28-03-2024 Inferno Festival

The main venue hosts two stages, Mainstage Rockefeller and the smaller stage John Dee. When we arrived at the venue the first act that we were seeing is the Norwegian band Keep of Kalessin. The band has a melodic touch to their sound and while it has been quite some years of silence around these guys, in 2023 the guys returned with a new album called “Katharsis”. Now we had the chance to see how the band brings it live and they did this with flair. They brought their music with a good dose of darkness where the sound and the performance were in good harmony delivering a nice live experience for the audience which showed up early enough to present the band with a properly filled audience to play for. Good to see the band return!

On the smaller stage it was the band ORM we would see first. The band comes from Denmark and has their latest release dating back to 2022. Their performance was energetic and the sound they make is rather Melodic. With the themes the band incorporates in this sound they are a great match with this festival. The beginning of the set was setting the tone, the band does not let time go to waste to show you what they are intending to bring. The band increased the intensity of the songs while the audience was adapting to it quickly. The interaction was there which was one of the points that makes the performance of ORM one that stood out today. This is a band we hope to come across more often for their show would work also work well on larger stages.

Speaking about highlights, Nordjevel will certainly be one to mention as well. The formation is presenting us with a rather raw and cold Black Metal sound with a decent tempo. The listener needs to pay attention because the guys bring a lot of elements in a short time. Combined with a hyperactive show where lights and performance are complimenting the chaos the music produces the band sets a rather clear atmosphere that matches well with expectations of the audience as it seems. The band’s latest album “Gnavhòl” seems well present in the set, and it is clear this album has done well with the audience as the response of the audience indicates the familiarity with it is high.

Going back to the smaller stage we were ready for Crypta, which is a rather different band than what we have seen before at Inferno today. The Brazilian formation plays Death Metal and therefore has a bit of a different vibe than the bands before them. A bit of décor on the stage helps the formation in setting the atmosphere and it seems that there are plenty of people who are curious about what this band brings. The enthusiasm of them is contagious, where guitarist Tainá often walks to the front of the stage to hype people up, it is clear the interaction with the people in front of them is giving energy to both sides. With “Shades of Sorrow” out the band has a lot to give, vocalist Fernanda knows exactly how to put in a lot of vehemence to their sound and thus we are not surprised that even though they are bit different from most bands here today, they certainly did a great performance.

Candlemass is a band we have seen several times through the past decades and their Epic Doom sound has become a stable factor through the years. While the band has a lot of albums on their name, the followers of this formation know that the band likes to choose different formats also, resulting in a long discography with splits, EP’s, singles and live albums complimenting their studio albums. Today the guys choose for a good variety of songs from their career. Some of the classics played are dating back over 35 years of their four-decade long existence. But one thing is to notice, while the band surely have varied a bit in their style it always fits in good line with each other and that is why the set works so well here today. The band seemed enthusiastic to perform at this place and making their set come close their audience the band have surpassed our expectations of todays show.

Cattle Decapitation was headlining the smaller stage and it has by now became almost impossible to enter the hall if you have been lingering too long at the Candlemass show. Seems that these guys draw a good crowd and in such a manner that they probably could have played the mainstage as well. The guys have released an album as well as a split last year, so they were having some fresh material to release upon their crowd tonight. Due to the enormous crowd, it has not really become possible to linger around to long after our photo duties, which is something that we had to face more often during this festival. So we were not able to see a substantial part of their set. The first couple of tracks which we were able to see were vicious, fast and brought with a good passion. Then it felt time to head out and make space for someone who was waiting outside for anyone to leave so they could get in and see the show.

Closing this day was up for the Norwegian Kampfar. Now Kampfar is a band that we have seen around often and anytime they crossed our path they would play on a smaller to midsize venue. Always worked out great, their music works great with the cozy spaces filled with Pagan Black enthusiasts. So imagine how curious we were to see how the band would translate this to the mainstage of Inferno. Well, the audience was there fully. The band had a full house to impress, and they did this well. The band has a new album coming up and while the previous albums were warming us up for that the band brought some pyros to add to the atmosphere. No roast, an atmospherical add that suits their show well. Front man Dolk is finding his way all over the stage bringing these words to you as if he is standing in front of you no matter where you are located in the venue. Kampfar shown what a great headliner they can be and hopefully they get to do this at many more festivals across Europe.