Pagan's Mind - Infinity Divine


Year of Release: 2000
Label: FaceFront Records
Catalog Number: FF 0014
Format: CD
Total Time: 70:46:00

Formed from the ashes of Silverspoon, which had one CD on their conscience, comes Pagan's Mind. The new bright power/prog hope of Norway.

I actually didn't hear much of this band before their new album arrived in my mail and I tell you I was completely blown away by what I heard. Here in Norway we're not exactly blessed by quality prog/power metal bands, and when something this good is coming out of Norway, it is something out of the ordinary.

Pagan's Mind's driving force is the excellent, rather technical twin guitar lead attack and the awesome, operatic, high-pitched vocals of Nils K. Rue. Their sound is at times rather dark and moody, crunchy, yet still melodic. The music is filled with lots of time-changes, variation and technical details, which makes it an interesting journey each time you listen to the CD. The songs hold very high quality, maintaining accessible melody lines and choruses, but a couple of songs fall through, lacking the strong melody lines the other songs have. Having that said, this is without a doubt one of the strongest power/prog metal CDs to see the light of day in 2001. This is a must for all fans of progressive power metal, with strong vocals, powerful guitars and top-notch song writing.

This is the best album of the genre to come out of Norway since Trivial Act's glorious debut album, and that says a lot!

Re-recorded, remixed and reissued in 2004, with 2 bonus tracks added, by Limb Music Products (LMP 0410-069 CD) and SPV (SPV CD 085-60602); total time: 68:39

[This review originally appeared November 2002 at the ProgPower Online review site; on July 24, 2007 Thorstein Aaby passed away after a long illness; he was 35 -ed.]


Tracklisting:
2000 edition: Prelude To Paganism (1:03) / Caught In A Dream (8:12) / Infinity Divine (7:49) / Embracing Fear (6:03) / Astral Projection (6:44) / Angels' Serenity (4:51) / Dawning Of The Nemesis (7:04) / King's Quest (6:39) / Twilight Arise (4:36) / Moonlight Pact (7:07) / A New Beginning (7:38)

2004 edition Prelude To Paganism (1:02) / Caught In A Dream (6:02) / Infinity Divine (6:12) / Embracing Fear (5:56) / Astral Projection (5:41) / Angels' Serenity (4:20) / Dawning Of The Nemesis (5:09) / King's Quest (5:39) / Twilight Arise (4:35) / A New Beginning (8:08) / Embracing Fear 2004 (6:17) / At The Graves (9:34)

Musicians:
Nils K. Rue - vocals
J?rn Viggo Lofstad - guitars
Thorstein Aaby - guitars
Steinar Krokmo - bass
Ronny Tegner - keyboards
Stian Kristoffersen - drums

Guests:

Bente Aanesen - vocals (5)
Glen Drover - guitar solo 1 (14)*
Gus G. - guitar solo 2 (14)*

*2004 version

Discography:
Infinity Divine (2000/2004)
Celestial Entrance (2002)
Enigmatic: Calling (2005)
God's Equation (2007)

Genre: Progressive-Power Metal

Origin NO

Added: January 17th 2005
Reviewer: Bjørnar Bevolden
Score:
Artist website: www.pagansmind.com
Hits: 3434
Language: english

  

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