If you know Dimmu Borgir, you must know Old Man’s Child. This Norwegian symphonic black metal project founded by Galder now released their seventh album Slaves of the World. Drummers in this project change every time and on this record the blast of thunder is provided by Darkane’s Peter Wildoer.

After the sound of cold wind, Slaves of the World opens with the title track revealing the nature of this latest album which, based on this first song, seems to be a logic successor of Vermin. Some people might regret this, since they had to wait four years for this new album and might have hoped for a less aggressive approach like in the old days. Well, too bad! The riffs show no remorse and blast out of your speaker as if the old days never existed.

Like Vermin the production of Slaves of the World has a raw attitude and can’t exactly be called clean. It suits the character of the music though, so no hard feelings about that. Overall the music is loud and a sum of so many layers that you need to listen to the album several times before you realise it’s more than fast and technical black metal. For instance during the last track 'Servants of Satan’s Monastery', you find some nice keyboard parts. The search for these small treasures does require some effort and the listener might not be tempted into doing so, because Slaves of the World doesn’t seem to bring anything new or surprising to the table at first.

Peter Wildoer does alright, the riffs are catchy as always and the vocals are even a bit better than what we are used to, but still nothing concrete that draws the attention. Nevertheless, if you are familiar with Old Man’s Child or if you like to sift music to the bottom, check them out! After a few listens, you will be surprised by Slaves of the World after all.