Live Review: Inferno Metal Festival (2026)

You know the drill legions, another easter has come and gone and I spent it blackened in Oslo for the Inferno Metal Festival! A black metal blast within the halls of Rockefeller and John Dee every easter in Oslo.

With my camera in hand and merch money in pocket I pointed my nose towards Oslo. If you want to read a more in-depth review of the festival and how it operates, check out my previous Inferno reviews from 2024 and 2025. If not enjoy the band reviews below, lets get into it!

1914: The Ukrainian blackened death metal warlords were the first band to play the Rockefeller venue at this years festival. 1914 is a well renowned band that plays WW1 themed songs. I have been a long time fan and hold their album "Eschatology of War" close to heart, so I was excited to finaly experience them live. 1914 has previously had to cancel their apperance at the festival 4 times i believe, so it was well over due. Their set consisted of the new album "Viribus Unitis" and included multiple small political commentaries to the audience from their vocalist. 1914's concert held a serious undertone and the sounds of war rang in everyones ears.

Forsmán: Icelandic Forsmán were up next. The band shares members with Múr and Misþrming, so I had to check this one out. Darkened harsh riffs filled the room like only the Icelandics know how to do. A cold tone in the tunes, combined with enraged vocals is exactly what I like. Will definently listen to this band more.

Svarttjern: One of the best concerts of this year's festival belongs to Svarttjern. Hans Fyrste on vocals rules the stage with a terrific romance between silliness and brutality. He is accompanied by fellow Norwegian black metal heavy hitters and together they littered Rockefeller with sexualized black metal. Will see again.

Hulder: The Belgian (later United States of American) black metal musician "Marz Riesterer's" band Hulder was set to play at John Dee. The venue was filled to the brim with metalheads who wanted a glimpse of the folky yet raw black metal witch. The venue was darklit and the stage and props were decorated in ivy. Icy high-pitched vocals with swift and catchy melodies got alot of heads to bang. A nice gig overall.

Møl: Tried to go see them, this concert was beeing held at one of the Inferno club venues. I went 15 minutes before their playtime and the line in to the club was already long. While the rain was pounding the queue, I turned my nose back towards Rockefeller. I hope to catch them another time.

Tormentor: The Hungarian legends of Tormentor fronted by Mayhem's Attila put on a show for Inferno. Attila had some really cool low-gritted gnarly vocals during this show and was a real menace on stage. He roamed left and right on stage and terrorized his bandmates, whipping them hard as they play. Reminding me somewhat of Christoph Schneider with Rammstein on their live set of Buck Dich.

Automaton: My first club concert at this Inferno went to the greek blackened doom band Automaton. I saw them two years ago at the same festival, in the same club and enjoyed it enough for a second time now. This time around I was also accompanied by my good friend and now fellow BMZ collague Sotiris (@vfor5) and had a great time.
We also went to get food after this gig and accidently found the best kebab in Oslo. A small Turkish restaurant in the same street as Brewgata and Vaterland called Izgara, make sure to try this fantastic food if you are in Oslo.

Der Weg Einer Freiheit: My first time experiencing this band live after listening on and off for a couple years. A beautiful set stage with a good amount of smoke in the air. Rockefeller was packed as the band took to the stage. Beautiful haunting melodies and heartfelt vocals were delivered. Some tears fell amoung some of the audience during the duration of their set.

Groza: Another hooded black metal band, think amoung the lines of MGLA, and Midnight. Fast paced black metal filled the crowded venue with energy and Groza held the audience attention in their grip. A very fun, high energy gig.

Mayhem: Mayhem as always gathered a massive crowd when they headlined the 2nd day of Inferno. Rockefeller was stacked with metalheads in various stages of alcohol intoxication and the room was hot as f*ck. Mayhem was greeted with great applause from the Inferno crowd. Arriving to the stage right from the street was Teloch, Hellhammer, Necrobutcher and Ghul meanwhile Attila came from a theater wardrobe. The whole band in streetwear with capses and T-shirts except for Attila in full corpse-paint and a pope costume. What the f*ck. Musicly though, the concert was good, but Mayhem has to decide what to do about their clothing.

Hevn III: I started my morning with a beer in the shower while listening to a playlist of the days bands. A raw and energetic black metal track started grinding my ears, to my great amusement. I checked on my phone to see what band it was, and it said Hevn III. I looked up the schedule and saw that they were gonna play in Brewgata in just 40 minutes. I threw some food in my face and walked down to Brewgata and grabbed a beer with my friend Emanuel Salgado (ex-Iskald) that I found a good tone with in the Rockefeller queue, two years prior. We went inside to see Hevn III and had a great time. Raw, high energy black metal done in the lo-fi way. Check them out!

Angell: A set of young Norwegian teenagers who play well, Norwegian black metal. I havent heard of this band until some days prior when I saw Beyond the Gates announcing them for the Beyoung concerts they hold. The younglings played a great gig which alot of people had come to witness. I suppose every old black metal head is interested in seeing the youth carrying the torch further. Very well done concert, will definently check them out again. Support the youth, support the underground!

Hierophant: Watch out for the vocalist, he spits! Caught some right in my hair, a bit extra hairwax i suppose.. Spitting or not, Hierophant delivered high energy and volatile riffs. John Dee was warmer than the cheese in a gas station hot dog when Hierophant was done playing. I recomend seeing them, but bring a face shield because he did not only target photographers.

Kanonenfieber: This was my first time seeing the german hype tank Kanonenfieber and I had alot of fun. I saw them last year as Non est Deus at the same festival but now they brought the big guns and played the big stage. With pyrotechnics comfortably warming the crowd the band played hit after hit. The Sabaton of black metal if you will did deliver entertainment and showmanship. It acted abit like a refreshing shower between the more "trve" bands.

Bizarrekult: A great Norwegian band fronted by Roman who moved from Russia to Norway some years ago. High energy delivery from Roman on the vocals accompanied by rabid string musicians and drummer. Intense, up-close and personal gig with special guest Vicotnik (Dødheimsgard) towards the ending of the gig.

Mork: The word went around that Mork had a special gig planned for us this time as they played the big stage for the first time in Rockefeller. Inferno metal festival was in flames by Mork's impressive pyro's that put Kanonenfieber's to shame. Dressed alike, with "modern" corpse paint in face and their polished sound, Mork opened the 3rd day. A massive crowd had shown up for their gig and the band seemed to have a great time on stage which is always lovely to see. A much better show than what I witnessed from their side band Udåd here last year.

Primordial: The Irish black metallers Primordial always put on a good show. You know what you get with this band, great muicianship, fantastic performance from Alan and overall great atmosphere. Listen to Primodial, and if you are a vocalist of a band, take some notes from Alan!

Perchta: I wanted to like this band. Folk-black from Austria which is female fronted by a witchy character, supposedly. With the venue dimmed darker than your 75 year old uncle's humor, one could barely see the faces of the band on stage. Except for their melody-shaman (srry I have no idea what your instrument is called) in the very center of the stage who had a big ass reading light in his face, glowing him up like he was the sun. The vocals we're kind of alright, but threw my attention to much away from the music and made it sound too messy. Not my cup of tea.

Old Man's Child: Propobly should have been headlining the final day of the festival judging by the masses of people leaving after they were done playing before Deicide were set to take the stage. Old Man's Child were great, a good follow-up to when I saw them last summer at Tons of Rock with Hoest on vocals. This time around Galder took care of both guitars and vocals and did so greatly. A worthy black metal band to finish off the black metal gigs this time at Inferno.

Firespawn: A honrouble mention to the death metal band Firespawn who put on what I thought to be the best gig at this years Inferno festival. High energy, violent, deep gutted growls and drums hammering you down to your knees. Exactly the recipe on how to get a room full of metalheads to mosh. I enjoyed this alot, and they were much better live than what they can show to be when streaming it.

There were alot of other good black metal band's at this year's festival aswell but my editor will murder me if I write any more, and most of them I've covered before, that's why I've cut them from this review.

Honrouble mention: Myr, Sovereign, Mur, Nihilvm, The Kovenant, Darvaza, Whoredom Rife, Samael, Enslaved, Abhorration, Audn, and Malum.

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