We had a blast at last year’s Inferno Metal Festival, a huge extreme fest in one of the most extreme countries for metal. And while it’s still eight months away, 2015’s Inferno Metal Festival has unveiled its first five bands, as well as its dates, and it looks to be a great one. Behemoth and Enslaved are among the headliners, and My Dying Bride, Septicflesh and Antichrist were also announced. That would be an impressive lineup even without the 40-plus bands that will be added to the Fest, which will be taking place from April 1-4 in Oslo. Where better to see some of the most extreme bands that metal has to offer than arguably the birthplace of black metal? We asked Inferno for comment on their fifteenth year, and its press agent Runar Pettersen responded:
Music Norway’s agenda is to front and focus on Norwegian music and to get the music out to the world, to say it with a very few words. Which is exactly what Inferno has been doing for 15 years now. When Inferno Metal Festival started out back in 2001 there was not any metal festivals here in Norway in that kind of size. Norwegian metal had already a large cult following around the world and now we was giving black metal fans worldwide a reason to visit our country. Today black metal is Norway’s biggest cultural export and we notice it as over 30 percent of our audience is from outside of Norway. For us it is important to show also new and underground bands and give them a stage and a large audience. Even that Norway is most famous for black metal we also have a large number of groups within all sub genres of metal here in Norway. From progressive metal to thrash metal. Inferno Metal Festival gives those bands a chance to show them self to an international audience. Specially on our club day where we let a huge number of small bands play at many clubs around in Oslo. We also have Inferno Music Conference that is a meeting place for artists, promoters, journalists, producers, etc. from all over the world that comes together.
Inferno Metal Festival has for 15 years now been the most important festival for Norwegian metal. Many small bands has started out at Inferno and are today well-known bands. We will continue to do so and front Norwegian metal at its very best.
You can find out more information about the fest here.
