Ahhh....Pagan's Mind. Quite an unknown band. What do you think of first when you hear them? I thought of food, but that is just me. Pagan's Mind is a Progressive/Power Metal band from Norway. They formed sometime in the mid-90's and released their first album entitled Infinity Devine in 2000. Celestial Entrance was their 2nd album, released in 2002.
Pagan's Mind is:
Nils K. Rue (Vocals)
Jørn Viggo Lofstad (Guitar)
Ronny Tegner (Keyboards)
Steinar Krokmo (Bass)
Stian Lindaas Kristoffersen (Drums and Percussion)
Bio taken from http://www.progpoweruk.com/pagansmind.html
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Since Pagan's Mind's birth only five years ago this band
has placed themselves up there amongst the top class
metal acts as Symphony X, Dream Theater and Vanden
Plas. The whole story is in fact much of a fairytale.
5 boys living in the same small town in Norway with a
dream of convincing the masses and turning them into
addicts to their highly technical, intricate but very melodic
music created the rare magic of Pagan's Mind.
From the first small gigs in Norway and the badly distributed
debut album, to the over-praised breathtaking second release
on their new label getting top scores throughout the world
and leaving a united metal press ask “where the hell this
tornado came from” and fully packed arenas on European
and US rock festivals, Pagan's Mind has come as a big
surprise to many throghout the metal community.
They carry the musical heritage from Norwegian TNT and
Conception, but still take this much, much further.
The future looks bright ahead for these guys, and fans
worldwide need to see this band, whose professionalism,
charisma and uniqueness is something one see only once
in a decade.
Long before there was a Black Metal wave, Norwegian bands as TNT and Conception had been sparkling like stars on the Metal sky. The dark clouds of the Black- and Death Metal movement cast a shadow over these beacons of high-quality Metal music for a long time. Only at the beginning of this millennium, PAGANS MIND stepped out of the shadow and directly into the footsteps of the above mentioned musical ancestors. The band was founded by Nils K. Rue (vocals), Stian Kristoffersen (drums) and Thorstein Aaby (ex-rythm guitarist) in the summer of 2000. Shortly after that, Steinar Krokmo (bass), Jörn Viggo Lofstad (guitar), and Ronny Tegner (keyboards) completed the line-up. TNT guitar player Ronny Le Tekro produced their debut Infinity Divine which was released already in November of the same year and got excellent reviews worldwide.
Inspired by this success, PAGAN'S MIND directly started the songwriting for their second album Celestial Entrance which was recorded from January to March 2002 in the Klyve Lydstudio in Skien. Skillfully, the Norwegians intertwine the progressive song structures reminding you of Dream Theater, Rush or Queensryche with modern Power Metal and Thrash Metal-quotations, while Jorn Viggo Lofstads virtuoso guitar artistry combines Steve Vai and Eddy Van Halen's originality with Michael Schenker´s classical elegance.
No lesser person than successful producer Fredrik Nordström (among others, he has produced Hammerfall, and Dimmu Borgir) who plays guitar in the Swedish band Dream Evil provided the appropriate sound for Celestial Entrance and thus, paved the way for the big success of the album after its release in 2002.
And now onto the review...
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Celesti al Entrance (2002)
Track Listing:
01. Approaching
02. Through Osiris' Eyes
03. Entrance: Stargate
04. ...of Epic Questions
05. Dimensions of Fire
06. Dreamscape Lucidity
07. The Seven Sacred Promises
08. Back to the Magic of Childhood: Conception, Pt.1
09. Back to the Magic of Childhood: Exploring Life, Pt.2
10. In Brilliant White Light
11. Aegean Shores
12. The Prophecy of Pleiades
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Approaching-Begins with eerie sounds in the background, until about 40 seconds when the siter (keyboard effect) comes in with a very Egyptian sound. Follows through 'til 1:24 when Jørn comes in with a wicked nasty riff with extreme phase on it. Drums come in and continue 'til 2:04, where a new riff starts, pretty much just working off of the previous one. Ends at 2:48, and goes right into Through Osiris Eyes. Starts off with a pounding riff, than keys come in. Well, it may be a backing guitar riff, I don't know. You finally hear Nils on this track, and his voice is as strong as ever. Amazing lyrics, amazing breakdown, great bass, overall completely solid song. 5/5
Entrance-Stargate-
