(This is our Oslo-based contributor Chile‘s report on the second day of the second edition of Oslo Deathfest, which took place on November 29-30 this year, accompanied by his photos.)
Saturday morning came too early, the sweet aching of the body’s night excursions seemingly still present. A couple of cups of coffee later, all is well again, the mysteries of the organism. A perfectly choreographed self-hypnosis ritual. The ice has retreated from the streets and given way to the rain in a move surprising absolutely nobody here. We are ready to go.
Second day of Oslo Deathfest keeps the format of the previous day, but goes even harder with eight bands in total and starting at four in the afternoon to accommodate them all. We are once again greeted by the organisers and the good people at Vaterland for the first two bands.
At this moment, just before the start of the first band, we should also take a moment to give kudos to the organisers and the venues for running the festival so smoothly. This all, of course, looking from the audience side, I won’t go into the organisational acrobatics needed to organise an event of this size and everything included for fourteen bands and accompanying miscellanea.
Anyway, the first band is ready to start, waiting for us to finish the previous paragraph. Sweden’s Bastard Grave kicks off the festivities right on time making us succumb to the almighty riff and some friendly, necrotic ecstasy for the forthcoming half an hour. Three albums into their career, the band certainly doesn’t lack the material to do so as they give a nice retrospective heavily drawn from Diorama of Human Suffering and last year’s Vortex of Disgust, two of their most accomplished albums.
HM-2 inspired brutality, taken from the book of their compatriots in Entombed and Dismember, doesn’t disappoint and takes a path of its own, down the river of death. The audience clearly feels it too and gives out the respect the band deserves.
https://pulverised.bandcamp.com/album/vortex-of-disgust
Ecstatic death reign continues on our journey through the northern regions, this time stopping in Finland for our next guests, the mighty Ashen Tomb. Freshly off the release of their debut album a month or so ago, they pull us in medias res into the torture chamber, elevating us to a higher level by the sheer force of their music.
Quintessentialy Scandinavian sounding, with manic guitars and the vocals of Ilkka Laaksonen that seem to pierce cloud, shadow, earth and decomposing flesh, the band storms through its set like the champions raiding the ancient tombs. The filth oozing from these tombs spills out onto the floor of Vaterland as we are all bathed in its sempiternal glow. All this makes for a fantastic sendoff as we are about to change venues once again.
https://ashentomb.bandcamp.com/album/ecstatic-death-reign
After a short walk, we are back in Goldie for the remainder of the evening. Having so far witnessed mostly bands of the rotting, downright graveyard provenance, it seemed the time has come to lift our hands to the vastness of the cold void of space. In comes Celestial Scourge, the first band of the night in the bar section.
A new force on the Norwegian scene, the band shares a good deal of its members with Blood Red Throne, but soundwise couldn’t be further away. Playing an imposing brand of technical death metal that is in equal measures virile and virulent, the band dishes out songs from their Dimensions Unfurled EP released last year in rapid fire, with notes coming at us with the strength of charged particles. No wonder their set seemed to fly by at warp speed. They also announced their debut album for next year by playing some new songs, so we’ll be keeping an eye out for that one.
https://celestialscourge.bandcamp.com/album/dimensions-unfurled
If there was one name on this year’s festival lineup that made me look twice, it was Dead Neanderthals. I was familiar with some of the music released by this Dutch duo hailed as masters of improvisation. I just wasn’t sure at first if it was really them, mostly because one wouldn’t normally associate them with death metal (although they’re no strangers to metallic excursions). As it happens, it was them, and what we got was more of a performance and a unique experience for everyone attending.
Accompanied by the Norwegian artist and noise musician Sten Ove Toft on guitar and effects, they absolutely crush it straight out of the gate and for almost half an hour they don’t stop. Layer upon layer building the improvisational cathedral based on the inhuman stamina of René Aquarius on drums, who doesn’t skip a beat for the whole duration, made this a welcome change of pace. Hard to put into words, as it was one of those “had to be there” moments.
https://deadneanderthals.bandcamp.com/music
Again going back up to the bar, we are greeted by the cryptic Brüder from Cryptic Brood (get it?, no, nevermind), the only German band in the lineup of the festival, with three albums under their belts; the fantastic Necrotic Flesh Bacteria being the last one released only a month ago. And just when we thought we were out, they pull us back into the unholy trinity of tombs, graves and crypts.
Everything is old school in these poisonous realms. From the very logo that adorns the wall behind the band, the art on their merchandise, to the fantastic feeling when someone yells “Necrotic Flesh Bacteria” at you, one cannot stay calm. Body starts to move in mysterious ways through this realm of rot, witnessing all the harrowing hallucinations that the band is conjuring for our corroded remains to enjoy.
In two evenings of great performances, Cryptic Brood would surely be one of the top ones (if we were inclined to make such a list, anyway).
https://crypticbrood.bandcamp.com/
The long-running Norwegian death metallers in Execration were the next band to present their music in the club downstairs. Them being one of the great-ations of death metal was never in question and I was excited to finally see the band live after enjoying their music for years now.
With no word about a new album and a long seven years since Return to the Void, the band turn their gaze back and deliver some of the gems from their discography. Always more of a thinking man’s death metal with their approach to lyrics and music, songs like the fantastic “Funeral Procession” or the stomping “Soul Maggot” have an almost otherworldly feel to them, adding a quality that puts the band on a trajectory of exceeding the mere confines of the death metal domain. The monstrous “A Crutch for Consolation” only solidifies our feelings and shows a band burning with strength and determination.
https://execration.bandcamp.com/
For the last slot upstairs, we turn to another band from Finland, Morbific. In simple terms, the band starts playing and chaos ensues. In a more elaborate way: the crowd goes wild in a fantastic display of great chemistry between the band and audience, turning the bar area into a warfield of bodies strewn on filthy riffs stretching as far as the eye can see (so not that far, it’s a relatively small place, but still).
As for the music, the band dishes out some mean, old school bangers anywhere between the slower mentality of Autopsy and whatever band has something rotten in its name. Bursting through the abdomen of the stage like some kind of extraterrestrial, Morbific are all teeth and snarl in a seemingly simple, yet very effective display of putrid brutality. They sawed us gently without hurry, causing no lethal injury, like some ravenous intruders, and we liked it.
https://morbific.bandcamp.com/
Finally, midnight is approaching, soon to give way to the small hours. We are on our way to witness the final band for this year’s edition of the Oslo Deathfest, the unrivaled Greek masters of Dead Congregation. The journeymen of sombre doom, fresh from their South American tour, find welcoming hearts here under the freezing moon; let the end times begin.
Simultaneously primal and apocalyptic, they really are one of the great bands of our era, building their temple high like a tower scourging through the very existence of heaven. With our body parts spread all around this tower, there is none who can resist the sheer magnitude of this music. As the music is what really matters; for all I care they could throw darts blindfolded at their discography and whatever gets played would be a winner.
Still, some things you cannot miss, so we get an equal measure of Graves of the Archangels and Promulgation of the Fall with an added value of a couple of choice cuts including the “new” song “Dismal Realms”. No word obviously about the new album, but until then the likes of brilliantly crushing “Serpentskin” and the closing total death of “Teeth into Red” will have to suffice.
https://deadcongregation.bandcamp.com/
In the end, being humans with our basic needs, we wanted more and no one could blame us for feeling that way after witnessing some of the best death metal on display today. For many of us, this is the life. Being in front of a stage watching a band that you have a special connection to, even if it’s a matter as simple as digging the graves of archangels or reaching catharsis through torture, this is it.
The joy of discovering a new band or straining your neck muscles to a song you’ve heard a hundred times, doesn’t matter, we are all in this together, we know the feeling. Most of us did not go quietly into the night, and some went already thinking about Oslo Deathfest 2025. Let the wait begin.
More information and relevant updates on the festival can be found on their respective website and social media accounts: