PAGAN’S MIND – Enigmatic: Calling

ENIGMATIC – Defined as “puzzling; difficult to understand; challenging to decipher.”

The Norwegian Progressive/Power Metal band Pagan’s Mind is finally back with their long-awaited 3rd release, Enigmatic : Calling, after their very strong sophomore release in 2002, Celestial Entrance. Pagan’s Mind, ever since their debut in 2000, Infinity Divine, have indeed established themselves as a “thinking man’s” Metal band, with intricate song topics that often focus on concepts and matters much broader and more cerebral than just those humankind encounters on a day-to-day basis on good ole planet earth. With Enigmatic : Calling, the band has committed this time around to composing a full concept/theme album contemplating the extraterrestrial origin of mankind, and has relied on the talents of guitarist Jorn Viggo Lofstad to produce it.

As with the previous 2 Pagan’s Mind releases, this 2005 release features some top notch musicianship and well-thought out song structures … in fact, you’d be hard pressed to find more talent from top to bottom in any band on the market today. Of special note, drummer Stian Kristoffersen especially flexes his muscles with his performance on this CD, which is in the league of some of the best drummers in the Heavy Rock genre, such as Scott Travis of Judas Priest and Neil Peart of Rush. His rolls and intricate combinations are truly excellent, and are about as good as it gets from a controlled studio setting.

There are 11 tracks within Enigmatic : Calling, 2 of them of the short, instrumental-transitional variety, with the conventional rest in the 5 – 8 minute range. All of the songs are indeed good, both when strung together thematically and individually. Similar to the definition provided above as it relates to the album title, however, there indeed is an intrinsic enigmatic, or puzzling, element to this album. Though difficult to explain, this album, unfortunately, leaves the listener a bit confused. As mentioned, all of the songs are certainly good songs, but, in the end, this Pagan’s Mind release seems to fall into the all-too-common trap that many conceptual albums fall into … that being sacrificing true song success at the expense of holding together the story line. With Queensryche listed as a primary influence to Pagan’s Mind as a band, one can’t help but to think Pagan’s Mind may have tried a bit too hard to follow in their chronological footsteps (Operation : Mindcrime was Queensryche’s 3rd full-length release) at the expense of knocking out an album equal to or better than Celestial Entrance. Again, all of the songs are good and all have unique aspects to them, and just about all of them have killer opening riffs and intros that set high expectations at the beginning of each track. As the songs progress, however, those killer intros seem to lose steam and the songs tend to become vague and difficult to totally relate to … or enigmatic, if you will. Compared to 2 of the most popular conceptual albums, the aforementioned Mindcrime and Pink Floyd’s The Wall, the true missing ingredient here is lack of an identifiable “hit” song or songs. There’s really no “Embracing Fear” or “Through Osiris’ Eyes,” from their 1st and 2nd releases, respectively, for the band to hang its proverbial hat on as near perfect gems.

Because of the talent inherent within this band and the obvious effort put into this production, this is one of those albums that you really want to love … in the end, Progressive Metal fans and fans of a thought-provoking, theme approach to making a record should indeed own this album, as it is a solid effort with above average to excellent individual performances … however, the final conclusion of the end product, as a whole, is a very positive lukewarm result. Pairing up to previous efforts, Enigmatic : Calling, from a pure entertainment perspective, ranks higher than Infinity Divine, but lags a bit behind Celestial Entrance, which to date remains as the band’s strongest release. The band should be commended for its effort, though, as pulling off a flawless conceptual album is very difficult to accomplish … and when all has been said and done, Pagan’s Mind has undoubtedly further advanced themselves as a major player in the world of Progressive/Power Metal.

REPORT CARD

Guitars: Very Good
Bass: Very Good
Percussion: Excellent
Keyboards: Very Good
Vocals: Above Average
Lyrics: Very Good
Recording Quality: Very Good
Originality: Excellent
Overall Rating: Very Good

Note: This CD also contains an MPEG video clip for the song “Enigmatic Mission.”