The last day of Blastfest had Satyricon as headliner. With Immortal out of play and an inactive Dimmu Borgir, Satyricon are the only ones, together with Mayhem, of the big black metal bands in Norway. There are no signs of Satyricon giving up, on the contrary. The closing gig on Blastfest showed that they are still one of the absolute best live acts on the metal scene today. The other bands that I saw the last night, were Decapitated, Destruction, Tsjuder and Finntroll. (Picture above: Satyricon)

Decapitated were my first act this night. They are a highly respected death metal band from Poland, formed by guitarist Vogg in 1996. The band had a break in 2006, due to drummer VItek’s death, but started up again in 2007. Since then they have had other personnel changes, and the newest line up with, among them, singer Rafał Piotrowski works fine with me. Visually Piotrowski’s dreads are definitely a bonus.

From Decapitated I saw Tsjuder at the club stage. I have seen them once before, at the Inferno festival in 2012, and I like their old style black metal. The club stage at Blastfest was perfect for Tsjuder’s performance, with the fans close to the stage, forming an organic unity with the band. It was more challenging to photograph there, though, trying to shoot in between the fans.

Destruction are considered one of the big Teutonic Four of trash metal. They started out 33 years ago. Singer and bassist Marcel Schirmer and guitarist Mike Sifringer are still with the band. Drummer Wawrzyniec Dramowicz joined in 2012. Destruction plays old school trash metal, and many of the audience had come because of the band. They weren’t my favorite this day, but the fans liked them.

The second to last band on the main stage this night, were Finntroll from Finland. Their style is a combination of black metal and folk metal, and they are dressed like trolls, with big pointed ears. The band have a lively stage show, with singer Vreth running around, having fun and belting out the lyrics. As a show, they were the most fun at the festival, but not necessarily my favorite band to listen to.

Last out on the big stage were Satyricon. They delivered a demonstration in power with a hard, precise and well played show. They didn’t do anything else than what I have seen before, but from the opening of Diabolical, Now, they had full control of the audience. Satyr, Sigurd Wongraven, is, compared to many of his colleagues in other bands, more extrovert on stage, inviting the audience to participate.

Satyricon will release a concert DVD with live vinyl and CD from their concert with the National Opera Choir from the National Opera House in Oslo soon. I saw the concert then, and I can recommend the DVD. The band will tour Europe in April, so if you are anywhere close to one of their gigs, I do recommend seeing them.

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