Inferno Metal Festival (usually referred to simply as Inferno or the Inferno Festival) is an annual extreme metal festival that takes place every year during Easter in Oslo, Norway. The festival was founded by Borknagar guitarist Jens F. Ryland in cooperation with Jan-Martin Jensen of Radar Booking in 2001.[1]
Concerts are mainly held at Rockefeller Music Hall plus its basement venue John Dee. The early evening programme is scattered around smaller venues nearby: Kniven, Goldie, Vaterland, Dattera til Hagen, amongst others.[2]
Like the Beyond The Gates festival in Bergen, the Inferno Festival offers a “fringe program” where concertgoers are provided with daytime activities. One example is Black Metal Bus Sightseeing, a guided tour with Anders Odden to locations of historical interest for metal fans, including the record store Helvete.[3][4] 60 percent of Inferno's festival tickets are sold abroad, attracting audiences from over 50 countries. The fringe program has therefore received funding from the Research Council of Norway, which is also studying the ripple effects for the regions hosting the two festivals.[5][6]
Inferno Music Conference (IMC)
Parallel to the festival, the Inferno Music Conference (IMC) takes place, with hundreds of delegates including international festival bookers, agents, press, and PR companies.[7] The conference was first held in 2006. In 2024, nearly 300 delegates from 36 countries participated in panel debates and Q&A sessions, making it the largest metal conference in the world.[8]
As part of IMC, a tattoo fair and an art exhibition are organized, including sales booths for the artists. The exhibition takes place at the festival hotel, while the tattoo fair is located at the main venue, Rockefeller.[10][11][12]
The 2025 edition took place at Rockefeller Music Hall from 17 to 20 April, featuring the highest number of artists in the festival's history.[13] This was also the first festival held without founder, festival director, and head booker Jan-Martin Jensen, who died from cancer in February of the same year.[14][15] A number of tributes were made in Jensen's honor during concerts and other events, and he was awarded the Bylarmer of the Year prize shortly before his death.[16]
The 2022 edition replaced the 2020 edition, cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It took place at Rockefeller Music Hall from 14 to 17 April. The festival tried to keep the same lineup as for the 2020 cancelled edition. The announced lineup was:
↑"Inferno 2020 Cancelled Due to Corona Restrictions". infernofestival.net. 2020-03-12. Retrieved 2020-04-11. We are sorry to inform you that Inferno 2020 is cancelled. All public events in Norway are banned until the end of April, and this period might be extended. The health authorities estimate 4-5 months. So, there are no chance that we can make Inferno happen this year.
