In the Shades of Life

This was the first demotape from Norwegian black metal veterans Old Man’s Child (OMC). Looking back at it, ‘In The Shades Of Life’ shows they were consistent from the beginning, as the songwriting here is similar to the first 2 full albums. Even though they are generally considered more of a symphonic black metal act in the scene, in those early days their style leaned more towards melodic black metal. For sure the synths are there, but so is the case with early Satyricon, and nobody calls them symphonic black metal.

‘In The Shades Of Life’ is far from OMC’s best work, but does portray a young band full of potential that knew what they were doing. Already at this early stage they had a certain consistency, resulting in a coherent demo. Although the really memorable moments aren’t that many, it doesn’t come as a surprise either that this demo got them signed. What’s particularly interesting is how they were already very self-aware of song structures that make sense, such as the acoustic arrangement over the distorted guitars on ‘Seeds Of The Ancient Gods’, enhancing its medieval mood. This is also the track in which Galder (back then under the monicker of Grusom) tries some clean singing, and well, he isn’t the most educated vocalist. Galder isn’t particularly known in the scene for his vocal abilities, not even his grim snarls and growls are that special – I guess it’s safe to say that OMC’s vocals are pretty much the least valuable element of the band. For the clean parts, it would have probably been a better idea to hire some guest vocals from e.g. Aldrahn or Garm. Then again, there are moments where the clean-ish vocal attemps remarkably do work. The best example is the third track ‘Manet Sorgfull Gjennom Skogen’, where Galder is using a lower, darker voice for the clean parts; which is fitting for the song’s atmosphere. Probably the strongest cut on this demo.

Overall, there are perhaps a tad too many tempo changes throughout, probably a heritage of the past – after all they did start as a thrash metal cover band. It’s not so hard to figure out that they are rooted in thrash, when listening to a track like ‘The Old Man’s Child’ for example. I welcome the stylistic variation it brings though, compared to the previous tracks, which are – although ‘more black metal’ – a bit too akin.

As for influences and similarities to other bands, we have to distinguish the character of the music from the actual production. Overall, the band’s image and narrative are what you can call typical for nineties melodic black metal. As far as atmosphere concerns, OMC draws from Satyricon’s ‘Dark Medieval Times’ as well as some ‘First Spell’-era Gehenna, mainly during the mid-paced parts. Production-wise, I’m hearing more of a Swedish sound. Think Dawn, Sorhin and the likes of those, though also the play- and composition-styles are akin to the early melodic Swedish scene.

Even though OMC was more of a melodic bm band initially, their symphonic tendencies were clear though. Synths are regularly incorporated throughout to bring more depth to the medieval feeling, and the final track on this demo is mainly keyboard/symphonic-based, with support from acoustic guitars and a few touches of folk. Only the last 90 seconds are very annoying, a collection of random sounds and noises, and could’ve easily been left out.

All in all, this is a fairly interesting demo, especially for fans of melodic black metal. If you like OMC’s first 2 full-lengths, there’s no doubt you’ll also enjoy this.

67/100