Friday night at the Inferno festival had My Dying Bride from the UK and Enslaved fromNorway as their headliners. Before them we also got Egyptian, Finnish, Norwegian and American bands on the two stages, Rockefeller and John Dee. With the highly international audience, this made for a black multi cultural night. (Photo above: Ben Falgoust of Goatwhore)

Goatwhore is a power band playing blackened death metal. Their singer Ben Falgoust, who is also the singer of Soilent Green, is a menacing front man for the band. This was their first Inferno performance, and they did a great job. Energetic vocals, fast and deadly precise playing and a good stage show. What more can you ask for?

Crescent

First out for me Friday on John Dee, was Crescent from Egypt. I must admit to never having seen any Egyptian metal bands before, but I liked Crescent. Death metal with elements of Egyptian music, and their lyrics is said to be based on Egyptian myths and history. An interesting band, and highly competent musicians.

Skeletonwitch

Back up at the Rockefeller stage for Skeletonwitch from Athens, Ohio. Trash metal is always fun, and Skeletonwitch are good representatives for the style. Visually they are also interesting, with artwork on their backdrop done by John Dyer Baizley, the singer of Baroness. He has also done artwork for the Norwegian band, Kvelertak.

Dødsengel

Next out at the John Dee stage, was the Norwegian band Dødsengel (Angel of Death). They are a band with rare live performances, and they were dressed in dark red robes, quite like the way Ghost’s musicians do. Musically they play relatively clean, majestic music, with some obvious references to rituals.

My Dying Bride

My Dying Bride are the leading doom metal band in the UK. They played at Inferno in 2004, and nine years after they are back again. On stage they use violin and synth teeter with guitars, bass and drums, and singer Aaron Stainthorpe is a dramatic interpreter of theiir gloomy songs. A highly suggestive and positively different performance that I liked immensely.

My last band at John Dee this night, was Sargeist from Finland. The venue was so packed that getting in front of the stage for photos was impossible, so I had to stand at the back. The band is said to play occult black metal, but I can’t really tell. Their show was good, and from what I saw, the fans really liked them.

Enslaved

Enslaved are the kings of viking metal in Norway, and also one of our foremost metal bands. They have toured extensively in the US, Canada and Europe. The band also plays regularly in Norway and they have a more and more solid stage performance. To me, their show last night, was one of the best I have seen with them. The combination of Grutle’s growling and Herband’s clean singing, the two guitarists Bjørnson and Ice Dale, and Cato Bekkevold’s steady drumming make Enslaved one of the most solid live bands in Norway in any style.

Ica Dale

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