The billion dollar question. Why do I listen to Heavy Metal music? Through the years lots of people have asked me this question and even I have given thoughts to that. After drinking several alcohol beverages and been through some heavy consideration I came up to many conclusions. One of them is the ability of this music to keep amazing me every now and then, though I've been listening to it on the level of a fanatic for the last 18 years. You see, I don't believe there is any form of music out there, apart from Heavy music, that has the ability to expand / mutate / progress in such a way so to have the ability to leave even an experienced listener breathless. I mean how much has Pop music evolved in the last decade?
The latest release from Pagan's Mind drove me to the edge. Pagan's Mind was formed 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), Jφrn Viggo Lofstad (guitar), and Ronny Tegner (keyboards) completed the lineup. In the same year the band released its debut effort entitled Infinite Divine (produced by TNT guitar player Ronny Le Tekro). The rave reviews left no option to the band: they started working on new material right away. In 2002 the outcome of their efforts was released. Celestial Entrance (this time produced by Fredrik Nordstrφm) was a huge step ahead for the band.
Time passed by, in the meantime the band re-released their debut album and the anticipation for the third strike grew stronger. To be quite honest with you I didn't expect a better album than the first two. Oh, how wrong I was!!!
Enigmatic: Calling is twice as good as everything else these Norwegians have offered us in the past! It's like an amplified version of their previous attempts. Melodic, progressive, furious (at times)... The delicate balance the band achieves in their colorful compositions between power and technical Metal is mind dazzling. Led by the breathtaking performance of guitarist Jorn Viggo Lofstad all the members seems to be in a delirium of artistic externalization. Listen to every instrument interweave in such a cheerful way, it's impossible not to get entangled in the band's musical journey!
As for the lyrical approach of this sonic orgy... well, let's say that the band follows the path they have paved with their previous works creating a labyrinth of thoughts for the listener about the origin of mankind! Yeah, I mean they couldn't be speaking about boobs while having such a kind of music, right?
Albums like this one must be considered as a mind opening experience. It's much more than music. I strongly recommend this not only to fans of heavy music but to everyone who claims to be listening to quality music. Describing this as a masterpiece steals points away!