This May it was time for another round of our beloved Karmøygeddon. It was a special one as it was the 20th anniversary of the festival so Boenna, King G and me went there to tell you everything about it.
As always the socalled “friendly hell” took place directly in the city center of Kopervik with a slightly bigger tent then usual but I guess it was less because of tickets but more weather related as it was pretty cold and rainy throughout the 3 days. Nonetheless we had a lot of fun with a line-up packed as hard as this years.
Coming to the most important part… the shows.
Day 1
Kilian: For me and my wife the first day kicked of with Sodomisery; they delivered a great energy fueled show but were sadly plaqued with sound issues. We just got the time to hook up with some of our friends, among them our editor, Boenna and his bandmates in Ulvhedner, but they quickly dispersed as they had to make sure to secure their spot at;
Mistur, the sognametal greats. We failed to get a decent spot in the small venue, as it was completely packed, so I have to relay on the reports of KingGorthaur and BoennaBornai:
KingGorthaur: I arrived a bit late for Misturs set (life as a new dad) and missed out on my photo opportunities but I stayed on the side of the photo pit and enjoyed their entire gig. A lovely energy on stage by the band, nicely mirrored by an eager crowd. Beautiful melodies of their sognametal clang in the room while our editor Boenna was screaming his lungs out on the barricade.
Boenna: I was screaming my lungs out trying to get KingGorthaur or Killian to bring me some more beers as I was completely crushed up against the barricade in front of the stage. There was not a chance in hell that I was gonna miss this rare oppurtunity to experience some true Sognametal on the same stage I’ve played myself. I tried desperately to take some pictures but it’s mostly blurry images of sweaty, half naked men drenched in beer so I choose to keep them in my NSFW folder.
Kilian: For us the next big show was Cor Scorpii, more Sognametal, who played a fantastic form of melodic black metal which I really enjoyed. My wife called it adventure black metal. A big highlight of the festival with them opening the main stage accompanied by the local Kirsten Jørgensen of Evig Natt, with her astounding opera-like vocals.
Boenna: Cor Scorpii delivered one of my true highlights of the festival. Their sound and stage presence was a perfect fit for the big tent.
Kilian: We skipped Bloodred Hourglass to fuel up on beers and food so we had the energy needed to stay the course.
After our refuel we rocked out to The Carburators. Those guys delivered an awesome form of heavy rock, which was like a mix of Elvis Presley and Motörhead. We really enjoyed them and their stage presence, it was a refreshing change of style in between all the black and death metal bands. It was a lot of fun and we danced like we went back in time to a 50’s diner show.
Covenant delivered symphonic black metal like no other with playing Nexus Polaris in full. They really kicked ass after being gone for so long. Definitely a highlight of the whole line up. If you get to see them on the road,make sure to do it! You will not be dissapointed; insane musicianship, great vocals and a fantastic atmosphere.
Boenna: Covenant made me do it! I pushed my way to the front of the big stage, motivated by beers and great music. From this point on my memory of the evenings proceedings are a bit faded so all I can say is that I truly enjoyed it.
KingGorthaur: Misthyrming brought the Icelandic ashe and blood to the small stage right after Covenant had layed their final symphony over the main stage. The venue was packed as the blood soaked men walked up on stage. Starting off with Orgia, Misthyrming delivers pace and crushing riffs. My own lungs and neck got a good workout from this gig.
Kilian: For Decapitated we hung more to the back of the audience behind the sound booth. Great show, played all the classics and i must ashamingly admit , i might have copied their sound settings ;).
And now to the cherry on top; Rotting Christ. After seeing them for the first time at Karmoygeddon 2023 as a support band, they got the top spot they truly deserve this year. What can I say except that we got the headliner show we would have loved to see in Vienna three weeks earlier. Non stop great songs with an energetic crowd that went completely crazy, myself included. And my highlight; they played Grandis Spiritus Diavolos. A powerful, wild song, that makes you scream from the top of your lungs.
Day 2
Kilian: The day began with an Austrian band; Roadwolf. These guys took us back to the 80s, with their stage presence, vocals and outfits. A great start for a promising day.
Next up was Whoredome Rife who delivered a satanic , hell unleashing fury of black metal that woke up anyone who was still tired or hungover from the first day. Pure Nidrosian Black Metal. Hard, fast and crazy, for an old school BM enjoyer like me, this band has been on my to do list for a long time.
KingGorthaur: As my colleagues were enjoying themselves with beer and tonics, I was on duty to report for you all. I have to mention Whoredom Rife aswell here because that show was fucking amazing. One of my favourite times seeing them, I just wish there were some more death up on the stage. Intense, raw and got my pump tick abit faster!
Kilian: Eclipse were the follow up for us and they performed a swedish take on arena rock and definitely got the audience moving.
One of my most anticipated bands, but sadly turned out to be a bit disappointing for me was Borknagar who played next. Do not think that they played bad; no they were fantastic as always., The problemn for me was to do with their setlist being of the more mellow and melodical kind and they would have been a much better fit later in the evening with the darkness combining with the mood of the music. Nonetheless I really appreciated their performance especially ICS Vortex’s bass playing skills and vocals.
KingGorthaur: Einherjer, the local pagan metal band is a big favourite for alot of Karmøygeddon goers, myself included. The band had big smiles and energy on stage, alot of great guitar work between the members and occational salutes to their familiars in the crowd. I enjoyed their set but felt like the songs picked could have been somewhat stronger, but I dont get to make the setlist so my loss there, hehe. Overall very enjoyable and it seemed like the rest of the festival had the same thought.
Kilian: What can i say (what can i do.. pun intended) about Dead by April. Their music is far from my liking being a metalcore band but they delivered one hell of a performance and knew how to get the crowd going. I have to admit I may have enjoed a song or two… Great musicians , well written songs and a stage presece that got everyone moving at some point, especially when they told the audience to sit down and then jump up as crazy as one can for the breakdown of the song. (My wife still blames me for not catching a drumstick).
As us being social people it was the last show of the day for us, because we retreated up into the lounge area with Boenna and Ulvhedner to have some beers and gin tonics and called it a day.
KingGorthaur: Frantic Amber was playing the small stage before bands on my skip list took hostage over the proceedings for a few hours; so I decided to check them out before my break. I had never heard of the band before and was surprised to experience a full on female death metal band out of Sweden rock the stage. Dressed to kill, the women of Frantic Amber delivered lightning riffs, thundering drums and deep growls. Very good stage presence from all of them and especialy vocalist Elizabeth had great audience interactions. Check them out if you get the chance!
Boenna: I woke up many times this friday. One of the times was successfull. So I made it to the festival and I got to see some of the bands. Frantic Amber was really good, made for a great show on the small stage. Slagmaur killed me. Thank you.
KingGorthaur: After having a break at home while Dead by April, Jorn and Hammerfall were terrorizing Karmøygeddon, I came back to see the last band of the day, Slagmaur. The band that I had falled in love with since before I even saw them first at their great gig a few years prior at Karmøygeddon Arctic festival was now back and I had too catch them. So at 01:00 I was back in the pit to cover the masked riff lords. Starting off with The Drummer of Tedworth, Slagmaur set the mood straight, washing away the power metal played moments earlier by Hammerfall with long, atmospheric and heavy fucking riffs. Slagmaur has this terrific nasty sound that I love and that love can also be seen on fellow Slagmaur enjoyers at the barrycade. (Sorry, not sorry Sigbjørn)
Day 3
Kilian: The last day kicked of with what would become one of our favourites of the whole festival; Månegarm. Their Viking fueled death metal pushed everyone infront of the big stage. Melodic , hard hitting and overall fantastic show. In the words of Lady Gaga; it was talented, brilliant, incredible, amazing, show stopping, spectacular, never the same, totally unique, completely not ever done before and so on. Definetly go to see them if you like your vikings to be less plastic and Netflix like Amon Amarth.
Evergrey, the swedish prog metal titans hit the stage next and they werre faboulous. To be honest I did not listen to them before and it was a surreal experience with their digital screen show accompanying their really awesome music. They delivered so hard that we bought tickets for their tour with Katatonia that the same evening.
After leaving Evergrey we watched Hellripper with their black metal fueled thrash on the small stage and boy did they go hard. Even in the small room everyone was crowdsurfing and moshing. A memorable experience for sure , even better; I got to interview them afterwards.
KingGorthaur: Hellripper is a band that I’ve enjoyed for a while so I was excited to see them live finaly. And what a ride I was in for. Man after man came flying over us in the photopit here in the small venue. The photopit cant really be called a photo pit as its small as fuck. There is no space between the barricade and stage other than the support-beam distance of the barricade. So cramped up here taking photos while grown as men were tossed over and beers pouring out were not ideal, with the first oppertunity to get out and to the side of the stage, I did exactly so. Incredible showman-ship on stage, James knows how to hype up his crowd and make a good show. The band was having a great time despite beeing their own security for some reason at this gig. Inbetween shredding and screaming the band had to catch the crowdsurfers flying in onto them. This only seemed to add joy to their already good mood as they started handing out some beers here too!
Boenna: Hellripper was awesome, like being a kid at a hardcore punk show, brought back a lot of memories. It certainly got me in the mood for the next band on the same stage.
Kilian: Next for us was; Varathron , the greek legends. After scoring a good vantage point in front of the small stage we ended up in the pit by accident. They were one of the hardest hitting bands I have ever seen live but unfortunately we had to leave after I took a knee to my face and an elbow to my ear. It nearly knocked me out and made me feel dizzy and close to unconciouseness, but Varathron were awesome and still worth; 10/10 would watch them again, maybe this time with a rugby helmet.
Boenna: Varathron is a fucking gem of a band. How they are not playing bigger stages is beyond belief. It was awesome being all up against the barrier in front of stage, but it got very wild as we had to shield some of our smaller sized friends from the ravaging moshing. Unfortunately I couldn’t save Kilian as I saw him being tossed around in the pit like the silver ball inside a pinball machine, I poured some of my beer into my mouth as a last showing of respect to my fallen comrade.
Kilian: Last but not least the festival weekend headliner … the mighty Satyricon. I finally got to see them delivering a headliner set. and without lying I think this was the best show I have ever attended. They played all the great songs except Phoenix but I was so crazy, full of adrenalin, beer and in a state of euphoria that I have to admit I can not say more than that. They are still going at full speed and as Satyr would probably put it; …they definetly aged like fine wine.
KingGorthaur: Satyricon played a fantastic show here, topped only by the show I saw two weeks prior at Inferno Metal Festival where they had Sivert Høyem join them to perform Phoenix. This gig however was still great with alot of banter from Satyr, with some good reminesence and history telling before playing Hvite Krists Død. At this gig too the crowd were tossed around and surfing non-stop. The guards were sweaty after this show, thats for sure!
Boenna: Satyricon are seemingly one of the few bands that are able to combine good stage production and professionalism with still remaing connected to their roots and original ethos, anti-religious black metal. They walk a fine line between catering to the masses and being anti-establishment but tonight none of that mattered as they delivered a great ending to this truly amazing, one of a kind festival.
Conclusion
Kilian: If you want to go to a festival where you can see all the bands on the bill throughout not get dissapointed, come to Karmøygeddon; but be aware at this point the festival passes for the 2026 edition are already sold out. This is definetly my favourite metal festival and I hope I can attend it many more times. (@Johnny can you hook us up with two passes?)
King’s Gallery
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