Aura Noir

Oya Fest, Oslo

14 Aug 2009
 

On a beautiful sunny day Sindre (Obliteration) and I set off from downtown Oslo and headed to the unusually beautiful setting of Oya Fest which was near a glistening lake and the ruins of an ancient church.  We met up with Dylan of Vice Magazine and at around 3PM in the afternoon I witnessed on of the toughest thrash sets ever, by none other than the legendary Norwegian gods, Aura Noir.  With Aggressor still unable to perform on stage it was left to Blasphemer and Apollyon to deliver the goods with Aura Noir's trademark blackened thrash.  And deliver they did!  Starting off a tiny bit shakily but quickly disposing of any rust these scene stalwarts devastated with classics from most of their releases including some of my favorites including Blood Unity, Hell's Fire, Conqueror, and Upon the Dark Throne.  They concentrated mainly on material from The Merciless and hit me like a sledgehammer to the face with their fierce rendition of Condor!  Jumping onto Hades Arise, Apollyon was at his lethal best, delivering grim facial expressions and hard as nail vocals as they slaughtered the crowd with South American Death.  The set was brought to a climactic conclusion with Fighting For Hell.  Despite the cheery setting I was left battered by the stone-hard delivery of these grim thrash merchants.  My neck might never recover.