Old Man's Child: Born of the Flickering (1996)

Old Man's Child is the solo project of Galder, the former guitarist and now bassist for Dimmu Borgir.  The band changed greatly from the time of their inception, starting out as a band covering Slayer and Metallica, then morphing into a death metal band, before releasing this album, their debut, in 1996.  At this point, there was still more of a push to make this a legitimate band, instead of just Galder's solo project.  That came much later.

This release finds Old Man's Child essentially taking on the musical form they would retain into the present.  It is a sound that owes much more to Dissection than to the aforementioned Metallica and Slayer.  Although there are definitely some thrash elements still present here, such as the opening riff into "Demons of the Thorncastle".  That opening track is a microcosm of the album as a whole, featuring blackened thrash riffs slowly melding into much more melodic gothic keyboard strains.  Some songs tend to emphasize the more melodic moments while others the more obviously metallic ones.  This is far from being a Dissection or Emperor rip-off.  Old Man's Child has some top-notch songwriting.

The production is terrific on the album, particularly for a mid-90's black metal release.  Everything can be heard well and the guitars have a great tone.  The keyboards are not as prominent as they would become in later Old Man's Child releases.

The most surprising aspect of this album is that it is a debut.  Old Man's Child sounds like a group of seasoned veterans.  Obviously Galder had some experience, but Dimmu Borgir had not been around for a real long time at this point.  This is a great example of a debut album done right.