A night of Indian Soulfly—Bloodywood—and John Dee is sold out at its 500-capacity limit. Bloodywood conquered the internet with their fascinating, insanely cool videos, making them huge everywhere—Norway included.

Demonic Resurrection from Mumbai are opening today. 25-year-old band - they sound very firm. They debuted internationally 15 years ago on the same stage in John Dee and pay tribute to Jan Martin Jensen, who had been Inferno Festival’s arranger and got them to play.

Right away, the sound is loud and clear. At first, I thought they were Behemoth-inspired but groovier, but as the set evolved, thrash and SMDM elements emerged. Toward the end of the set, frontman Sahil 'The Demonstealer' Makhija surprises with beautiful clean vocals—something I didn’t expect at all. A well-arranged show with solid lighting, backing synths, and a sound engineer who adds vocal effects in just the right spots. I enjoyed it a lot and highly recommend checking them out. Then I thought, well, that was a great act, and I just need to sustain the next one to hear the opener, cause that is just so difficult to top.

But then Calva Louise left me speechless - literally. What the hell was that??? Of all the gigs I’ve been to, it is the second discovery after Child Bite, that just stunned me. But this thing is something I lack words to describe. It is a total fire live. I cannot name a genre. Hardcore cabaret with vocals from Stolen Babies mixed with a very brutal version of Muse enriched by dubstep on steroids. And it is just a trio, but they sound massive like an orchestra. Ben Parker—absolutely on fire on drums—charming Jess Allanic on vocals, guitar, keys, and likely some sample pads, and Alizon Taho on bass, backing vocals, keys, and sample pads. Daaaaaaaaym! The folks are from Venezuela, New Zealand and France… so it is Great Britain. Such a well-thought-out set - from back-tracks as intro and song-in-betweens, various effects on vocals (octavers and other beasty things), and being very very fluent on both guitar/bass and synths. THIS is my discovery of the year, - I know you have not heard of them, but they are seriously the main act of this tour.

Then came the main act, Bloodywood—Soulfly meets Panjabi MC with a touch of Cypress Hill. A seriously effective combo. Groovy. Their gig is like a story or a fairytale - with a foreword before each song. And it drives the audience ecstatic. It is such an awesome mix that it fits any kind of party.

Sound-wise, Bloodywood leans heavily on backing tracks, which overpower the guitar and bass. I thought that if they skip guitar and bass entirely, it would still be very effective, with two ultra charismatic vocalists delivering the stories and a percussionist bringing the Panjabi atmosphere. But, of course, it does not harm with an 8-string Ibanez too.

The vocals are damn good, - they are making it work really well. What is fascinating is that people know the lyrics!

Thanks for delivering such a long set—seeing a band like this in our cold, rainy, grey corner was a rare treat. It brought much-needed color to a typical February.