Live Review : Inferno Metal Festival @ Brewgata, Vaterland, Rockefeller, John Dee in Oslo, Norway on April 20th 2025

The last day of a festival is always bitter sweet with a whole day of great music to come, but also the knowledge that this is the last day and tomorrow is the journey home, back to work and the realities of daily life. Still, I kept a positive attitude and determined to make the most of the day I headed to a matinee show, specifically Dizmal playing at the Kniven bar. I headed down the stone steps into the murky cellar like venue, which was absolutely rammed. Before too long the band took to the tiny stage and unleashed their raw Norwegian black metal which reverberated around the tiny venue, bouncing off the walls and low ceiling creating a maleficent atmosphere. There was an oppressive feeling in the room as the dense, primal sound permeated the crowd and there was a feeling that there is something special here, and I will definitely be giving the band more of a listen when I get home. 

When Dizmal finished, I headed around the corner to Rockefeller to catch the opening band on the main stage, Denmark’s Lamentari. The stage was full of candles and other paraphernalia bearing the band’s logo as the band appeared wearing cloaks and masks launching into their ritualistic symphonic black metal. Midway through the set there was a short unmasking ritual, leaving the band to play with their identities visible, albeit with corpse paint in place. This didn’t affect the overall impact and the music remained heavy, powerful, direct and yet melodic, winning over large sections of the crowd. Another band I promised myself I would listen to more when I got home. 

Another band from Denmark, Thus, followed downstairs in John Dee, making their Inferno (and Norwegian) debut. The band label themselves as melodic death metal, but at the time while being pummelled by tracks such as ‘Inhale the Ash’ and ‘Atlas of Hate’ I wrote “blackened thrash” in my notes……Checking out the band again I would agree with the melodic death tag, but at the time the energy, and speed of playing definitely had me thinking there was a thrash element, perhaps in part influenced by the vocalist bearing a resemblance to a young Mr Hetfield! Either way, let’s not worry about the label - this was fast, frantic and frenetic with chunky riffs, shredding guitars and cutting vocals……fantastic stuff. I have no doubt we will be hearing more from this young, talented band. 

Back up the infamous staircase, Swiss atmospheric black metal troupe Schammasch were creating epic soundscapes that were swirling around Rockefeller. The band were initially dressed in cloaks and wearing masks, spending much of the set bathed in dense red light and appearing as silhouettes. Their expansive, atmospheric and progressive music was mesmerising as tracks such as ‘They Have Found Their Master’ and ‘Golden Light’ unfurled themselves around the gathered crowd. The band spread the short set across their back catalogue and all too soon things were being drawn to a close with ‘Chimerical Hope’. I always enjoy falling under the spell of Schammasch and today had been no exception. 

Things took a more brutal turn downstairs in John Dee as Nattverd proceeded to batter the capacity crowd with their aggressive, confrontational black metal. The band have been agitating the underground for a while and have five albums under their bullet belt including the recently released “Tidloes Naadesloes”, and we got ‘Iskalde horn’, ‘Doedsfugel’ and ‘Raatte og Raatt’ from that if I recall correctly. The focal point was frontman ‘Ormr’, perhaps better known as Doedsadmiral of Nordjevel (amongst others), and he proceeded to glare at the front rows as he spat his venomous vocals into the crowd. This was hostile and belligerent from start to finish and was the epitome of Norwegian black metal. 

Sweden’s Naglfar delivered more black metal upstairs in the main room, drawing from their seven albums and delivering a set of fierce melodic black metal. Opening with ‘And the World Shall Be Your Grave’, then band ploughed through their set with minimal crowd interaction, letting the music speak for itself. Following on from the brutality of Nattverd, Naglfar came across as more refined, perhaps even more mature, as their melodies swirled around the room, but let’s be clear, they still hit like a sledgehammer! Naglfar are a stalwart of the Scandinavian black metal circuit and they showed why tonight as tracks like ‘Feeding Moloch’ and ‘Harvest’ oozed class. 

There was another variation of black metal in the basement as Finnish band Bythos delivered a rare live set. The band members have an impressive pedigree with bands such as Horna, Behexen, Chamber of Unlight and Night Shall Drape Us amongst many others appearing on their collective CV. Opening with ‘Black Labyrinth’ lay a marker for the initiated of what to expect as their icy, malevolent black metal maelstrom swirled around the small room. There was no nonsense and no frills as the band built more and more momentum, with the atmosphere becoming more sinister with each track, until we were able to take a breath and relax as ‘Luciferian Dawn’ came to a close. This had been special and I was glad to have had the opportunity to catch this band on a rare live outing. 

There was another special set next from Norwegian black metal diehards Tsjuder in Rockefeller. The first half of the set saw the trio, replete with their usual corpsepaint and spikes, run through a short set of Tsjuder “classics” including ‘Possessed’, ‘Kill for Satan’, ‘Ghoul’ and ‘Kaos’ before the band were joined by Frederick Melander of Bathory to run through a short set of numbers from that era. The backdrop changed to the familiar Bathory goat as Nag handed bass duties to Frederick while he concentrated on vocals as they opened with ‘Sacrifice’ and ‘The Return of Darkness and Evil’. The crowd were ecstatic to be hearing these tracks again, especially with the original bassist, but all too soon the set closed with ‘Born for Burning’. It was great to have been present for this memorable set that will go down in history. 

I made my way downstairs for Celeste, having never had the chance to see them live before and looking forward to their set. The most striking thing initially was that virtually the only lighting that the band had was from their red head torches, creating a unique atmosphere as all that could be seen were streaks of red light. The music then took over as their set built, fusing post black metal instrumentals with aggressive, harsh vocals resulting in a sound that swayed from dissonant to atmospheric, bordering on ambient. As the music ebbed and flowed it built an immersive, claustrophobic atmosphere in John Dee which I was thoroughly enjoying but had to leave a few minutes early to wearily head up the staircase for the final time ready for the final headliner. 

Behemoth hit Inferno as the third part of the Unholy Trinity tour, with Rotting Christ and Satyricon having played the day before. Over the last 34 years, the band have crawled from the murky Polish black metal underground to become a household name in metal circles across the world as they have evolved from a raw, low fi black metal outfit into the blackened death metal titan we know today. They have been no stranger to adversity and controversy and have had numerous run ins with the authorities for their blasphemous views and imagery, and this continues with their present stage set up and their soon to be released and subtly titled album “The Shit ov God”. The show opened with new track ‘The Shadow Elite’ followed by ‘Ora Pro Nobis’ and the first of many explosive, extensive pyro barrages of the night. ‘Demigod’ and ‘The Shit ov God’ followed with fire seemingly shooting all over the stage. The band ran around as much as the pyros allowed, and the capacity crowd responded loudly. If I counted correctly the band visited nine of their albums giving a good spread of material, culminating in personal favourite ‘Chant for Eschaton 2000’ and ‘O Father O Satan O Sun!’ closing the festival in a suitably blasphemous manner on Easter Sunday. 

Once again, Inferno had delivered and shown why they continue to sell out year after year. There had been four days of exemplary extreme metal across a variety of genres and venues, with everything running like clockwork to the minute. The conference had once again been interesting with plenty to offer, and the festival had given attendees the chance to catch up with old friends and to make new friends with like minded people. Perhaps most importantly, the festival is about more than music, it is about people and culture, and long may it continue. I have already bought my ticket for next year. See you there?

Check the “In The Flesh” page for more photos!
Behemoth + Celeste + Tsjuder + Bythos + Naglfar + Nattverd + Schammasch + Thus + Dizmal