Photos courtesy of Lodovica Di Bernardo

This was the second straight year that ESP signed on as the exclusive and official guitar sponsor of Inferno Metal Festival — Norway's premier extreme metal festival that's been celebrating the darkest and heaviest music since 2001! And as good is it was for the first time, the second trip was all the more sweet.

In addition to 60+ concerts, a music business conference, a metal market, a tattoo convention and more, ESP was well-represented at Inferno 2026 by Norwegian ESP dealer 4Sound, who had a stand packed with LTD, ESP E-II, ESP Original Series, and ESP USA guitars for visitors to try and buy.

But perhaps the coolest part of Inferno — at least for us — was the jam-packed clinic on Saturday April 4 featuring ESP artists Teloch and Ghul of the highly-influential and pioneering black metal band Mayhem. It was held at Clarion The Hub in Oslo as part of the fest's Inferno Music Conference. To understand how special this was for attendees, you have to realize that Mayhem — which was founded in Oslo in 1984 — is perhaps the most iconic band in the Norwegian black metal scene, and their music has profoundly influenced the black metal genre worldwide.

Enjoy some pics from the ESP booth and the Mayhem clinic below, and we're hopeful to be back in Norway for Inferno 2027!

An always-welcome visitor at the ESP booth, here's Dimmu Borgir founding member Silenoz checking out an LTD Gary Holt Signature Series GH-SV.

Here's Johan Söderberg, who's handled guitar duties for Amon Amarth for over 25 years. He's trying out this LTD James Hetfield Signature Series Snakebyte.

The room was packed during the Mayhem clinic. Onstage: Teloch, ESP's Tony Rauser, and Ghul

Tony and Ghul talk about his ESP E-II M-II HT.

A happy crowd gets a close-up and intimate experience with these icons of black metal.

Teloch executes some dark riffs on his LTD Deluxe EC-1000. 

Ghul captured mid-downstroke.

Both Ghul and Teloch were very accommodating with the crowd, chatting and signing memorabilia.

Tony talks to a young metalhead after the Mayhem clinic.