piano playing to blasting Black Metal. The album reminds me a bit of Reign of Erebus, due to a somewhat chaotic sound and parts sound a bit like early Koldbrann. Perhaps one could even say they sound a bit like Darkthrone and Dark Funeral on the bonus tracks.

The vocals makes me think of Mannevond of Koldbrann and Thurios of Drudkh. There are also some parts sounding like Marco Kehren of Deinonychus.

The sound on this album is rather thin, but clear, with a production that makes it sound very aggressive. The bonus material has been recorded at another time than the rest of the album, having a fuller sound. The guitars and the vocals are at the front of the mix, followed by the drums. A drum machine is used on this album, though they seem to have a live drummer on later releases. The keyboard parts are all in the foreground, above all other instrumentation and vocals. This is a strange blend of an album, and I must say I enjoyed it despite two things I usually find very annoying, keyboards and a drum machine. That is not at all bad!

Standout tracks are "The Burning", "Lusitånia (de Orghulo e Honra)" and "Reflex of Nothingness".

This release is limited to 666 copies.

Sunday August 23 2009, by :Vragh:

Bloodoline - 2005 - Storm and Brilliance

Out of Spain comes this Black Metal band with their first album. The material on this recording has been waiting for a few years to be recorded, and judging from the songs here, this was not at all a bad thing. This is an album that is very well executed, and it seems the arrangements are well thought through. We are presented with thirteen tracks on this album, with six instrumental interludes
and an outro. Musically this reminds me of a lot of things. I find both La Masquerade era Arcturus and some 1349 here, but mostly I think this sounds like early Borknagar with a twist of Zyklon-B, the Norwegian allstar band. This recording sounds very Scandinavian. Really good.

The vocals sound like a mix of Chuck Schuldiner of Death and Garm of Borknagar, being somewhat similar to those by Garm on their first album, but a bit more growled and sounding quite desperate at times. The instrumental interludes sound like a mix of earlier Mortiis and the instrumental Borknagar tracks that usually are present on their albums.

The soundquality is quite good, you hear all the instruments and the vocals clearly. The vocals are slightly in the front of the mix, being the driving force with the guitars. Be sure to check this album out! To be released by Blackend Records in March 2005, so it should be available to order from your local store or distro.

Standout tracks are "Warlike Spirit", "Aeons End" and "Nihil Storm".

Monday March 7 2005, by :Vragh:

Bilocate - 2005 - Dysphoria

Out of Jordan comes this Progressive Death/Doom Metal band. The music is towards the slightly melodic, with some heavier parts. Some traces of My Dying Bride can be found here, but this is more
melodic than that. This is actually musically rather towards Arcturus later works and Green Carnation. I also hear some early Ulver in the clean sung passages here, reminiscent of their Bergtatt and Kveldssanger albums, which is most refreshing.

The vocals are towards the My Dying Bride kind, with a lot of spoken passages. The clean sung or spoken passages remind me of both Dissolving of Prodigy and Ulver.

The soundquality is very good, and all the instruments can be heard clearly in the mix. These guys know how to handle their instruments, for sure, and although I usually don't listen to this slower kind of Metal a lot these days, this was actually really refreshing to hear. The production is perhaps a bit
thin, a lot of treble in it, but overall this is not at all a bad record. Actually, the more I hear of this album the more I like it. Half of the tracks on this album are rather long, with the last track, "A Desire to Leave", being just over 19 minutes long.

Standout tracks are "A Deadly Path", "The Tragedy Within" and "Shrouded". Highly recommended!

Saturday October 21 2006, by :Vragh:

The Inferno Festival 2005 Report

Pre-Inferno Concert

Koldbrann

After travelling 500 km by car we arrived in Drammen for the Pre-Inferno concert. Silent Vanquish, Koldbrann and Mayhem were the entertainers for the evening. As always, things take longer than you expect, and this roadtrip was no exception. Things looked a bit bleak there for a while, but we arrived twenty minutes before Koldbrann were to enter the stage, and only missed the first band. Time for a beer and general anticipation, plus checking out the merchandise, of course. General excitement all around. Another beer. And then Koldbrann, one of the two highlights of the evening, entered the stage. Ever since I got my hands on their debutalbum back in 2003 I've wanted to see these guys live, and this show did indeed stand up to all my expectations. Aggression, corpsepaint, spikes and that great sound reminding you of the 1990ies, and the early days of Black Metal. What else could one want after several hours in a car? Mannevond's vocals are almost better live. If you ever have the chance to see these guys perform, there is no excuse not to! Not only are they excellent on stage, they are also really great guys offstage.


After some waiting (and another beer) it was time for Mayhem to take the stage. With Attila back on vocals, this was sure to be something out of the ordinary!

Attila

Attila live is a rather strange experience. He does some really weird noises inbetween the songs, but his vocals are excellent. He manages to sound like Maniac on the tracks where he did the vocals, as well as do his own vocals on the De Mysteriis tracks. Very impressive. The highlight of the set, for me at least, was "Life Eternal". Incredible song on the album, and just as good live. Attila seemed to be slightly out of place on the stage for a good part of the show, but after a while he got used to it (or maybe I got used to it, who knows). In the beginning of the second encore Blasphemer's guitar stopped working, which made for an interesting ending of the show. First there was bass, vocals and drums, but after a while it was clear that the guitar was not going to be fixed. Exit Blasphemer. After a few moments Necrobutcher stopped playing and walked off the stage. Now there were only drums and vocals, and then Hellhammer stopped playing, got up and left the stage together with Attila. Quite an odd ending, but also a bit amusing to see. After Mayhem left the stage it was time to do some work. An interview with Mannevond was done, and after this it was time to leave.

Accomodations in Drammen at 3 AM aren't that many, so we decided to give the car a go. Now, three people in a not too big a car is something that is manageable. Not something that is really amazingly comfortable, but it is possible to get some semblance of rest, at least. Our driver repeatedly asked me on the way up "So, where do we sleep in Drammen?" and my answer to this was always "It'll be solved, one way or the other." This was not the answer he wanted to hear, and as he has later stated, he was not in the least bit happy with this vague concept of travelling and accomodations. But it all worked out, after all.

After a rather uncomfortable and not too warm night in the car, we left for Oslo rather early the next day to get our press passes and get ready for three days of beer, interviews and loads of music. And Jack Daniel's. And beer.

Day 1
                                        

Driving in Oslo isn't as much fun as one would think. Lots of one way streets and dead ends. This is most likely something they have done just to generally annoy anyone who's not familiar with the

streets in Oslo. We decided to leave the car by the railway station and go by foot in the direction of the venue. This proved to be much easier than we had thought at first (ok, ok, yes we asked for directions), and suddenly, dramatically, we were in the right place. We walked in to get our stuff, and then we went off to get a bite to eat, after which we'd move the car. We had a plan. Food was taken

care of at a place called New Lille Amir, and this was our first encounter with  the amazing Chicken Shwarma that they serve there. This was practically the only place we ate at for the entire festival. I could eat myself to death on those things. After this most refreshing and tasty meal, we moved the car closer to Rockefeller, finding a spot just 50 meters from the venue. Excellent! And now it was time for what we went all this way for, in the first place, the Inferno Festival! Rockefeller is a great place to have this indoor festival at. There are actually two stages in the building. There is the big stage at Rockefeller, and there's the smaller stage downstairs at John Dee. What's really great is that you don't have to go outside to go between the two. Most excellent, since Norway is a bit chilly in March. And remember, all pubs and venues are non-smoking, so be prepared to go outside, or up to the roof if you want some nicotine in your bloodstream.

Taakeferd

Opening the entire festival down at John Dee was Taakeferd, probably the Black Metal band that is from the farthest north, being from Tromsø on the Norwegian coast. Taakeferd have been playing for a while, and I had heard some of their material before, but this was much better than I remembered, and it worked very well live. Fast Black Metal with a slightly melodic feel to them at times. The great thing about Black Metal live is of course the corpsepaint, and Taakeferd was no disappointment in that respect either.

                                        

After about half an hour they left the stage, and it was time to go upstairs to the bigger stage at Rockefeller and one of the three bands I didn't see that day, namely Chton, featuring members of Manes and a former member of Lumsk, play a kind of Death Metal that I'm not too fond of. More often than not I find that Norwegian Death Metal lacks something essential to the mix, just as many American Black Metal bands can't seem to get that Black Metal feeling right, so I skipped this and went for a bite to eat instead.

Nebular Mystic

After some food (and drink) it was time for one of the highlights of the festival, for me at least, Nebular Mystic entered the small stage at John Dee. Half an hour of aggressive Black Metal, is something you most certainly won't hear me complain about. This up and coming band seemed to be the one that the press was focusing the most on, of all the bands at the festival. Unfortunately I was going to do an interview halfway through their set, but when I got to the appointed place he was keeping busy with other things, and then he disappeared. A bit annoying, but what can you do, eh? The half I did see was most excellent, at least. Be sure to check out their recently released debut, "Necrotic"!

After the Black Metal assault of Nebular Mystic it was time for the old troll himself, Mortiis and his Gothic brand of Metal. Of all the artists, he was probably the one that was most out of place here, but he delivered a good show, despite him throwing the microphone stand around all the time, and he got a good response from the crowd I thought. His show suffered somewhat, because of the industrial elements being less audible, I thought. Still, quite enjoyable. After Mortiis I went to have a chat with Nebular Mystic, who proved to be rather not at all talkative. They had done numerous interviews already, and seemed rather beat. Still, it was an amusing interview to do, though it will never see the light of day, and after practically pulling the answers out of them I went down to John Dee for some serious Death Metal with Gorelord.

Featuring the very busy Frediablo in their ranks, this could have been quite interesting. Unfortunately it got a bit tedious after a few songs. This could be because I am more of a Black Metal person, I don't know, but I do enjoy some Death Metal as well, of course. I would say that Gorelord's fleshy sound is a bit more enjoyable on CD than on stage. However, I did have to check them out, of course. That's what festivals are for! Time to head up the stairs again.

Lamennted Souls

At Rockefeller Lamented Souls were getting ready to go onstage. This Doom outfit has gotten some attention lately, what with finally releaseing their long finished album, The Origins of Misery, featuring all the material they have released so far. Also, since this is a band featuring Simen Hestnæs of Arcturus and Dimmu Borgir fame, that has added to the hype, and this was something I was looking forward to see. However, I must say that this didn't get as interesting as I'd hoped. This isn't really great live music, and since people had been drinking for many an hour at this point, this unfortunately just felt a bit out of place.

Taking over the main stage after Lamented Souls was Swedish Viking/Death Metallers Amon Amarth. After a not too impressive start (did the drummer forget to warm up, or what?!), they eventually got the hang of it and delivered an over all ok show. Though, as with most all of the shows on the Rockefeller stage, I felt that the sound was lacking somewhat. These guys are not entirely my cup of tea though, a bit too melodic at times, and following this performance was this day's headliner Morbid Angel with David Vincent back on vocals.

Morbid Angel

After having cancelled all interviews earlier, since they were sleeping most of the day away (or just didn't feel like answering a lot of questions, who knows), they entered the stage at 01.00. Much to my surprise they started off the show with "Rapture", their biggest hit. A most excellent beginning. Where do they go from there, you ask? Well, they continued to play all the classic songs, of course. Practically every song you've ever wanted to hear live from their four first albums. These guys still kick ass after all these years. A very good show indeed. David Vincent is back where he belongs, but how he can stand playing in a tight latex shirt is beyond me.

This was a very tiring day. Morbid Angel left the stage at a bit after 2 AM, and after a night in the car, with not too much sleep it was time to head for the hotel, finally. Luckily, the hotel we stayed at (with the fitting name "Edderkoppen", "The Spider") wasn't far away, so after a short walk we were home. Sleep!

Day 2

On day two there was little activity on my part. I was feeling rather bad (from too much Jack Daniel's in the car before the festival opened for the day, and a bit of a cold), and still rather tired after the previous day as well. I saw the essentials, and slightly more, but that was it. The first band I even considered watching was Grimfist at 19.45. This is yet another band featuring Frediablo. That guy sure is keeping busy, though he has recently removed himself from some of the bands. These guys were not really what I was after, though. Again, Norwegian Death Metal and all that. And since Horgh left for Hypocrisy it wasn't as interesting to see them anymore. Be sure to check out their recent "10 Steps to Hell" album, though. Very good one, that.

Aura Noir

It was time for some more Chicken Shwarma instead, before Aura Noir, featuring Blasphemer of Mayhem in their ranks, entered the Rockefeller stage. This was something that I was a bit unsure as to what to expect. I am not so fond of their albums, and the whole Thrashing Black Metal thing just isn't my cup of tea, but I thought I'd give them a try. This proved to be a really good idea, since they absolutely crushed live. Fast and furious, and aggressive as Hell! Just what I needed. Czral's drumming is also always interesting to see. I sure hope he recovers from his fall, and is able to get back on stage and behind the drumkit soon. This is a band that I would love  to see again! Still can't stand their albums, though.

Arcturus

Then it was time for another of the many highlights of the festival (after the very unfortunate appearance of the Dirty Sanchez maniacs. What a bunch of sad characters.), Arcturus. Now fronted by Simen Hestnæs, who did some vocals on the "La Masquerade Infernale" album, this was something that I assumed would be very interesting. I had rather high hopes for this, but it exceeded my high est expectations, I must say. They put on an amazing show, played basically all the songs I wanted to hear, with material from all of their albums, as well as the track "Demon Painter" off of their new album "Sideshow Symphonies", and during "Chaos Path" they had the stage full of  vaudeville characters. A great show indeed. Simen did an amazing job with the vocals, and it was quite some time since I saw anything that had a show even remotely as memorable as this one.

This evenings headliner Candlemass was up next. These old Doomsters were quite the rage in the late eighties, and I thought I'd watch a song or two, since I listened to them way back when. Sadly, this was not as good as I had hoped. Maybe it was me, I have gone quite a long way since listening to these guys, or maybe some things are just better left in the grave, what do I know. In any case the theatric vocals of Messiah Marcolin, and the slow pace of the music didn't do it for us, so we decided to call it a night after about half a song, and left for the hotel.

Day 3

Nattefrost

On day three there was a bit more activity, on my part. I was feeling better than the day before, and so I was a bit more motivated, as well. The first band I saw this day was Nattefrost, and they were probably the most fun of all the bands at the festival. Not too serious (lyric and image wise), crushing Black Metal in the vein of Carpathian Forest (obviously) for half an hour. Who could possibly dislike that? Entering the stage in corpse paint, high heeled boots, fake breasts, string underwear and all smeared in blood was hard to beat for the other bands. What class! Luckily they also played the amazing track "Sluts of Hell", the highlight of any given festival or live event. This was one of the few bands that actually kept their outfit and corpse paint on offstage, after the show. It's always a good thing to not take yourself too seriously.

Grave

It was now time for me to interview Gehenna. The interview was a success, and we chatted on a bit after the interview as well. Very nice people, the Gehenna's. (the interview has since been lost, unfortunately.) While I was doing the interview, Swedish Death Metallers Grave had taken the Rockefeller stage, and as I got out into the venue again, they performed the only song I really wanted to hear with them, "Soulless". That's good timing, I must say. This track was about all I could take from these guys, for some reason it seemed that almost all of the Death Metal bands playing here this year just weren't any great livebands. Most of them were just standing there playing their songs. Usually no spikes, and not that aggressive either.

But then again, even Black Metal bands can be rather non aggressive, as Greece's Naer Mataron unfortunately proved to me. I was expecting a bit more from them. I had heard one of their albums a while back, and that was actually quite good, having some aggression in it and all. Live it was quite a different story. Melodic Black Metal seems to be all the rage around the world, these days, but me I've never really understood why, and these guys were rather a bit more melodic than I expected them to be. Sure, they could handle their instruments well, but it just doesn't do it for me, so after a few songs I left for the next disappointment of the evening, namely Green Carnation.

Tsjuder

I first heard their "Journey to the End of the Night" album a few years ago, and really enjoyed it. When it comes to progressive Black Metal, I am all ears. Then they did their one hour long, single track album, and had lost the edge in their music that I enjoyed, and after that I pretty much lost track of them. And here they are, playing the festival I'm attending, so I thought I'd see their performance and get something out of it. Unfortunately this was not very impressive at all to see, just rather uninteresting, really, so we went to get some Chicken Shwarma goodness instead, before another one of the highlights of the festival, namely Tsjuder, were to enter the John Dee stage.

I saw these guys in Copenhagen when they played there with Carpathian Forest (an interview we conducted back then is also lost to history.) and was looking forward to seeing them again. A really great show, this was. Raging Black Metal in the old vein, just as it should be! Corpse paint, spikes and brutality. These guys sure know how to rip! Also you noticed that they were appreciated, this was the only band that completely filled up the smaller venue, and they had to stop people from going down there, and let people in as people left, it was so full. Not at all bad. The festival's end was now drawing nigh, but there were still a few interesting bands left to see, and the first one out of these was Gehenna, on the Rockefeller stage. 

Gehenna

This wasn't as great as it could have been, unfortunately. The sound was a bit too unclear (again), but there were definitely a few great moments, like "Deadlights" and "Grenade Prayer". I do quite enjoy their unique, slow and heavy Black Metal. Over all it was great to see them live, despite the sound being what it was. Check out their latest album "WW", featuring the drumming of Frost of Satyricon. A very moody and aggressive album. 

After this it was time for the final band of this years festival, and headliner for this evening, namely reactivated Swedish MLO Death / Black Metallers Dissection. They perfomed a very professional show, and of course seeing some of the old classics live wasn't at all bad. They sure knew what they were

doing, and they had a professional air about them, almost as if they were born for performing on stage. As an added bonus Attila joined them on stage to perform the vocals on "Elisabeth Bathory", since it is a Tormentor cover (he kept himself busy with doing vocals for Sunn 0))) as well, but those guys had to wait, they were playing the Roskilde Festival later in the year as well, and seeing a drone band in the small John Dee venue was not something I would do.). These guys are not my absolute favourites, a bit too melodic for my taste, but I did enjoy what I saw before we left for the hotel, this last night in Oslo.

Dissection

In conclusion, I must say that this is one Hell of an event. Great fun and great bands. It's great to just walk around in the crowd and see many of the people that are part of the Norwegian scene. I strongly urge anyone with the possibility to go here to do so. And bring lots of cash. Norway is expensive, but oh so fun. And 20 bands in four days is a Hell of a lot of entertainment.

Ann Frestad of Khaoz Productionz should have a standing ovation for her efforts and kindness. And maybe a medal, too. She sure knows her stuff.

By :Vragh:

Armagedda/Woods of Infinity - 2002 - Split 7"

Presented on this split effort is one track by each of these Swedish hordes. The song "At the Edge of Negative Existence" represents Armagedda on this release and has the same feel and sound as their first album, mid-paced, filthy Black Metal with a very harsh sound. Focus is on the guitars and vocals. As before, they play Darkthrone influenced Black Metal. Another masterpiece by this horde, and a track I really appreciate. This track is also included on the Armagedda collection Echoes in Eternity released in 2007.

"Missfostret Tellus" by Woods of Infinity is actually my first encounter with the band, and is a bit different and hard to describe. Depressive Black Metal sounding partly like a soundtrack, partly like some kind of mad vaudeville circus music, with a bit of a folk music influence added is the best I can describe it. This is very interesting. Reminds me somewhat of Arcturus' La Masquerade Infernale.
The focus in the mix is on the vocals, which are more spoken or screamed than sung, the music is slow to mid-paced, with a sad sounding guitar, which adds to the feeling of depression which emanates from this track.

Monday August 23 2004, by :Vragh: