Festival Review: Inferno Norway 2018 Day 4

All too quickly the final day of Inferno 2018 had arrived. The Sunday was also sold out meaning that overall this was the busiest year yet. Today there was the opportunity to take a guided tour in the footsteps of Norwegian artist Edvard Munch who painted “The Scream” and also created “Todeskuss (Kiss of Death)” which is the artwork for the latest Satyricon album Deep Calleth Upon Deep.

Napalm Death (c) Exposing Shadows Photography

There was a substantial and enthusiastic crowd building for Tsjuder, possibly because they have not played Inferno in six years. They hit the stage with ferocity and this did not wane throughout the set. Drummer Christian ‘Anti-Christian’ Svendsen leapt up from behind the kit at every opportunity to urge the crowd to chant along especially during “Kill for Satan”.

The biggest surprise of the evening was when suddenly Tsjuder’s backdrop fell away to reveal the infamous goat head logo as Bathory founding member and bass player Frederick Melander joined Tsjuder on stage. They finished the set with three Bathory songs “Born for Burning”, “Satan my Master” and “Sacrifice”.

Napalm Death need no introduction. Barney Greenway takes to the stage in his usual overactive, pleasant and chatty manner. They performed a fantastic set tonight with plenty of fan favourites such as “Scum”, “Suffer the Children”, Dead Kennedys’ cover “Nazi Punks Fuck Off” and “Breed to Breathe”.  They also had the only crowd surfer that I saw all weekend. My personal highlights were the two last songs “Cesspits” and “Inside the Torn Apart”.

When they were announced for this year’s festival I thought that Electric Wizard were a strange choice for Inferno, but I am not a fan. The crowd seemed to be divided into those who really loved the English doom band and those who spent the time on their phones or reading a book like one man I saw. They did have interesting visuals of 70s satanic/pornographic scenes playing in the background and when speaking to fans afterwards they were happy with the material played tonight.

Tsjuder (c) Exposing Shadows Photography

For the final band of the festival there would be a welcome return to Norwegian black metal in the form of one of the more extreme acts, Carpathian Forest. Nattefrost remains an engaging and menacing frontman whilst the rest of the band were suitable attired in various black leather and spikes. They delivered a mammoth set from their extensive back catalogue with highlights being “Black Shining Leather”, “Morbid Fascination with Death” and a cover version of Turbonergo’s “All my Friends are Dead”.

Of the four years that I have made the trip to Oslo for Inferno, I have to say that this year has been my favourite. The conference experience, the atmosphere at the official hotel, the selection of merch available from the stalls along with a fantastic line-up just all came together to make Inferno 2018 something special.

The performances from UADA, One Tail, One Head, Emperor and Satyricon were all something particularly special and have been a constant topic of conversation since my return home.

The dates for Inferno 2019 have been announced as April 18-21st 2019 and early bird packages are now available. The packages cost 1800 NOK and includes a 200 NOK merchandise voucher that you can use to buy (or partially buy) any official festival merchandise item.

The early bird packages are available in a limited amount. To purchase go to http://tickets.infernofestival.net – Well… what are you waiting for?

Photos by Exposing Shadows Photography

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