For many fans of extreme metal, Easter has become synonymous with the Inferno Metal Festival in Oslo, and it is traditional for this awesome festival to begin with a warm up night, whether it be the Inferno “club night” a few years ago with bands playing at club venues around the city or more recently with Indie Recordings providing a label night showcasing bands off their roster.

This was again the case this year with the Indie label night offering In Vain, Vorbid and Eradikated at the SALT venue while there was also the opportunity to catch Imperial Triumphant and John Wiese at Blå and Bizarrekult at Vaterland (by pure coincidence, Igorr was also playing in Oslo tonight completely unrelated to Inferno).

Although it would have been good to see all of these, it was not possible and choices had to be made so I nailed my flag to the Indie Recordings night and having had a straightforward journey from the UK, dropped my bags at the hotel, grabbed my camera and headed to Salt.

Salt is a relatively new venue in Oslo and comprises several vibrant different areas including a huge sauna. This means that the wooden structures can host several different events at the same time and while the inferno warm up night was underway there was also burlesque bingo and a sauna event going on at the same time.

However, I stuck to the job in hand, grabbed a beer and headed into the wooden triangular structure for my first live encounter with Swedish thrash outfit Eradikated.

They have built up a reputation for fearsome live shows and I was looking forward to them getting my Inferno underway. An enthusiastic crowd welcomed them to the stage as they launched into their energetic, raw thrash attack.

There were easy comparisons with early Metallica, Slayer and Exodus but the band also put their own stamp on things and were far more than just clones.

The set passed quickly as the crowd became more energetic and the rapid fire songs blurred into one satisfying sweaty thrash onslaught. A great way to get my festival underway.

I grabbed another beer and a spot for Vorbid. I have caught them a few times before and was expecting more thrash, but I was wrong (at least partly) and it seems the Norwegians have evolved since we last met, heading more down the prog metal road.

Introducing themselves as “Fra Norge” got a big cheer from the crowd who lapped up tracks from the latest album such as ‘Paradigm’ and ‘Derealization’ although the highlight of the set was perhaps ‘By The Edge of Mandala’ which was an epic opus where swirling melodies and guitar solos effortlessly entwined.

One second I found myself comparing the sound (and vocals) to Chuck Schuldiner and Death, and the next latter day Opeth as it occurred to me how much they had matured since I last saw them and how more assured and confident the whole band appeared.

Definitely one to keep a close eye on.

It fell to Norwegian veterans In Vain to close the music for the evening for me. The crowd had thinned a little and I suspect some had left to check out the other venues but those that stayed seemed to enjoy things and they were given a masterclass in extreme prog metal as In Vain fused thrash, death and black metal elements with more progressive elements bringing an intensity to the evening not quite achieved by the first two bands.

There were multiple vocals coming from the stage supporting the two main vocalists which worked really well as death metal growls sat alongside cleaner vocals. The set swang back and forth between heavy, caustic and mellow, progressive sections and kept the crowd transfixed during tracks such as the wonderful ‘Floating on the Murmuring Tide’.

Great stuff! Once again, Indie Recordings had delivered a quality warm up night for the Inferno festival and they had whet my appetite for the four days of extreme metal that were to follow.

Words and Photos: Andy Pountney @shot_in_the_dark_photography2

Part 2