That you’re a member of one of the biggest black metal outfits in the world doesn’t mean that you don’t have the time to make your own music, does it?

Not in the case of one Mister Galder. The Dimmu Borgir guitarist has taken some time off to record a new Old Man’s Child album.

Old Man’s Child has been responsible for some cool tunes over the years, but, even with now seven albums in the sack, Galder’s project will never reach the creative heights of its big brother, Dimmu Borgir.

‘Slaves of the World’ is on the same mission as Dimmu has been since ‘Enthrone Darkness Triuphant’: to create a commercial version of black metal that is hard enough for the black metal fans to accept and soft enough for the death metal/thrash folks to like.

As such, ‘Slaves to the World’ is successful. It sticks to the recipe with devotion.
The only problem is that it does very little more than that.
As a whole, it never creeps under my skin, it never really gets to me with sparks of originality or extreme power although there are good tracks on there (The Spawn of Lost Creation and the inciting Ferden Mot Fienden’s Land worthy of mention in this connection).

Technically a great album, sound-wise just as cool, but it struggles in vain to capture entirely.