BLIZZARDBEAST.COM

I have always wanted to check out this small festival in Norway ever since it’s first inception in 1999.  But, Norway is very expensive and so I have not been fortunate enough to make it over.   I attended "Inferno Metal Festival" in Oslo, twice in ’02 and ’04.

Hole in the Sky was named after the Black Sabbath song from the Sabotage album, in 1999 and the festival was created in memory of Erik “Grim” Brødreskift,  ex member of Borknagar, Gorgoroth and Immortal. A fund in his name, the Erik Brødreskifts minnefond, was established at the same time, and the profit of ticket sales goes into this fund. The purpose of the fund is to promote activities related to metal music in the Bergen area.
I was pretty stoked to be going this year, because the line up was amazing.  The special surprise guests were just that, a special surprise.  This was the 10th year anniversary of Hole in the Sky and this headbanger made a journey to Bergen, Norway.

My flight from HELL began on August 25th at 12:55pm from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.  It was a direct flight to Amsterdam with connecting flight to Bergen, arriving at 11:15am on August 26th.   During the 9 ½ hour flight from Seattle-Amsterdam, I was lucky if I slept for 2 hours.  There were screaming babies and so I turned Behexen on my iPod and cranked it and tried to lose myself in the music.  Arriving safely to Flesland Bergen airport, I stumbled off the plane and grabbed my super heavy and large suitcase.  What a stupid fucking fool to bring so much shit to Norway!   I met some dude named Jessie who was on my flight from Amsterdam.  He was from Brooklyn and seemed pretty cool.  We finally hopped on the Flybussen and headed into Bergen.  I had to find the hotel as I was the first to arrive.  Jessie was meeting some people he met at some online website where people let you crash on their couch (couchsurfing.com) and so he got off the same stop as I did “Bryggen” right at the Fish Market.  He was going to help me find my hotel and then call his parties.  So we found the street Kong Oscars and walked about 10 blocks and could not find the Hotel Victoria.  The luggage issue was about killing me.  Finally, Jessie asked a little old lady where the hotel was and she led us right to it!!  What a fine outstanding citizen this lady was!!  Very nice!  I should have asked for a metal picture with her!

So our room was not ready but the front desk clerk allowed me to stash my totally insane luggage in the room.  She asked if I would like a balcony and I said yes.  I guess there are only 2 rooms with a balcony out of the 43 rooms the building hosts.  So, our room became the party room.  After waiting for a couple of hours outside the hotel (there was a little table and two chairs) and watching traffic, my party from Oslo arrived!  They checked in and stashed their luggage and we went down to the fish market to get something to eat.  I got fish ‘n chips and it was fucking killer.  Wandered a bit and then we headed back to the hotel to shower and then start the pre party!  As we began to party, another arrival made it to the hotel room.  Herb Burke of Drawn and Quartered from Seattle.  We split the room so it was not as damaging on our wallets.  Still $353.00 per person for 5 nights in the heart of ....Bergen.... seemed like a “steal”.

After we got good and buzzed, we made the 10 minute walk to the “Garage” club.  This is where the festival was held for the first two days.  And also the pre party w/Sahg on Tuesday night.  But I decided to just attend the festival from the 26th-29th.   The Garage was pretty cool.  There was a nice cozy bar upstairs with tables and chairs and pool tables.  Downstairs is where the stage was and it seemed very small.  I understood that the capacity was 350 people.  But it seemed so small.   Thursday was sold out so it would prove interesting.  Kicking things off on Wednesday evening were “Faustcoven” from Norway.  I had heard a few songs from them that I listened to online and thought they sounded pretty cool.  Well, I was pretty much unprepared for the blackened doom that Faustcoven manifested.  The sound at the Garage was amazing.  Faustcoven were a great kick off to the festival for me personally.  As I am a fan of both black metal as well as doom metal.  I will be looking for material from these guys.

 My full review (with more photos) can be found here 

Day 2:
My ass was kicked by ass kicked by Bolt Thrower, Pig Destroyer, Immolation, Napalm Death, Athiest and Hail of Bullets. Other bands were good too! Photos on my site, link below. We went to the American Visionary Art Museum as well, good times.

Day 2 photos

 Day 1: Talked to lots of cool people and drank a lot of vodka. Went up front during Mayhem and took a couple of shots with my crappy point and shoot. Good times. Asphyx was fantastic but no photos, Mayhem wore me out.

Day 1 photos

______________________________

Day 0:

Just pictures taken around the area. We walked for a total of 10 miles today and ate a TON of killer Italian food with zero sleep. We got to hang out with a jet lagged Bolt Thrower as well. Still great dudes (I didn't see Jo Bench) after all these years. Must sleep after 36 hours without, tomorrow is the aquarium and day one of the festival. PS: I don't have a photo pass and have a lot of liquor

Day 0 photos (non-music)