THE BLEKKMETAL EVENT – Day two – Bergen – USF Verftet

To start off the second day, the tribute group, The C.L.A.S.P. Ritual, set the stage. Dark atmosphere, colaborative music from different bands as well as appearances from Hoest and Gaahl among others made this into a special little event that the audience seemed to appreciate alot. Strong performance and a somewhat high energy on the stage, but not for everyone. Not much more to say, other than the fact that they brought on the coolest hat of the festival.

Old Funeral is something everyone should get to see once in their lifetime. That’s why it’s a shame that this old school band will never hit the stage again after this gig. They kept their performance short but sweet. Tore Braseth, Olve "Abbath" Eikemo and Jan Atle "Padden" Åserød had the most "Rock N’ Roll" way of going about their material, and it added up to an incredibly memorable 20ish minute ride.

Black metal and in particular the Norwegian version is often basing itself on norse mythology, old folktales from Scandinavia and the viking age. Enter Helheim. Mostly playing old material (as most of the other bands), but keeping a new spirit to the material seemed like something that drove the performance alot. Some songs more repetetive than others, but that is some of the charm with the old school TNBM stuff. And ofcourse giving Hoest his second cameo of the evening was important, as well as ending with an old Bathory tune. Fantastic way to show appreciation for the 90’s!

"It’s weird, because we released a new album yesterday… But we’re not going to play any of that shit tonight, are we?!" Dolk said it well. It was weird, but then again, there is a time and place for everything, and Kampfar didn’t need the new stuff at all this evening! Solid performance as always, with all their best stuff from the old days as well as a Mock cover! Without a doubt the strongest band to hit the stage this evening, and that says alot. Kampfar might not be the oldest black metal band out there, but they are definetly one of the strongest rooted ones, as well as being one of those kinds of bands that never ever disappoint live.

Taake was the final band of the evening, and the final band of Blekkmetal. Playing a mix of old and new stuff as always and basically bringing nothing unexpected to the table. Not the strongest band of the event, but not bad. For a band with their experience they delivered an ok concert that is probably not going to be remembered as the Taake gig everyone still talks about ten years from now.

Blekkmetal was an amazing event with alot of cool bands/exhibitions and it was marvellous. An absolutely worthy tribute of the old scene and the old days!

 

Pictures from THE BLEKKMETAL EVENT