Event:	Inferno Festival
Written by:	Sigyn
Published:	08.05.2007
Galleries:	Inferno Festival 2007 - Rockefeller music Hall, Oslo, Norway, 05-07.04.2007 by Sigyn (138)

Table of Contents
1 Introduction - Mia Regine at the Inferno Festival 2007
2 Day one
2.1 Metal All Stars
2.2 Karkadan
2.3 Trinacria
2.4 Primordial
2.5 Paradigma
2.6 Zyklon
2.7 Watain
2.8 Suffocation
3 Day Two
3.1 Red Harvest
3.2 Ground Zero System
3.3 God Dethroned
3.4 Rotten Sound
3.5 Sigh
3.6 Legion of the Damned
3.7 Moonspell
3.8 Hecate Enthroned
3.9 Immortal
4 Day 3
4.1 Lobotomized
4.2 Brutal Truth
4.3 Resurrected
4.4 Dødheimsgard
4.5 Blood Tsunami
4.6 Dark Funeral
4.7 Koldbrann
4.8 Tiamat
4.9 Anaal Nathrakh
4.10 Sodom
5 Epilogue


1 Introduction - Mia Regine at the Inferno Festival 2007

When I heard Immortal were playing at the festival I bought tickets right away. I wouldn't miss it for anything. Immortal started the whole black metal-thing for me, and now I had a chance to see them live. Wohoo!

The Inferno Festival is Norway's biggest Metal Fest. It takes place in the capital city; Oslo, every Easter. People come from all over the world to be a part of it. Thousands of people come to see the 30 metalbands rock their socks off on two stages, and none of the bands play at the same time. There are two stages; the big one at Rockefeller and the small one downstairs, called John Dee.



I took the plane to Oslo from Stavanger the evening before the festival started and crashed at my dad's apartment. I went to bed and couldn't wait to wake up to take the subway into the city centre the next day!

2 Day one

2.1 Metal All Stars

Woke up, ate breakfast, took the subway to the city and asked people for directions to Rockefeller (the place the venue took place). When I got inside I didn't see alot of people... I had already missed out on Fatal Demeanor (dammit!) on John Dee, but the Norwegian Metal All Stars were getting ready to get on (Rockefeller) stage in a few minutes. The curtains were pulled aside and the festival (for me) had started. The All Stars were people from bands like Enslaved, Emperor, Red Harvest and Susperia. They played songs from Slayer, Motörhead, Accept, Metallica and Kiss. A great way to start the concerts on the big stage. In the middle of the act Lilker from Brutal Truth came on stage and played bass. People seemed to like it as much as the All-Stars themselves. It wasn't the best performance I personally had seen but as a starting band and with so many people playing it takes alot to make it 100% perfect. I liked it and it got me in a good mood.





2.2 Karkadan

Karkadan was the next band out on John Dee. The Germans knew how to get the audience in the real head-banging mood, and they delivered. Personally I hadn't heard much of the band before, and for those who haven't heard them at all: this band is worth checking out. If you get a chance to see them live I think you'll like it.



2.3 Trinacria

On the big stage Trinacria was going to play, and I think I wasn't the only one who was curious about this band. The description of the band goes like this: "we're not sure how to describe this band." "Ok.. well... that tells me alot".. I thought. When they started playing I knew why they had such a "weird" description. I've never heard anything like this music. Hild Sofie Tafjord was playing horn and adjusting some buttons (not my field, don't understand it, but it sounded good), and Maja Solveig Kjelstrup Ratkje did some vocals and adjusted even more buttons. Trinacria is a band concisting of members from Fe-mail, Enslaved, Manngard and Slut Machine. A journey for the soul.

Trinacria:
"We know the symbol from the occult and from the dollar bill: the eye and the pyramid. The Trinacria symbol denotes the continued presence of mysticism in civilisations all over the world, through all times. Inspired by this symbolism, Trinacria embodies a dynamic tension between relations such as extreme metal and noise; the powerful and the volatile; energy and mist; enlightenment and confusion; search and tradition."

This couldn't be more true. Their music was mystic and something never heard before. Actually one of the bands that really suprised me.



I was so hung up in the music and the people that I missed out on the band Unspoken (If you weren't there, you can't blame me). Unspoken is a band who is on their way up from the underground, and shooting up in the air with their Death Metal-ish music. Death Metal from Norway - a change in pace - damn I missed it.

2.4 Primordial

Primordial - now that's a band everyone should see. I don't care if you like it or not but they kick ass on stage. The Irish band has been a fact since 1987, and with Nemtheanga on vocals you can clearly see that they got experience. They are mixing black metal with irish folk-melodies, and I really like it when band do things like that.. gives you a feeling of their origin. I saw alot of bands during the three days in Oslo, but Primordial's way to make contact with the audience was amazing! Nemtheanga was jumping around on the stage, really showing off how much he loved being there. I don't think there is a inch on the Rockefeller big stage he hasn't touched. A deaf person would had loved it as much as a hearing person. Thumbs up (or horns if you like)!





2.5 Paradigma

Half an hour after Primordial I went up on Rockefeller stage; Paradigma started playing on John Dee. Paradigma is a Doom/Death-band from Norway. It's mystical, it's rough, it's soft, it's Norwegian. It's music that makes you feel the forests, mountains, avalanches and the rest of Norway's wild nature (Yes, I am fucking proud of being Norwegian). If you like Doom, but wished it was harder, less romantic and darker - Paradigma is your band. If you like Doom in general Paradigma is still your band.



2.6 Zyklon

Rockefeller started to get crowded.. I understood that Zyklon was about to get on stage. I pushed my way through all the people to get to the photograve. I most certainly wasn't going to miss them! It's the third time Zyklon played at the Inferno Festival and it seemed like they knew what they were going to. The crowd was cheering - and Zyklon delivered their Death Metal most proffesionally. Zyklon knows what they are doing, they have done it before and will probably enchant their fans/gain more fans over and over again. The bad thing is that they went off stage a lot earlier than they should have... I know they could had played more songs... so why did they leave stage so early?





2.7 Watain

Watain was a band I had been looking forward to see. I had a hard time getting down the stairs to John Dee because of all the people who probably also had been looking forward to see the band. People had warned me to go down with my camera (31 000 NOK... That's so much money I am loosing my perspective.. So what the heck!), but I really wanted to see, hear and get pictures of Watain.. As I got down (in the pits of Hell), I got to see the festival's first corspepaint. Blood, nails and black/white make-up. A dream for every Metal-photographer! I mean - Trinacria also had some sort of make-up on, but not the real "corpsey" one. Watain was, for me, Black Metal with some hints of Windir in it. My camera was still alive, and I was quite satisfyed with the pics I had gotten and the songs I had heard. I am officially a Watain-fan.

A quote from the Watain biography is the best way I can find to describe the band:
"In a scene of countless carbon copies and soulless attempts to evoke the majesty of the ancient black/death metal legacy, Watain stand solemn, silent, watching from the shadows, in genuine victorious sincerity."



2.8 Suffocation

A last, finally, Suffocation got up on the big stage. It was the perfect ending for a perfect day one. This band was one of the bands I had the most fun taking pictures of since it seemed they had so much fun standing on stage. Terrence Hobbs almost headbanged his dreads off, and Derek Boyer completed my "perfect" picture by holding his bass like a contrabass. They played one song after another almost completing their whole release-time line. Playing songs from the beginning of their era to the end. I didn't think Suffocation would dissapoint me, and they most definetly didn't! They gave everyone there a top noch Death Metal experience! I don't even think the most serious, sucidal, overpierced metalhead in the audience could hold on to his/hers angry face. You just HAVE TO laugh with (not at) these guys. A really good experience!



The day was over. I wanted to find a nachspiel but it was already late and I needed all the sleep I could get. This was only the first day - I needed to kick ass in the photograve for two more days!

3 Day Two

Woke up, ate breakfast, got my ass into town and of course I missed Ravencult!! I think there is some conspiracy going on to make me miss the first bands on the small stage. Damn! Ravencult plays old style black metal (which is one of my favourite genres, and of course I missed it). The Greek band plays Black Metal that is inspired by the first and second wave. Can it be any better?

3.1 Red Harvest

Red Harvest was the first band out on the big stage on day two.The Harvest-guys sent their Industrial metal into the ears of the audience and showed everybody what they were made of. The stage was filled with smoke from the smokemachines and at some point I couldn't see Ofu Kahn with his microphone. But that was ok! When the smoke cleared I got some kick-ass pictures of him and the rest of the guys!



3.2 Ground Zero System

Shortly after Ground Zero System got up on stage (John Dee).They also play some kind of Industrial metal, but with more piano and other clearer elements than Red Harvest. With influences like Rob Zombie and Nine Inch Nails they really worked it on the small stage. Alot of people were eager to see them, and the place was packed!



3.3 God Dethroned

God Dethroned was one of the two bands from the Netherlands playing at the Inferno Festival. With rocking guitar solos and a real grim vocal they made every headbanger present shake their as.. ehm.. hair. God Dethroned is a well astablished band (going back 17 years), and it is easy to see and hear that they have been "in the game" for a while. Horns up (yes.. there were alot of horns).



3.4 Rotten Sound

Rotten Sound, the Finnish people sure knows how to have fun! They were formed in 1993 and plays grindcore/death metal.Got some awsome pics of them!



3.5 Sigh

Sigh was one of the bands I had been looking forward to the most on day two. Japanese metal... Cool! It blew my mind with their death-ish metal. With cool elements like saxophone, a different use of keyboards and Mirai and Mikannibal's vocalwork. Forget Arch Enemy (sorry Arch-fans), this girl (Mikannibal) can growl like a demon who just got her skin peeled of. I had a real fun time in the photograve taking pictures of Sigh... Check 'em out, and you might get a feeling of how much energy they gave the audience from stage.





3.6 Legion of the Damned

The other band from the Netherlands was Legion of the Damned. It is a newly formed band who released their first album in January 2006. They play death/thrash metal (seems to be a lot of death metal at Inferno this year), and have just released their second album, "Sons of the Jackal," in January this year. Legion of the Damned is a new band worth listening to and there is no doubt we'll hear more from these metalheads who are clearly inspired by thrash metal from the eighties. Maybe a new album in January 2008 (No pressure guys!)?



3.7 Moonspell

The concert I attended to after Legion of the Damned was Moonspell, the winner of MTV euro awards for best Potugese act. Not my cup of tea but seing them live was fun! They started their career with Norwegian Black Metal-inspired music in 1994, but it seemed they found their own and unique sound.

"I'd say we are representing a mixture of horror and beauty, heaviness and melody. The Antidote starts off very brutal and ends very melodic. This way we close the circle. This is MOONSPELL."





3.8 Hecate Enthroned

Hecate Enthroned started making music together as a band called Daemonum in 1993. They toured a year, and then their former bassplayer Jon got an offer from Cradle of Filth to join them, and decided to leave. The rest of the band (with some new members) continued writing and making music. Jon later returned but left again (all this over some years), and somewhere in all the lineup changes they changed their name to Hecate Enthroned. This is real UK Black Metal. Sad keyboard-tunes and hard guitars, headbanging and blinding stagelights. Dean (vocals) connected well with the audience and instead of just performing their music, he sang to us. Thumbs up!





3.9 Immortal

IMMORTAL (yes, writing Immortal in capital letters is most highly done on purpose). Where to begin? First I stood outside the photograve for a long time.. I clinged on to my photopass, and checked the battery for the 50th time. Everything was set. I had my photopass, camera, battery and enough space on the memory card. I was going to see Immortal! Wee! The band that started my whole black metal-thing. There was no other place I wanted to be! Horgh was the first one out on stage, sitting behind drums with his name on them. The crowd was cheering, and you could cut the mood in the air with a knife. Amazing even before they started. It is impossible for me to give an objective point of view but nothing about this article is. If you want a regular review - find another website with Inferno reviews. Immortal got up on stage and they kiiiiickeeed ass!! They had some problems with the sound, and the guitar went quiet a couple of times. But I have to tell you:when they played "At the Heart of Winther" I had tears in my eyes. With the pyroshow and everything, all I can say is: Perfect moment. Perfect band. I'd just confirmed why I am such a big fan of the band.







End of day two. And what an amazing day! Tomorrow was going to be good too. Dark Funeral and Koldbrann was some of the bands. Wehey!

4 Day 3

4.1 Lobotomized

I finally made it to see the first band on John Dee (the small stage)! Lobotomized. They definetly like to drink beer with Satan, and I think they sold their soul to him to be sure they could give the audience a kick-ass show! These guys were fun! Throwing t(h)rash out to the audience from a garbage can. Skrapparkaren Marie Ellefsen (vocals) almost threw his own leather west but decided not to in the last minute. Good connection with the audience, and good entertainment. This is a real fun band! With songs like Drinking Beer With Satan and Freak Fucker it's good entertainment and catching songs.





4.2 Brutal Truth

Brutal Truth. Hard rocking grindcore, death metal ass-kicking rockers! Not much more to say but brilliant! They have been going strong since 1992 and have gathered a big audience in metal, punk, grindcore and other extreme genres. They delivered a great show, and I was so lucky I got some cool shots of them too. I saw suprisingly few people there, so I guess the metalheads ware getting kinda tired on the third day. But the people who showed up looked like they had a good time, and those who didn' show up missed out on one cool band!





4.3 Resurrected

The german band Resurrected has been going strong since 1993 with their brutal death metal. Their performance was strong but didn't blow my mind. Carsten Scholz has a good death-vocal, but I kinda feel I've heard this before... but maybe that's just me...



4.4 Dødheimsgard

Dødheimsgard (DHG) was a band I think alot of people were excited to see. Their visual effects were varieted and cool. Kvohst was dressed like some kinda overblooded mummy, and the rest of the band was scary enough, too. There were also mannequin dolls on stage dressed in tinfoil, gas masks and strap-ons. I feel I got some really cool pictures of them, and I am really proud of them! Why such a big band like DHG was playing this early in the evening I can only think of one reason - to pack the place up as early as possible. I can assure you it was packed. DHG is a band with not to many live performances on their back, so I guess no one wanted to miss it. I never had any "relationship" with this band but now I might spend some money buying one of their cd's. Out of curiosity! (CD's are expencive in Norway, and with my budget, I have to think through every cd I buy... I don't download music so.... ).







4.5 Blood Tsunami

The next band out on John Dee-stage was Blood Tsunami. I hadn't heard much of this band before this festival but I have to admit I was curious. If you have seen MTV's headbangers ball (Norwegian), the guy who hosts this show is also the singer/guitar player of Blood Tsunami. I was captivated at once! Real thrash metal! No fancy metal outfits and stash on stage! This was a band that stood out from the rest of the bands playing on the festival. Thumbs up for Blood Tsunami!



4.6 Dark Funeral

One of my favourite band was about to get on stage. Dark Funeral was the first band I bought a metal-shirt of. Captivated ever since I heard them! Real Swedish black metal... and those Swedes sure know how to entertain! The stage had pentagrams and a big devil's face behind the drums. All in red tones. There was corpse paint, outfits that could had been taken out of a satanic version of Conan the Barbarian! This band continues to amaze me. Yes, it's simple, yes, it's black metal, but there is something about their music that just amazes me. Definetly a cool band, and definetly a dream to take pictures of!





4.7 Koldbrann

I went to stand in line to get downstairs to see Koldbrann. I have been a big fan of this band since I saw them live in Drammen 2005 (the day before Inferno Festival '05 started). It is a perfect band to take pictures of because there's alot of headbanging and gruesome expressions. I tell you; these guys are holding a tight grip around the old scool black metal scene. Visually there is corpse paint, alot of nails and hair as far as the eye can see! They deserve a gold medal in headbanging. It is, as always, a delight to see and hear this band live. One of the best bands in Norway in my opinion.





4.8 Tiamat

I hadn't heard anything of Tiamat before the festival started. This band stood most out from all the other bands and I think they knew it. With their gothic metal they attracted a certain crowd but I think it was relaxing to a lot of the people there to listen to music with more melody and more defined tunes (not that it's anything bad about the other music). I have to admit I am a sucker for their song "Children of the Underworld" after I heard them. Cool band - cool pics.





4.9 Anaal Nathrakh

While Tiamat was playing I took a little walk around the stand area and I saw there was already a line down to the John Dee stage. Anaal Nathrakh was the next band there, and it was important for me that I didn't missed it. I figured if I should have any chance taking some good pictures of them, I had to get in that line even though it was a while until they would start to play. While I stood there in the line some guy from Bergen really explained with harsh words what he felt about people who were trying to "elbow" themselves forward in the line. That's right! You tell them! About the concert; I think I was to short to be down there(156 cm). I just took my pictures and got all claustrophobic.. All I could think about was getting out of the room... It might have something to do with the fact that is was the third day of the festival and I (among other) were starting to get kinda worn out. Well.. I got to hear most of the songs, and took some pictures so I was pleased anyway. The band's performance was brilliant! It was their first performance in another country than GB, and you could notice that they hadn't been on stage too many times. But they delivered, and the audience was ecstatic!



4.10 Sodom

The last band of the entire festival was Sodom. It was incredible! Their contact with the audience, their energy on stage and the music just HAD TO satisfy every metalhead who was there. These guys has been in the game for many years and know how to have fun on stage and capture everyone listening/looking. This wasn't a band that would surprise anyone (or so I thought), but they spread a good mood, and made every person there go home with a sudden reminder why metal is such an important, fun, inspiring, and great genre of music. The surprise no one was expecting came after all. In the end Abbath got up on stage and sang on their cover of Motörhead's "Ace of Spades." I know that almost every band has covered this song, but it's a great song and Abbath might as well change his name to Lemmy anytime..





5 Epilogue

The festival was over - I had to get to the apartment. My plane home to Stavanger was leaving early in the morning and I couldn't miss it. This is the second time I have attended to this festival (went there in 2005, too). No matter what people say about it, that it's overrated, no cool bands ever play.. that's ok. There are plenty of other people there! I love the mood, the people, the beer (could be cheaper though) and of course: THE MUSIC! I recommend this festival to all the metalheads in the world! I don't care how the line up is next year, I'll go anyway...

Thank you, Ivor, for giving me the chance and opportunity to write my first review and get a photopass!

See you there next year - you won't regret it!

Mia Regine
www.miaregine.com