Hole in the Sky 2004

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“Dawn of the Legends”
Danzig A Tribute to Quorthon Vader Aura Noir Manes Octavia
SATURDAY, AUGUST 28 2004

Wow, after being asked to attend Sweden Rock this year we were yet back again in Scandinavia, this time to attend Norway’s Hole in the Sky festival. Taking place on the west coast of the country in once the ancient capital and arguably today’s cultural capital of the country, Bergen, this was in fact a 4 day event taking place indoors rather than an open air festival. And for good reason - when I got my presspass I thought it was funny that the festival logo was a Viking helmet cum umbrella but god how it rained! From the moment we touched down to the time we left it just fuckin poured. There were brief respites giving us a chance to appreciate the magnificent natural beauty of the city’s environs and surrounding mountains but otherwise it gave true meaning to the phrase “it never rains, it just pours”!

This was the fifth year running for the Bergen metal fest hence the monicker on the festival t-shirts “5 years of pure fuckin armeggedon!” - no kidding as this was the culmination to previous days that had seen performances from the likes of Red Harvest, Zyklon and Kreator. Today would be the crushing finale both physically and emotively.

Opening up were an all female band Octavia, who were locals and sorta reminiscent of The Gathering with their melodic metal plus atmospherics and are apparently working on their debut album and seemed fairly confident onstage (well, there were 6 of them on the small stage to out muscle anyone!).

Manes are band that have undergone some changes to say the least. They started off as traditional black metal and today play dark electro metal with two vocalists and 2 drumkits - kind’ve Norway’s equivalent to Raging Speedhorn (yup, of the vocalists even was a fat skinhead). Manes were apparently one of the favourites at this years Inferno festival and certainly put on a show with a sound comparable to the likes of Katatonia.

Things soon stepped up a gear with the return of Aura Noir. Not seen for a few years these guys play retro black / speed thrash the way I like it a la Impaler, Usurper, Destruction - yeah, I live for this shit! Bathed in a blood red light, Aura Noir clearly were not here to warm up the audience but grabbed it by the scruff of its neck and shook it until it begged for more - Blasphemer (who has played with Mayhem remember) pummelled the audience and Anders Odden was like a dragon unleashed - needless to say, Aura Noir received a huge response.and left with a ‘now follow that!’ smile on their faces!

And Vader did ha ha! These Poles are a promoters dream: if in doubt, book Vader. They cost little, don’t complain and I’ve never seen them play a duff show so you’re always onto a winner with Vader (my Polish plumber on the other hand, is another matter.....). When someone pointed out backstage to me that they had been going for the best part of 10 years and they’ve released around 15 albums I couldn’t believe it. Then again, witness a(ny) Vader show and see the optimum combination of precision and brutality (which few bands can consistently achieve song after song let alone show after show) and you can believe it. Vader never let you down.

When Bathory (aka Batlord) first came out in the early 80s it was ridiculed by the rest of the world (along with Venom) but I think its reasonable to say that without Quorthorn - who soldiered on throughout the 80s releasing his albums without any support - the inspiration for bands like Mayhem and Emperor and the second wave of black metal from Scandinavia in the 90s might have been considerably less, if at all. So for many here tonite this was a truly unique and special show to witness the likes of Emperor’s Faust and Samoth, Nocturno Culto (Darkthrone), Abbatha Doom Occulta (yes - he of Immortal), Ivar (Enslaved), Satry (Satyricon) and Gaahl (Gorgoroth) all onstage to play a medley of Bathory numbers in tribute to Thomas Forsberg (aka Quorthorn) who sadly passed away from a heart attack earlier this year. I think it was as emotional for those onstage as for the crowd (hell, the fotopit was a deathcrush), who all sang in unison as the video screen showed images of Quorthon. At one stage I’m sure I saw Frost (Satyricon) in the audience and he was there singing too, just another metal fan this time showing his respect. It was very moving and afterwards I felt exhausted emotionally as I’ve never experienced this kind of mixed feeling at a show before. Norway paid a worthy farewell to their king. A coupla days later I visited Fantoft stave church (now with close circuit TV and security fence after Bergen’s other infamous ‘attraction’ Count Grishnackh burned it down) and told the keeper of the church of the show. A worshipper of the natural elements, he was kind enough to hold back a German tour group and allow me a quiet moment to myself to reflect on the event.

“If Danzig sees anyone taking fotos he will walk offstage” came the official announcement. Having worked with Danzig on his Verotika comix in a previous life I was aware of his artistique ‘demands’ but what does it matter if some kid takes a snap having paid to see the guy? Sometimes when American’s go abroad they have an attitude to foreign countries (I remember one German promoter telling me once about how Danzig complaining about gym equipment) but if he’d tried this Stateside there would’ve been a fuckin riot! This rightfully pissed off many people coupled with a delay meaning that he hit the stage around 2am in the morning! Still, no one was going home as it had been 12 years since Danzig last toured here and with the release of the ‘Circle of Snakes’ album it was the moment for Evil Elvis. And he didn’t disappoint. It took about a millisecond for the audience (and myself) to forgive him as songs like ‘She Rides’ and ‘Killer Wolf’ were delivered with the confident brooding swagger that is Glenn Danzig. High point must’ve been ‘How The Gods Kill’ with the audience once again singing along and even Danzig smiled appreciatively back.

It must’ve been about 4am by the time I got some sleep - well, I got about 3 hours cos then I had to make my way to do some glacier walking in Jondal and that finally killed me off ha ha - but all in all the trip to this magical part of Norway for a combination of vacation and metal was well worth it.

Dedicated to Thomas ‘Quorthorn’ Forsberg 1965 - 2004

Octavia