Stephen
My last encounter with Pagan's Mind is with their 2005's 'Infinity Divine' and I missed their fourth release, 'God's Equation', but when a friend gave me this disc as a gift, my mind was like resurrected to remind myself of how great this band is. The proportion of their progressive part seems to slightly diminish on this record, replaced with a monstrous melodic metal riffs, perhaps intended to reach a wider audience outside the progressive scope.
To me, this is totally an enchanting news, not that I despise the prog idea, but mainly because I'm a huge fan of melodic heavy metal, and to listen how Nils scream his lung out in sensational tracks like 'Eyes of Fire' or 'Walk Away In Silence', is just euphoric. 'Intermission' is another example of melodic metal gem, the high-register roar is stunning but wait until you hear Lofstad's crazy solo!
Pagan's Mind twist more prog element to 'Into The Aftermath', weirdly reminiscent of Ozzy Osbourne's later days on some part, but definitely a goodie for the ears, 'Revelation To The End' is the most complex song, spanned over 8 minutes, you can hear the Dream Theater flavor before they pumped up the melodies on the chorus. Other great tracks for me are the power ballad, 'Live Your Life Like A Dream' and 'When Angels Unite' while 'Follow Your Way' or 'Create Your Destiny' are might be their weakest.
I'm enjoying an excellent production, the sound is crystal clear, and after more than five spins, I'm pretty sure that 'Heavenly Ecstacy' is going to stay strong on my top 15 metal albums of 2011. Great stuff!