Hole in the Sky 2010 is already shaping up to be a massive event.

We’ve previously announced legendary doom metal in the shape of British Cathedral and occult classic rock garnished progsters The Devil’s Blood. That should make room for some well crafted old school and groove soaked death metal.

Who would be better to represent that chapter in history than the masters of the art, Obituary themselves?

The legends are back! These Floridians do not really need an introduction, being one of the leading lights of the US Death Metal explosion of the early 90’s.Their latest album «Darkest Day» is business as usual; the inimitable Obituary-groove coupled with John Tardy’s inhuman death grunts. Obituary banged our heads mercilessly at Hole in the Sky 2005, and finally the time has come to invite them back – The End is Complete!

With good help from Norway’s own shooting stars, Obliteration, this calls for celebration.

Norwegian Death Metal has been a somewhat overlooked concept in the annals of Nowegian Extreme Metal History, but the Oslo-scene has seen a resurgence of NDM as of late, with bands like Diskord, Execration and, of course, Obliteration leading the pack.

Hailing from the same town as Darkthrone, these guys specialize in downtuned, Autopsy-ish death injected with an (un)healthy dose of Doom, and their most recent release «Nekropsalms» is already being rightfully hailed as a contemporary classic. Norwegian Death Metal lives.

For the first time we introduce a special 4-day pass. The pass is strictly limited and only available until the 24th of December, 2009.

Festival pass (4 days) 1400 NOK

http://www.billettservice.no/html/artist.htmI?l=EN&artist=HOLE+IN+THE+SKY+FESTIVALPASS

Club pass (Wednesday and Thursday) 570 NOK

http://www.billettservice.no/html/artist.htmI?l=EN&artist=HOLE+IN+THE+SKY+CLUB+PASS

Weekend pass (Friday and Saturday) 885 NOK

http://www.billettservice.no/html/artist.htmI?l=EN&artist=HOLE+IN+THE+SKY+-WEEKEND

Single day tickets will be available later.

This August, Hole in the Sky celebrated the festival’s 10 year anniversary, and what a joyful celebration that was.

By many, it was hailed as the best festival to date, with magnificent performances from such legendary acts as Pentagram, Voivod, Nifelheim, a surprise appearance from Sodom, and a special crafted anniversary set by Enslaved with guests from Emperor, Mayhem, Entombed, and Darkthrone.

With the overwhelming success of the 2009 festival firmly placed in our mental scrap book, we can't wait to start a new and exciting chapter in the Hole in the Sky legacy.

So here we go with the first batch of bands lined up for the 2010 festival.

We've been eager to book the mighty hard hitters Cathedral for quite some time and this time we finally made the schedule work.

Cathedral have been pioneers within the legendary British doom scene for almost 20 years now, never afraid to explore new territories and always coming across as fresh and revitalizing.

Another first is the fantastic Dutch occult rockers The Devil's Blood.

Their debut album “The Time of No Time Evermore” is nothing short of a unique piece of classic hard rock melted together with tasteful hints of 70's prog and psychedelia.

Hole in the Sky is extremely honored to be granted with their first and exclusive appearance on Norwegian soil.

We're also proud to present the rising death metal force Dead Congregation from Greece. As the band put it themselves:

Born in 2004, Dead Congregation focus on the main aspect lacking in today's Death Metal bands/releases: Feeling, spirit, atmosphere and quality. Creating Darkness and Blasphemy is the only goal…

Tickets are on sale now.

Hole in the Sky will take place the 25th – 28th of August, 2010. Also, be aware of related activities around the official festival dates.

Please check back for further band announcements.