The second day of Inferno was a highly international day. Bands from Singapore, Italy, Brazil, India, Germany Sweden and Norway played alternatively at Rockefeller and John Dee. Dimmu Borgir was the headliner, but I got to hear six bands before they entered the stage. (Picture above: Impiety from Singapore)

Fleshgod Apocalypse

It is good to see that there are sustainable metal scenes in other countries. There are fans from all continents at Inferno, but the bonus is that we get to see their own bands also. The fact that bands like Kryptos and Impiety come all the way from India and Singapore respectively, and that they are equally good as their European colleagues, is a good sign.

My first band on Inferno’s second day, was Deathhammer from Norway who played at the Rockefeller stage. I only caught the last few minutes of their set, and they sounded angry and trashy, which is part of their style. What I heard was competent, but I didn’t hear enough to judge them.

The next band was the German black metal band Thyrgrim, who played at John Dee. To me they sound good and authentic old school, and they had an enthusiastic following. Visually they are also good, with corpse paint and a tight and intense set.

Back up to the Rockefeller stage, Impiety from Singapore were ready to assault the audience. I was really impressed by them, a band that played hard and straight metal, no fake, and with lots of good energy. I will definitely check out their releases.

From Impiety it was down to John Dee again for Kryptos from Bangalore in India. They have existed since 1998, and are part of the big metal scene in India. Their show was tight, well played, but not as aggressive as many of the other bands. Kryptos are at Inferno as a cooperation between the festival and Rikskonsertene. I welcome this as a good thing, giving the band an opportunity to travel, and letting us hear them in Norway.

The Italian band Fleshgod Apocalypse have taken a symphonic, or operatic approach to their music and stage show. With an opera soprano plus a pianist, and costumes like orchestra musicians, they gave a somehow different show than the other bands this day. I am still not sure what I think about the soprano, but I liked the rest of the band, and the pianist was an added bonus.

Syn:drom is a death metal band from Sundsvall in Sweden. They played at John Dee, and by this time of the evening, the audience ad got enough to drink to really embrace these tough guys. The singer, Jonny Pettersson would have scared the fiercest viking, and their concert was hard, brutal and good.

My last band Thursday night was Dimmu Borgir. Brazilian Mystifier played after them, but so late that I had already left. You can read about the Dimmu Borgir concert here.

All pictures are © Per Ole Hagen and must not be used without written permission.