Old Man's Child - Biography
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1995-
Biography
Old Man's Child was brought to life in Norway back in 1993. But things started to happen a couple of years earlier, back in 1989 to be precise. In that year Galder and Tjodalv started a band that mainly played covers of Metallica and Slayer. Under the name Requiem they released a self titled demo in 1993, which was only printed in 50 copies. The demo was very influenced by the death metal scene that flourished at that moment. In 1993 the band changed their name to Old Man's Child! The original line-up of O.M.C. consisted of guitarist/vocalist Grusom (Thomas Rune Andersen), guitarist Jardar (Jon Øyvind Andersen) and former Dimmu Borgir batterist Tjodalv (Kenneth Åkesson). Their plan was to form a classic death metal band (which they did with earlier mentioned Requiem), but they soon discovered their mutual love for extreme and uncompromising black metal. They had a slow start because Grusom (now known as Galder) and Jardar had to do their military service in the norwegian army at that time. Nevertheless they found the time to record their first demo called In The Shades Of Life in November of 1994. The recordings took place in a norwegian studio called Stovner RF. Just before they entered the studio, they were joined by ex Dimmu Borgir bassist Brynjard Tristan. Their demo was so good that they gained the attention of norwegian Hot Records who agreed to release their forthcoming albums. In The Shades Of Life was originally planned to be released through Ancient Lore Creations as a split album with Ved Buens Ende, but due to some "difficulties" that never happened.
In November and December of 1995 they finally got the chance to record and release their first real album through Hot Records. The album was recorded at Studio 3 in Norway. Just before the album were recorded Brynjard Tristan was replaced by the Minas Tirith bassist and band leader Gonde. Tjodalv also left the band just when the recording of the album was finished, because he wanted to focus all his energy on Dimmu Borgir. The album was called Born Of The Flickering, and gave the band some well deserved attention among the metal community and the press.
In 1996 they found a replacement on the drums for the departed Tjodalv. The new drummer was called Tony (Tony Kirkemo). In the same year they finally got a chance to release their first demo, In The Shades Of Life, which was recorded two years earlier. Later in the year of 1996 Century Media discovered the potential of the band and signed them to their label. Century Media re-released Born Of The Flickering in 1996 as a digi-pack with completely new artwork. In June 1997 they went into Studiomega to record their second full-lenght album. The album was named The Pagan Prosperity and hit the stores in early autumn that same year. With a world wide distribution through Century Media, they gained the attention of several new fans throughout the world. Before the album was released, Grusom decided to call himself Galder instead. The reasons for that were stated in an interview with Galder conducted by Terrorizer Magazine in 1998: "Grusom was for fun, and I don't like fun". So now you know!
After the release of The Pagan Prosperity the band somewhat collapsed. Tony couldn't handle to play the advanced drum arrangements Galder had written, and Gonde experienced some personal problems (drugs), so he got fired from the band. So all that was left of the band was Galder and Jardar. Jardar had another job besides the music and were kind of busy at that point, so Galder decided to record and release the follow-up all by himself. He didn't want to use a drum machine, so he hired the highly accomplished drum legend Gene Hoglan to play session drums on the album. Gene Hoglan is a very well known drummer in the metal community. He has been playing with lots of bands in his career (Death, Dark Angel, Testament). He is currently playing with the band Strapping Young Lad.
Old Man's Childs third album were supposed to be recorded in sweden's Abyss Studio. But the studio was already taken, so the recording took place in March and April of 1998 at the famous swedish Sunlight Studios. Sunlight Studios is mostly famous for it's well used death metal sound. Galder didn't want the band to be added to the long list of bands with the Sunlight-sound, made famous by Entombed, Dismember and many others when the death metal scene reached the big leagues in the early nineties. So he had to change almost every control in the studio before recording, until he finally found himself happy with the result! The album was called Ill-natured Spiritual Invasion and it is a magnificent masterpiece consisting of fast, brutal and melodic black metal. One interesting thing about this album is that the vocals was all improvised while recording (not pre-rehearsed). Galder played everything on this album, except for the drums!
In the last trembling days of the old millennium, Old Man's Child went into the studio once again to record their fourth album. This time the album was being recorded with a full band. Jardar was finally back in the band, which he had to put on the side for a while a couple of years earlier. Ex. Dimmu Borgir drummer Tjodalv re-entered the band and shared the drum works with fellow drummer Grimar. New on the bass was a guy called Memnoch. The result of their joint effort is now known as Revelation 666. The curse of damnation. The album was recorded in November 1999 in sweden's Abyss Studio with producer Peter Tägtgren who is very well known and respected in the metal community. Besides being a superb metal producer, he is the leader and main man of the bands Hypocrisy, Abyss and Pain. This album is a masterpiece that is bound to leave a huge impact on the metal scene.
In August 2000 came the surprising news that Galder had joined fellow metal warriors Dimmu Borgir as a permanent guitar player. He replaced Astennu who got kicked out of Dimmu Borgir because he didn't give 100 percent for the band! Galder has known some of the guys in Dimmu Borgir for a very long time, so this might be considered a natural development. However, Galder decided to continue with Old Man's Child, his own creation which he has put some much time, effort and spirit into! So the saga continues: watch out for the Old Man's Child in the new millennium!
Since Galder joined Dimmu Borgir in the year 2000, he has been kind of busy with album recordings and several world tours. But nevertheless the preparations for a new Old Man's Child release got started. This time around Galder once again got help from his partner in crime, guitar player Jardar, to create another piece of atmospheric black metal in true OMC fashion. He asked Nicholas Barker of Dimmu Borgir to do the drums, and he agreed. This album were first supposed to be called "Infidel" but finally it got the title "In Defiance Of Existence". Galder produced the album himself and it was recorded in Sweden's famous Studio Fredman (In Flames, Arch Enemy, At The Gates, Hammerfall) together with engineer Fredrik Nordström. Gus G, guitar player in Fredriks band Dream Evil, came down to the studio and added a couple of guitar leads to the album. "In Defiance Of Existence" is perhaps the most worked-through album of the band, and it is hard to think that the fans will get disappointed! Watch out for the release on January 20th 2003.
The crusade continues...
In November and December of 1995 they finally got the chance to record and release their first real album through Hot Records. The album was recorded at Studio 3 in Norway. Just before the album were recorded Brynjard Tristan was replaced by the Minas Tirith bassist and band leader Gonde. Tjodalv also left the band just when the recording of the album was finished, because he wanted to focus all his energy on Dimmu Borgir. The album was called Born Of The Flickering, and gave the band some well deserved attention among the metal community and the press.
In 1996 they found a replacement on the drums for the departed Tjodalv. The new drummer was called Tony (Tony Kirkemo). In the same year they finally got a chance to release their first demo, In The Shades Of Life, which was recorded two years earlier. Later in the year of 1996 Century Media discovered the potential of the band and signed them to their label. Century Media re-released Born Of The Flickering in 1996 as a digi-pack with completely new artwork. In June 1997 they went into Studiomega to record their second full-lenght album. The album was named The Pagan Prosperity and hit the stores in early autumn that same year. With a world wide distribution through Century Media, they gained the attention of several new fans throughout the world. Before the album was released, Grusom decided to call himself Galder instead. The reasons for that were stated in an interview with Galder conducted by Terrorizer Magazine in 1998: "Grusom was for fun, and I don't like fun". So now you know!
After the release of The Pagan Prosperity the band somewhat collapsed. Tony couldn't handle to play the advanced drum arrangements Galder had written, and Gonde experienced some personal problems (drugs), so he got fired from the band. So all that was left of the band was Galder and Jardar. Jardar had another job besides the music and were kind of busy at that point, so Galder decided to record and release the follow-up all by himself. He didn't want to use a drum machine, so he hired the highly accomplished drum legend Gene Hoglan to play session drums on the album. Gene Hoglan is a very well known drummer in the metal community. He has been playing with lots of bands in his career (Death, Dark Angel, Testament). He is currently playing with the band Strapping Young Lad.
Old Man's Childs third album were supposed to be recorded in sweden's Abyss Studio. But the studio was already taken, so the recording took place in March and April of 1998 at the famous swedish Sunlight Studios. Sunlight Studios is mostly famous for it's well used death metal sound. Galder didn't want the band to be added to the long list of bands with the Sunlight-sound, made famous by Entombed, Dismember and many others when the death metal scene reached the big leagues in the early nineties. So he had to change almost every control in the studio before recording, until he finally found himself happy with the result! The album was called Ill-natured Spiritual Invasion and it is a magnificent masterpiece consisting of fast, brutal and melodic black metal. One interesting thing about this album is that the vocals was all improvised while recording (not pre-rehearsed). Galder played everything on this album, except for the drums!
In the last trembling days of the old millennium, Old Man's Child went into the studio once again to record their fourth album. This time the album was being recorded with a full band. Jardar was finally back in the band, which he had to put on the side for a while a couple of years earlier. Ex. Dimmu Borgir drummer Tjodalv re-entered the band and shared the drum works with fellow drummer Grimar. New on the bass was a guy called Memnoch. The result of their joint effort is now known as Revelation 666. The curse of damnation. The album was recorded in November 1999 in sweden's Abyss Studio with producer Peter Tägtgren who is very well known and respected in the metal community. Besides being a superb metal producer, he is the leader and main man of the bands Hypocrisy, Abyss and Pain. This album is a masterpiece that is bound to leave a huge impact on the metal scene.
In August 2000 came the surprising news that Galder had joined fellow metal warriors Dimmu Borgir as a permanent guitar player. He replaced Astennu who got kicked out of Dimmu Borgir because he didn't give 100 percent for the band! Galder has known some of the guys in Dimmu Borgir for a very long time, so this might be considered a natural development. However, Galder decided to continue with Old Man's Child, his own creation which he has put some much time, effort and spirit into! So the saga continues: watch out for the Old Man's Child in the new millennium!
Since Galder joined Dimmu Borgir in the year 2000, he has been kind of busy with album recordings and several world tours. But nevertheless the preparations for a new Old Man's Child release got started. This time around Galder once again got help from his partner in crime, guitar player Jardar, to create another piece of atmospheric black metal in true OMC fashion. He asked Nicholas Barker of Dimmu Borgir to do the drums, and he agreed. This album were first supposed to be called "Infidel" but finally it got the title "In Defiance Of Existence". Galder produced the album himself and it was recorded in Sweden's famous Studio Fredman (In Flames, Arch Enemy, At The Gates, Hammerfall) together with engineer Fredrik Nordström. Gus G, guitar player in Fredriks band Dream Evil, came down to the studio and added a couple of guitar leads to the album. "In Defiance Of Existence" is perhaps the most worked-through album of the band, and it is hard to think that the fans will get disappointed! Watch out for the release on January 20th 2003.
The crusade continues...