There’s nothing like the release of an anticipated album from a band that you love which meets your expectations almost to the T. Over 2 years have passed since Galder released his astounding piece of music titled In Defiance of Existence and I couldn’t wait for nor fathom what Dimmu’s lead-guitarist would come up with next. Galder’s ability to keep beating the test of time by releasing album after album of solid music has made Old Man’s Child one of the few projects that I hold in my mind as one of the best in the Metal world. Vermin is the newest addition to the band’s former 5 disc discography and is no exception to the above-mentioned rule.

Fans of more energy driven/hard hitting material on older OMC and In Defiance of Existence’s spotless production will be greatly pleased this time around – Vermin has both fast and slow tempo tunes which nevertheless deliver a kind of explosive sound that screams to be head banged to. The explosive sound can be attributed mostly to the sharp riffs and rock-solid drumming by Reno H. Kiilerich (ex-Dimmu Borgir, Vile, Exmortem) and even though one of the things I enjoyed the most on In Definace of Existence was Nicholas Barker’s impeccable drum-work, his new replacement destroys the skins with the same energy and prowess Barker did. On the topic of band members, it should also be noted that guitarist Jardar did not help on this release as he has done on much of the older OMC material - Galder went solo on this one, recording everything but the drums on his own, making this an additional element that I believe makes Vermin worthy of praise.

The disc kicks off with Enslaved and Condemned which has been readily available on the net as a sample. Though the track is indeed a killer, it’s always a relief to discover that the sound samples labels put out prior to album releases aren’t the highlight of the album. The track is a fairly eclectic one when compared to the others on the album, including a little bit of everything such as melodious choruses and both medium and plodding tempos. I have to admit that first time I heard the next track on the album titled Plague of Sorrows, the short intro which is comprised of bizarre static noises reminded me of a weird show at the radio station I DJ at which is basically a show featuring 2 hours of freaky-deeky noise apparently called “Free-form” music. My flashback was interrupted only moments later as the “Free-form” intro was replaced by raging double-pedals and an ambient sound that immediately told me that this was to be one of the slower tracks in the vein of Soul Receiver featured on their previous effort. More or less every track on this album is solid but two of my favorite that are worthy of mention are Flames of Deceit and Twighlight Damnation. Twighlight Damnation bears much stylistic similarity to The Underworld Domains on In Defiance of Existence in the sense that both have a highly melodic acoustic intros that shortly explodes into some insane ripping Metal. If this track doesn’t get an OMC fan’s blood pumping, I don’t know what would, because Twighlight Damnation has one of the most catchy, energy-driven destructive riffs I’ve ever heard (I can easily picture a venue going ballistic over this track). Though Flames of Deceit bears a very heavy Dimmu sound, it is nonetheless amazing tune that rips with the same destructive energy as Twighlight Damnation.

Overall, I believe that Old Man’s Child have lived up to their reputation of releasing quality albums and Vermin only strengthens this point. Many argue that the symphonic sound a-la Dimmu and hyper-clean production which is less present on Reveletaions 666 and before that are weakening factors that don’t give a mood comparable to “less clean” Black Metal. This is an understandable point, but it is precisely these elements which Black Metal purists denounce which I believe are appealing. I remember a talking about Enslaved and Condemned on the forums when it was firstly released on the net and some one compared the mood of Old Man’s Child to the slickly produced/modern horror movies and that fail to deliver the mood and feeling of the grainy and less-slick movies of the past. Although this is a good comparison, my rebuttal is that people should consider that maybe movie producers haven’t been using their tools correctly, and that if done right, a horror movie today can have a thousand times more mood or “evilness”. Vermin, just like In Defiance of Existence, is an example of where modern tools were used correctly, successfully managing to mesh mood together with a strikingly clean and destructive sound. Hails Galder, and keep up the good work.