Every year, the Norwegian Beyond The Gates Festival brings metalheads from around the world to Bergen. This year, the festival was held from August 2nd to August 5th, 2023. Not unlike the other editions we attended, there are always a lot of familiar faces, many stages to cover, and events to attend. The festival hosted bands like KREATOR, DEICIDE, GORGOROTH, ALCEST, PERTUBATOR, and many more!
We kicked off the festival’s third day with the melodic black metal band STORMKEEP. They performed at the smaller venue, Kulturhuset, bringing a lot of people in despite the earlier hour. Their performance didn’t only sound good but also looked interesting because of their aesthetics. STORMKEEP was followed by ETERNAL CHAMPION and PRIMORDIAL in the main venue, Grieghallen.
After that, it was time for the stunning concert of ALCEST. In my opinion, ALCEST’s performance was the highlight of the day, slowing down the fast and intense tempo of the festival’s lineup and making the atmosphere marvelous.
The third day’s headline, KREATOR, were set to play next. Their show was definitely something different from the performance of other bands in this year’s line-up. They started with lots of smoke, followed by pyrotechnics and confetti. During the second and third song, “People of the Lie” and “Awakening of the Gods,” the audience went into a frenzy creating a mosh pit and indulging in madness.
The third day wrapped up with a performance of the American doom metal classic, PENTAGRAM. Despite the fact that PENTAGRAM has been on stage for nearly 50 years, their performance was still full of energy. Their setlist included among others “Forever My Queen,” “Devil’s Playground,” and “All Your Sins.” Check out our photo gallery below…
STORMKEEP
ALCEST
KREATOR
PENTAGRAM
Photos by Aleksandra Majak
