Pagan's Mind
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Pagan's Mind is a
progressive metal Progressive metal (often shortened to prog metal) is a broad fusion music genre melding heavy metal music, heavy metal and progressive rock, combining the loud "aggression" and amplified electric guitar, guitar-driven sound of the former with t ...
band from
Skien Skien () is a municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Grenland, although historically it belonged to Grenmar/Skiensfjorden, while Grenland referred the Norsjø area and Bø. The administrative ...
, Norway. They have released five studio albums, and the current line-up feature only original members.


Biography

Founded in 2000 from the band Silverspoon by Nils K. Rue, Thorstein Aaby, and Stian Kristoffersen. Pagan's Mind released their first album, '' Infinity Divine'', that same year. The following album, '' Celestial Entrance'', was released in 2002 and was a relatively big success even outside of Norway. A re-recorded version of ''Infinity Divine'' was released in 2004. Their third album, '' Enigmatic: Calling'', was released in 2005 and debuted at number 15 on the Norwegian albums chart. In February 2008, power metal band
Power Quest Power Quest were an English power metal band from Southampton. Prior to the band's retirement in 2023, the line-up consisted of keyboardist Steve Williams, drummer Rich Smith, vocalist Ashley Edison, guitarists Glyn Williams and George "The ...
announced that Pagan's Mind guitarist
Jørn Viggo Lofstad Jørn or Jorn is a given name. Notable people with the name include: Given name: *Jørn Andersen (born 1963), Norwegian former professional footballer *Jorn Barger (born 1953), American blogger, editor of ''Robot Wisdom'', an influential early web ...
will be providing guest instrumentation for the upcoming album '' Master of Illusion''. In 2008, Pagan's Mind toured with
Sonata Arctica Sonata Arctica is a Finnish power metal band from the town of Kemi, Finland. Created as a hard rock band named Tricky Beans, they later changed to Tricky Means and finally to Sonata Arctica, when they shifted to power metal. The current lineup c ...
on their ''
Unia ''Unia'' (), released on 25 May 2007, is the fifth full-length studio album by the power metal band Sonata Arctica, following the album '' Reckoning Night''. The first single from the album was " Paid in Full", released on 27 April 2007. This is ...
'' tour. In 2009, Pagan's Mind played
ProgPower USA ProgPower USA is a progressive and power metal festival held annually in the United States since 2001. Its upcoming edition, ProgPower USA XXIV is scheduled to take place on September 3–6, 2025. The festival's band selection process focuses o ...
. On 2 March 2011, Pagan's Mind announced '' Heavenly Ecstasy'' as the title of their forthcoming album. The band also released a new song called "Intermission" as a premiere for the online radio show "The Metal Madman". The album was released on SPV/Steamhammer on 20 May in Germany, 23 May in other parts of Europe and in June in USA/Canada. On 11 August 2014 Pagan's Mind launched a crowdfunding campaign to fund their next live release called '' Full Circle - Live At Center Stage'', which ran till 20 September and was successfully funded by 163% through their Indiegogo campaign. On 31 July the release date of '' Full Circle - Live At Center Stage'' was announced to be on 16 October 2015 in a Blu-ray+2CD, DVD+2CD and 2LP+CD format through SPV Steamhammer GmbH. Between 2014 and 2017, the band was inactive due to health issues from the members of the bands. They resumed their activities in late 2017, and started working on a new album. On 22 January they announced that due to a family situation, K. Rue would not be featured on the three shows planned in March, and would be replaced by Ole Aleksander Wagenius from the band Withem; the band stated that K. Rue's situation would not interfere with his involvement in the upcoming album. On 17 June 2020 Lofstad appeared as a guest on the podcast "The Genghis & Ragman Show", where he revealed that there were some internal strife within the band that they were working through. He also stated that the band had made enough material to create a new album, and that he hopes to be able to release that one final album with the band. In July 29th 2021, K. Rue appeared on the Youtube show "Breaking Absolutes", where he talked about the upcoming album. During the interview he stated that the songwriting will move away from the topics commonly associated with the band. He also noted that despite band members moving away from each other, they had found a way to be able to work together, and also assured fans that the new album is coming. Nils K. Rue reiterated that sentiment in another interview on August 9th 2023 with Norway Rock Magazine.


Side-projects by band members

Nils K. Rue was the vocalist for Canadian power metal Band Eidolon for their final album as well as a single before the band disbanded. On 28 November 2016 it was announced that Nils K. Rue would play a character named The Prophet in the next
Ayreon Ayreon is a musical project by Dutch songwriter, singer, musician and record producer Arjen Anthony Lucassen. Ayreon's music is described as progressive rock, progressive metal and power metal sometimes combined with genres such as folk music, f ...
album ''
The Source The Source may refer to: Film and television * ''The Source'' (1918 film), 1918 American drama directed by George Melford * ''The Source'' (1999 film), a 1999 documentary film about the Beat generation * ''The Source'' (2002 film), a 2002 scienc ...
''. On 22 February 2018 Northward, a
hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...
project by Jørn Viggo Lofstad and singer
Floor Jansen Floor Jansen (; born 21 February 1981) is a Dutch singer and songwriter. She is the third and current lead vocalist of Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish. Jansen first became known as the lead vocalist of symphonic metal band After Forever f ...
, was unveiled. The two created the project in 2007, writing an entire album worth of music in 2008 but being unable to record previously due to their busy schedules; they ultimately reunited in 2017 to finally record their self-titled debut album, which was released in 2018.


Influences

Their music is influenced by ''
Stargate ''Stargate'' is a military science fiction media franchise owned by Amazon MGM Studios. It is based on Stargate (film), the film directed by Roland Emmerich, which he co-wrote with producer Dean Devlin; production company StudioCanal owns the ...
'', especially the
theatrical film A feature film or feature-length film (often abbreviated to feature), also called a theatrical film, is a film (motion picture, "movie" or simply “picture”) with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation ...
. In an interview, frontman Nils K. Rue said: "I wouldn't say I like the TV series ''Stargate'', because I never saw an entire episode of that. But I really like the film ''Stargate''. Of course, I took some inspiration from that..."Murphy, Bill, ProgPower USA VIII interview with Nils K. Rue, Part One


Band members

* Nils K. Ruelead vocals (2000–present) * Jørn Viggo Lofstadguitar, backing vocals (2000–present) * Steinar Krokmobass, backing vocals (2000–present) * Ronny Tegner keyboards (2000–present) * Stian Kristoffersendrums (2000–present)


Former members

* Thorstein Aabyguitar (2000–2003; died 2007)


Live member

*Ole Aleksander Wageniusvocals (2018)


Timeline


Discography


Studio albums

* ''Infinity Divine'' (2000, re-recorded in 2004) * ''Celestial Entrance'' (2002) * ''Enigmatic: Calling'' (2005) * ''God's Equation'' (2007) * '' Heavenly Ecstasy'' (2011)


Live albums

* ''Live Equation'' (2009) (DVD) * ''Full Circle: Live at Center Stage'' (2015) (Blu-Ray, DVD)


Videography


DVD and video

* ''New World Order Live and Supremacy Our Kind Live'' (ProgPower USA VIII Concert DVD) * ''God Equation Live 2009'' (Promo/Concert Sale DVD)


Music videos

* "Through Osiris' Eyes" (''Celestial Entrance'') * "Aegean Shores" (''Celestial Entrance'') * "Enigmatic Mission" (''Enigmatic: Calling'') * "Atomic Firelight" (''God's Equation'') * "Intermission" (''Heavenly Ecstasy'')


References


External links

*
Record Label


{{Authority control Norwegian progressive metal musical groups Norwegian power metal musical groups Musical groups established in 2000 2000 establishments in Norway Musical groups from Skien Limb Music artists Paganism in music