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Pagan's Mind has been a band that has worked very hard at pushing themselves with every release. So far they have done pretty good and have shown great growth each time. For this work ethic they have seen their fan base grow with each cd as well. Well, with this cd I think they started getting too comfortable. It seems the worst thing that can happen to any metal band is to start feeling like they don't have anything to prove. A band always has something to prove and are only as good as their most recent cd. This is cd overall just isn't as good. The problem? It doesn't show any growth and goes backwards in some places. Oh, and putting an advertising ment in the center of the booklet? That is just plain tacky. Make that a removable card. Not something that will be with the fan (who paid good money) for decades to come. It cheapens the whole thing. Shame on you Limb Music! Although things start out ok, even the first two tracks are just Pagan's Mind by numbers. It is the band doing what they now can do in their sleep. Great, but not pushing any boundaries at all. This might have been ok except for he extremely annoying "Atomic Firelight". The drums are trying so hard to be different that they forgot to flow with the song. The distorted vocals are about as great of an idea s the drum sound on Metallica's St Anger and it seems just as embraced by the fans (from other reviews I have read). The David Bowie cover just comes off as weird. I have nothing against a band doing a cover of David Bowie, but it just doesn't work here. One of my favorite band's of all times is Nevermore. They are well known for doing covers that no metal band should seemingly do, but somehow turn them into metal classics. It is a rare skill Pagan's Mind just doesn't seem to have. After that things seem to improve a little. I honestly liked "Evolution Exceed". Maybe it should have been put closer to the begining of the cd? It would have been better without the distorted vocals, but that doesn't ruin it for me. I have red reviews from many others that hated it though. "Alien Kamikaze" is another one of the songs I liked too. The staccato guitar followed by the nice flowing part gives it an almost old school thrash feel. When they pick up the pace about half way thorough it makes it my favorite song on the cd. The piano works well to make it stick out from the rest of the cd too. With "Painted Skies" they try to bing in a little doom for some reason. Now I know I mention one of this releases weak points is that the band doesn't move forward, but this experiment just doesn't work. The weird guitar solo about halfway through just sounds forced and unnatural. "Spirit Starcruiser" and "Farewell" have their moments, but just nothing special. "Osiris' Triumphant Return" is another song that would have been ok, if it wasn't one of the better tracks here. There are times that it is a pretty solid song, but nothing that will amaze. Did this Rock My Monkey? Yeah, but not as much as some of their past material. I was really hoping for more. There are some decent songs, but nothing that makes me want to play this cd ever again after the review is posted. They are doing prog by numbers at best and that just isn't a good thing. If this is the worst cd the band ever does they are still gods, but if the next one doesn't blow us all away they are gone. With the talents of Nils K. Rue at their disposal, they should be able to do something way better then this. I think they used about one tenth of his range and versatility here. If they only used half of it, the next cd would be their best release yet.
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