One of Norway’s best festivals is being arranged for the twelfth, and last, time in Bergen on August 24-27, 2011. After twelve years as Oslo’s Inferno festival’s strongest rivals, they’ve decided to go out on a high note. The line-up is a truly amazing collection of blackened metal and devilish doom.

If it’s a return to form following the disappointing “Revelations of the Black Flame”, then I’m interested.

Satyricon – “The Age Of Nero” [Koch] … Black n’ roll is becoming more prevalent these days, using more accessible song structures to reach a broader audience beyond the “kvlt.”  This seventh album was written by Satyr in a godforsaken cabin somewhere in the mountains of Norway.  It was brought to sunny L.A. and recorded/mixed by “Evil” Joe Baresi, with Satyr helming production.  The warmth Joe brought to bands like Kyuss and Saviours is not allowed to melt a drop of Satyricon’s icy exterior; clarity and balance are what’s at work here, accentuating the subtle palette in which the [...read more]