- Posted By: Dark Emperor
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Finally after multiple cancellations, Inferno is finally happening and we had to be there. For one reason or another (mostly work), we have never been able to attend this festival and were pretty psyched when everything fell into place and we would fly over to Oslo for one weekend of Metal and friends from around the world.
With a tight schedule, we arrived in Oslo the first day Inferno started and had to make a mad rush from the airport all the way to the event hotel, Clarion Hotel The Hub in the heart of Oslo. Luckily we managed to check into our room, take a much needed shower and be ready to pick up our press and photo passes and arrived a bit late to photograph Djerv, but managed to get some shots from the second and third floors of the venue.
Full photo gallery here.
One of the advantages and minor disadvantages is that both stages from the festival are in the same venue, but one (John Dee aka the dungeon) is considerably smaller than the main one. With a busy day ahead of us, we made it down to John Dee for Regarde les Hommes Tomber, a band that always gives some crazy intense performances and this was not the exception as their set was just crushing and intense.
Full photo gallery here.
With no time to spare, we made it back up to Cadaver, a band that we had on our list for quite a while, on the main stage. People have started trickling in and it was considerably fuller than for the opening act. It is worth mentioning that 95% of the band always start on time on Scandinavian festivals, so having a plan and being at the stage a few minutes before will get you some nice spots to watch your favorite band.
Full photo gallery here.
After Cadaver delivered a great set of old-school Death Metal, it was time for Kovent, an all-female Death/Doom Metal band from Denmark. While not everybody’s cup of tea, this band set the John Dee stage on fire as their set was heavy and very headbanging worthy due to their intense and punishing songs.
Full photo gallery here.
Back on the main stage, Kampfar was gearing up to bring their intense Pagan Black Metal to the crowd. By this time, the venue was quite full and everybody was getting into the groove of finally listening to Metal music in a festival setting with no health restrictions. Per-Joar Spydevold is one of those intense vocalists that quickly gets the crowd to go wild while belting out the band’s most famous and newer tunes.
Full photo gallery here.
Sylvaine was the band we really wanted to watch this day, as they had never played in Oslo before, let alone the USA. We sneaked out way back to the dungeon and grabbed a front-row seat for this experience. The band’s music is magical on record and it was very nicely translated into the live setting with a very intense and compact set from Kathrine Shepard and company. Quite an intense performance to always remember.
Full photo gallery here.
Right after Sylvaine, we collected ourselves and made it back up to the main stage for none other than Ihsahn. A musician we have seen probably more than a dozen times, it is always a unique and intense experience. Playing songs from his latest EPs and an assortment of covers (also from said EP’s), this time his show was more raw and intense than before. While technical proficiency is always the foundation of Ihashn’s music, this live set had power and showed the band having tons of fun while getting the crowd to go wild.
Full photo gallery here.
We finally took a break from shooting bands and headbanging during Bölzer, a band we most recently saw at Soul Crusher 2021, grabbed a couple of beers and prepared ourselves for the closer: Triumph of Death. Led by Tom G. Warrior, this outfit brings back the old days of Hellhamer to new crowds with such intensity and brilliant execution. While the crowd was a bit older for this set, the place was packed to the brim, with people standing shoulder to shoulder while heabanging the night away.
Full photo gallery here.
After an intense day, it was finally time to head back to my room for a much delayed long slumber to be ready for the full intensity of the days head at Inferno Festival 2022.
Thanks to the organizers at Inferno (Runar Pettersen) for hooking us up with accreditations for this event and making this coverage possible.
Full photo gallery here.
