- Posted By: Dark Emperor
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Halfway through the festival we are feeling pretty good thanks to the convenience of the festival hotel and their location with respect to the venues. Today we are meeting some friends that we met back in the days of Blastfest up in Bergen, Norway, so it will be a heavy drinking day for sure. One thing that Inferno also organizes is both club shows, like the infamous Tuska after shows, but before the event. Additionally, Inferno organizes some screenings of movies, a nice extra dimension for those young kids that can wake up early, or don’t have to work remotely during the fest.
The first band on our list was Dark Fortress and their melodic/symphonic Black Metal. We wanted to watch them live for many years now, so it was a great bonus they were on the festival bill. Being the opener is hard for some bands, but for Dark Fortress, it was far from being an issue as their set was quite intense and very engaging, playing a wide variety of songs from their latest release to some of their older stuff.
Full photo gallery here.
One of our goals for the day was to avoid heading into the torture basement (John Dee) as every time we got completely stuffed in the front and it was a pain to vacate the premises during any band’s set. So after waiting with some beers and friends for Asphyx to come out, the legendary Dutch Death Metal band still know how to make an entry. The band’s songs are mostly classics, but they have released more new stuff that keeps their style true to their old-school antics. The band had people headbanging from start to end. And the band’s singer, Martin Van Druenen gave a killer performance as always.
Full photo gallery here.
Created from the ashes of Windir, Vreid is one of our favorite melodic Black Metal bands that has managed to keep things fresh and engaging with each of their latest release. After learning from the stage manager that there would be some pyro involved in the band’s set, we got pumped as it makes things look even cooler for the fans and makes it challenging for photographers to get a good shot. Riffing the crowd into submission, Vreid gave one of the best sets of the festival, so far, with tons of epic moments and their signature intense melody.
Full photo gallery here.
For the first time of the day, we managed to get ourselves down to the dungeon for Valkyrja’s set, a band that we recently discovered (back in 2018) while reviewing their latest release “Throne Ablaze”. The small stage has its advantages as some of the bands can give some truly captivating and killer performances with the crowd literarily at their feet. The Swedish outfit didn’t disappoint and completely leveled the place with their punishing and yet commanding Black Metal music.
Wasting no time, Marduk arrived with vicious vigor and commanding presence. We have seen the band probably like 25 times before and they have always been consistently good. Morgan and company manage to deliver that raw and in-your-face attitude. The Black Metal crowd suddenly packed the large stage as the band delivered blow by blow one of the most intense sets, they have given in quite a while.
Full photo gallery here.
One of the bands at the top of our list to watch at this edition of Inferno was Tulus, an old-school Norwegian Black Metal outfit that when growing up we loved as they had a very small core (three people) and cranked out some killer melodic/aggressive songs very effortlessly. As the band managed to deliver a killer set, the occasional listener that wondered down to John Dee was instantly hooked with the band’s catchy music and their nonchalant attitude. We are glad that we finally saw this band live, and what better place than this festival, as the sound for around 95% of the bands was more than perfect.
Full photo gallery here.
As the last band of the evening was about to come on, there was an energized expectation/vibe felt by everybody as Mayhem was waiting to take the stage. We believe that this is one of the ‘classic’ Black Metal bands that we have seen the most times, and even all the way back to when they had Maniac as their singer. However, watching them on ‘home turf’ is something that any fan of the genre and the scene has to do at least once, particularly when we come all the way from the USA. The band’s show used to be quite rudimentary, but now thanks to the addition of Attila they give one of the most intense and cool shows in the business. His antics with strobe lights and crazy movement, make him look like a ghost from The Ring movies, but creepier.
Full photo gallery here.
As the third day goes by, we are still amazed as to how friendly all the volunteers, stage managers, security, and venue/organizing people are. We have been to many festivals around the world, and usually the Scandinavian ones are the most accessible for both veterans and newbies, with great running orders, plenty of time to drink and eat, as well as centric venues to walk around and check out the sights of the host city. Thanks to the organizers at Inferno (Runar Pettersen) for hooking us up with accreditations for this event and making this coverage possible.
