After waiting outside the venue in the rain for the best part of an hour, you could say I was ready to get inside and enjoy what promised to be a glorious night of metal! Once in, I got a good spot overlooking the stage, and prepared myself for the coming event.

Curiously, Enslaved – the most high-profile band there, along with Arcturus – took to the stage first. Apparently this was because their drummer had to leave early to go on a fishing holiday, but nice of him to drop by nonetheless! Although first on, Enslaved burst into their set leaving no one doubting the majesty of the band’s sound, and certainly got the night off to a great start. In hindsight, it may have been best that they did go on first, because it certainly set the standard for the rest of the night, and warmed the crowd up thoroughly.

The band’s progressive, mid-paced black metal sound is truly one that needs to be heard by everyone, and preferably live. Unlike so many bands, each song seemed effortlessly different from the next, while still maintaining the complex atmosphere that is their trademark. They played a number of tracks from their recently released album Isa, as well as lots of crowd favourites delivered with precision and passion. All the band members were on top form, switching from passage to passage very tightly. Nearly every song they played was lengthy and complex, but all were captivating and beautiful, and it was a shame they only played a 45 minute set. A superb start!

Grimfist were the next band to take to the stage, and although they had early technical problems with the bass guitar, they soon got into their set and offered a delivery very different from Enslaved, but still enjoyable. For those who haven’t heard the band, they mix a large element of thrashy death metal with more black metal tendencies, and their set was refreshing. The only thing that could be said is that variety wasn’t really much of a presence from song to song, but then again they were basically just delivering a live rendition of their only album out so far (Ghouls of Grandeur), so perhaps understandably had less material to draw from. Despite this, I enjoyed their songs a lot, and there was plenty of thrash-based riffage to take in. They dedicated one song to the late Dimebag Darrell which got a deserved applause, and overall they delivered an intense battery of blackened death metal which went down very well with the crowd.

The change over for the next band seemed to last an age, as Madder Mortem prepared to perform. Finally they began, but frankly they were the disappointment of the evening. I was curious to see how they fitted female vocals into their sound, but to be honest I was not at all impressed with their set. From the first song I found my attention wandering, as their brand of “dark” metal failed to interest me. They didn’t seem to have any memorable riffs, and the bulk of the guitar work consisted of rhythmic, one-noted grooves that really weren’t very inspired. Nor did I much like the vocals. They were ok for what they were, but I didn’t feel they worked too well with the rest of the band, and certainly clashed with the precedent set by the previous two bands.

I didn’t give up on them straight away, but after half of their set I still found myself losing interest. Even the sound quality was markedly worse than the previous two acts, as the guitars were barely audible over the drums and vocals. I don’t mean to be too harsh on them, I suppose they just weren’t my thing, but judging by the crowd response they were hardly anyone’s “thing”. Put simply, they weren’t worth the wait.

Another half hour of preparation got us ready for Red Harvest – another band I was interested to hear – and thankfully they lifted the event again somewhat. I wanted to see how they accommodated the industrial, electronic elements of their style in a live performance, and on this level they were quite impressive. They have a ‘sampler/programmer’ as one of their members, and I was impressed at how the band managed to keep tight with the patterns and beats that he was creating. The band got a much better response than Madder Mortem, and their pulsing, mechanical barrage was listenable enough, but on a personal level I didn’t find them too enjoyable. Perhaps it’s just an element of the genre – which I don’t know much about – but I didn’t really stay interested with some of their songs, which often seemed to be overlong and repetitive. A key element of their sound is rhythm, but I felt that this could have been fitted in in a more creative way, rather than repetitive, dare I say monotonous guitar riffs.

Red Harvest were far from a bad band, but I suppose they are just an acquired taste. Some people seemed to be really into their set, while others seemed a bit turned off to it. Personally I thought they were fairly good at what they did, but it wasn’t something I would choose to listen to myself.

During another wait while the final change over took place, a guy from Terrorizer magazine got up on stage to make some announcements about the Inferno Festival in Norway and also about the night’s raffle winners. Predictably, particularly with the crowd so psyched up for the headlining band, he didn’t have a good time. He was only doing a job I suppose, but the crowd were having none of it, and cruelly but hilariously heckled him at the top of their lungs. It was rather amusing if I’m going to confess, but he did manage to announce the line-up for the upcoming Inferno Festival, which will include Dissection, Morbid Angel, Aura Noir, Gehenna, and of course Arcturus, among many others.

On with the show though at last, as Arcturus finally took to the stage with an ecstatic crowd cheer. Simen Hestnæs (aka "ICS Vortex”) had rejoined the band earlier this month, and he strode onto the stage with the rest of the band garbed in a theatrical, robe-like costume. Arcturus were simply sublime. Over the mind-blowing percussive battery of the infamous Hellhammer, they exploded into their unique, avant-garde performance with an immense, beautiful atmosphere. Vortex’s clean vocals soared over the technical guitars in booming echoes, proving that clean vocals can work wonderfully alongside a style that is typically more aggressive vocally, and each song was played to perfection. This was possibly the most beautiful performance I have ever heard, due to the sheer depth and complexity of sound that they managed to create. I hesitate to say they were better than Enslaved, because they are two different bands, and I loved both, but in terms of originality and uniqueness Arcturus were virtually in their own league. Come midnight I was disappointed that their set had to end, as they were so captivating. The whole capacity crowd seemed to feel the same as well, chanting long after the band had left the stage. Before they did though, one of the guitarists had time to crowd surf, and Hellhammer emerged from behind his sea of cymbals and drums to greet the cheering crowd. A breathtaking finale to an excellent night of metal, and I will certainly be further pursuing the whole back catalogue of Arcturus and Enslaved!