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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Black Metal never sounded so good..., December 31, 2003
...Well, maybe it did, but not to your humble reviewer. Anyway, Galder [is awsome] in this project, and with Nicholas Barker on the drums, it's not an album to put yourself to sleep to ... The first song isn't an immediate catcher (although it's not bad once you get into it), but skip to track two and, unless your preferences in music include MTV rap and pop, you're not going to be pressing the skip button any time soon. The maelstrom lets up only toward the end with "In Quest of Enigmatic Dreams," which was certainly worth the break for. "Black Seeds on Virgin Soil" is the highlight track, but just about every song is good and worth playing through all the way. There's much more emphasis on guitar and percussion than you'd find in Dimmu Borgir (the two are always compared, especially now that Galder and Nicholas have taken full-time parts in Dimmu), whereas the more popular band places its weight behind the synthesizers too much of the time. Vocally, Galder can't quite match Shagrath, and he sticks to the black metal scream without venturing toward the death growl. Galder and Jardar nail the guitars, so music critics will find a lot to comment upon in that area. So, if you're a black metal fan, or want to become a black metal fan, then IDOE is a marvelous album, and since it's quite melodic, it's more accessible than, say, a later Emperor album for people new to BM. If you're a Christian and are offended by the first song title, well, [that is too bad]; you're missing out on some great music. The cover art is nice... cute little succubus! Anyway, get this album now... Satan wants you to... okay that was stupid... but get it anyway because Galder is amazing!
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
It doesn't get much better than this, December 6, 2006
In 2003, three years after Old Man's Child's last album and two years after Dimmu Borgir's latest, Galder returned with two new discs (the sixth C.D. from his side project, OMC's "In Defiance Of Existence," and Dimmu Borgir's "Death Cult Armageddon"). As on other Old Man's Child releases, Galder handled nearly every instrument on this album: second guitar, vocals, bass guitar, and synthesizers. But he is, unexpectedly, not the only one on here who really gets to show off his talents: Dimmu Borgir/Cradle Of Filth/Benediction alumni Nicholas Barker (who had been hired to pound the skins on this album), goes completely nuts, beating the stuffing out of his trapkit, and driving most of these rhythms with remarkable, fast, thumping blast beats.
Like all great melodic black metal, "In Defiance Of Existence" has several pretty, tranquil parts, but it's first and foremost brutal. The heavy parts feature Galder spewing his venomous, kind of snarly vocals over cold, opaque soundscapes of fiery guitars and ultra fast double kick drumming.
But this album also has a lot of great, very refined texture and variety because several of these songs subtly slip in a touch of moody keyboards and/or acoustic guitars. And OMC aren't like some dark metal bands who either make a song completely melodic or completely heavy (with no middle ground), because many of these tracks, like "Agony Of Fallen Grace" (which has a walloping, machine gun rhythm but also includes some spacey synths), are brutal and ambient at the same time.
The record's best song might be "Black Seeds On Virgin Soil." After a melodic intro, a surging, whiplash onslaught made up of a hurricane of guitar riffs and extremely busy double bass work bursts onto the scene. Similarly, "The Soul Receiver" begins with the sounds of a symphony, but then catapults into a heavily churning, pummeling rhythm. Track seven, "In Quest Of Enigmatic Dreams," is an interlude consisting of a very pretty string arrangement, but the album goes out with a bang: "The Underworld Domains" and "Life Deprived" are both scorchers, bursting with thrashy, scalding riffs and ultra-fast, skull-cracking blast beats.
It's a shame that Dimmu's "Death Cult Armageddon" and "In Defiance Of Existence" came out the same year because when someone releases an album from both of his projects, the side project will probably always be overshadowed by the main one. Thus this disc is sometimes overlooked due to DB's bigger, wider selling, and all around better release. But, regardless, OMC is as good as any melodic/symphonic black metal group on the market today, and "IDOE" is easily one of the genre's finest releases of the past several years.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
absolutely amazing, October 23, 2004
i have never listened to an album that left me as awestruck as this one did. there are so many subtle and amazing things that occur within the composition of the songs, variations of patterns and harmonies, tempos and timings--and it all sounds incredible. i bought this album expecting it to be good, and it absolutely floored me. unbelievable. every time i listen to this album in my car i find myself babbling outloud to myself "good god that's incredible." this approaches the pinnacle of what i always hoped music could be.
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~ Old Man's Child
~ Old Man's Child
~ Old Man's Child
~ Old Man's Child
~ Dimmu Borgir
by Old Man's Child 
