PAGAN’S MIND: Enigmatic : Calling

Cover	Release	Style
	2005-05-09	progressive power metal
	Label
	Limb Music Products / Suburban
	Website
	www.pagansmind.com
	Contact

	Playing Time	Cat. N°
	65:41	LMP 0505-080
	Review by	Rating
	Vera	9/10
nederlands	Review
When I reviewed the previous album of Pagan’s Mind ‘Celestial Entrance’ at the end of 2002 I was super enthusiastic. And their concert at ProgPower 2003 left me with a positive impression too. In the meantime their debut album ‘Infinity Divine’ has been re-released in 2004 and now it is time for true new stuff. The writing of new songs for ‘Enigmatic : calling’ already started during the revision of ‘Infinity Divine’ and took over one year. This year they will be able to enlarge their fan base again during a gig at ProgPower 2005. Dream Theater and Queensryche influences are still omnipresent, but Pagan’s Mind gives it an exquisite personal flavour. Influences are numerous indeed. This is just another excellent prog metal album with breathtaking vocals of Nils K. Rue and an overwhelming production. The mix by Fred Nordström and Patrik J. Steen in the Fredman studio procures a powerful, yet transparent sound. And also this time the album is good for more than one hour joy of listening (most of the songs have a length around seven minutes). On the regular CD this is completed with a video clip of ‘Enigmatic Mission’. The Norwegian band has chosen for a concept this time. The lyrics are all contemplations about the origin of mankind. The band leaves all possibilities open, they don’t express any point of view. Just food for thought. From the opener track ‘The Celestine Prophecy’ it sounds majestic in any way. The slightly high vocals are surrounded by melodic guitar sounds and the keyboards strengthen the progressive feeling. A firm pace has also ‘Enigmatic Mission’, where after ‘Supremacy, our kind’ suddenly summons another atmosphere: much darker. Because of the voice-distortion which is used again on this album to bring more diversity in the vocals from time to time. Two instrumental compact songs are islands of rest in the tumultuous progressive ocean. The songs have a great amount of complexity, but there are enough slower, relax guitar leads to recover. The riffs in more heavy tracks like ‘Celestial Calling’ and ‘New World Order’ have a thrashy nature. That is another typical Pagan’s Mind characteristic. Actually the whole album is one big highlight. That’s why there is no need to mention other songs separately. Maybe one: ‘Search For Life’ starts introvert and combines dry toms with slightly jazzy keys. This is a matchless successor of ‘Celestial Entrance’ and everyone who loved that album, can buy ‘Enigmatic : calling’ blind. And don’t miss them at ProgPower!
Musicians
Nils K. Rue: vocals Jörn Viggo Lofstad: guitars Steinar Krokmo: bass Ronny Tegner: keyboards Stian Kristoffersen: drums
Tracklist
The Celestine Prophecy (7’36’’) Enigmatic Mission (5’16’’) Supremacy, our kind (5’59’’) Entrance To Infinity (7’48’’) Coming Home (2’36’’) Celestial Calling (7’00’’) Taken (7’35’’) Resurrection (back in time) (6’36’’) Appearance (1’52’’) Search for Life (5’00’’) New World Order (8’11’’)


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