Talk about taking arms against a sea of troubles -- but what exactly do fourth time around Norwegian black metallers Old Man's Child mean by this deceptively weird phrase? How can you defy existence? Does defiance not presuppose some kind of existence, if only an oppositional one? And, supposing they succeeded -- what are the implications? ("And in this corner, Existence! And taking on Existence for bragging rights and Cosmic Keys, it's Norwegians Old Man's Child! )
All right, I just had to have a little fun, 'cause black metal is all about the grim. Although to be honest and accurate, OMC aren't strictly black metal -- there's a lot of death, thrash and classic metal influences writhing around in there. What they do have in common with black-metal-as-ideology is an anti-life bent and Satanic themes, although that only just covers the surface.
On that surface, this album features a completely excellent cover of this ash-white devil-babe and contains completely excellent renditions of songs like "Felonies of the Christian Art" and "In Quest of Enigmatic Dreams." It's also the tightest concentration of forces yet for Dimmu Borgir guitarist Galder, who assembled this project before and during his involvement with the better-known band.
On this one he's joined by the formerly Filthy Nick Barker on drums as well as longtime OMC axeman Jardar. Sleek, bold, tight, sexy, airtight and very artful, In Defiance makes a worthy follow-up to 2000's Revelation 666. An impressive piece of work.
Printer Friendly Page
Send to a Friend
