Pagan's Mind manage to slightly dissapoint at PPUK06
Pagan's Mind occupy a somewhat odd position for a band to fill in any festival, not so early in the day they are a small band with few ardent fans in the room, yet they are not one of the two bigger draws (who came in the form of Threshold and Therion) who really lure in the punters. People will be tired from watching the earlier bands, and perhaps saving their energy to really enjoy the headliners. However, despite such an awkward positioning and a few troubles with sound, Pagan's Mind pumped out a wholly enjoyable set.
The bands mixture of both power and progressive musical instrumental styles of course fits the bill for ProgPower perfectly. With tracks such as 'Through Osiris Eyes' and other choice cuts from their albums 'Enigmatic Calling', 'Celestial Entrace' and 'Infinity Divine' the band certainly didn't lack in quality solid tunes. Whilst aside from the track mentioned above there were few that really stood odd and grabbed the listeners' attention, their set certainly didn't lack.
Now, one of the most interesting parts of the entire set was a very enjoyable proggy instrumental break, whilst I presumed singer Nils was nipping offstage for a quick rest, what soon followed was a very long, very intricate instrumental break in which we were treated to not only several guitar and keyboard solos, but a drum solo as well. Whilst this was a complete novelty, and not something all bands should do, the band managed to pull it off with showmanship and virtuosity.
Now, whilst were I was positioned towards the back seating, getting an enjoyable and even sound which didn't over or under compensate the mixture of guitars, keyboards and drums that is vital for Pagan's Mind's instrumentality, it must be mentioned that towards the front of the stage the sound mix lacked somewhat, often with bass or vocals overpowering the rest of the sound. Whilst my own experience of the bands sound was highly enjoyable, it seems the enjoyment for everyone was hardly evenly spread. Another small complaint that must be made is that whilst the band came on energetically enough, with vocalist Nils K Rue getting the crowd going alongside guitarist Jorn Lofsted, there was a definite loss of this energy to the middle of the set which made it drag a fair bit.
So despite these small complaints, Pagan's Mind put in a worthy UK debut show which proved why they have such a dedicated fan base over here that turned up to see them. With good tunes, and (variable) good sound, they are certainly welcome to come back to these shores after this small UK tour.