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Known for their Stargate-inspired progressive metal, Norway’s Pagan’s Mind first came to my attention with their 2003 release Celestial Entrance. In being one of earliest albums that fueled my interest in European heavy metal, I was interested in finding out where the band had been prior musically. Enter Infinity Divine, the band’s 2000 debut that was released on a small, independent record label. Could Infinity Divine challenge or match the mature sound of its predecessor?
In the simplest sense no. The quality of the material presented on Infinity Divine can’t quite match the slick, streamlined attack heard on Celestial Entrance. Cut and dry as such a decree may seem this is hardly the end of the story. What holds Infinity Divine back? The first hurdle has already been referred to – it’s underdeveloped. This doesn’t mean the songs aren’t built around solid ideas, but for music that fits into the subdivision known as progressive metal, the instrument wizardry you'd expect just isn’t there. Adding to this conundrum is the fact the album seems to misconstrue the definition of progressive. Songs are long yet they shouldn’t be. A track like “Caught in a Dream” clocks in at nearly nine minutes but there is only enough material within it for a four a five minute piece at most, leading to the overuse of choruses and verses. Quite honestly, I can’t imagine how these tracks got out of the studio in the gluttonous form they currently hold. This doesn’t make the album bad per say, but someone had to notice these songs were overextended and the musical version of a muffin top.
As it turns out, someone did. Four years after its initial release, Pagan’s Mind would give Infinity Divine give a significant facelift. Unfortunately, while the songs were trimmed down and remastered, Pagan’s Mind would go a bit too far in their restoration efforts. Where the previously mentioned improvements were no-brainers, re-recording the vocals would prove rather pointless and somewhat detrimental in that listeners were probably use to the inflection key lines had back in the 2000 recording. I can’t say this totally botches the 2004 re-issue of Infinity Divine, but it does make it less attractive and more-or-less disallows it to pull ahead of the original as does nuking “Moonlight Pact” out of existence for a King Diamond cover. The re-recorded version of “Embracing Fear” helps make up for it, but in the end which version the listener is more likely to enjoy is a toss-up.
Given the various misgivings above, it should come as no surprise that when it comes to the two versions of Infinity Divine, I cast my ballot for the original. Both recordings have their own flaws, but as silly as it sounds the vocals end up being the deciding factor and overshadows the positive effect the various edits have on the album. Additionally, while I can’t imagine passing up tracks like “Caught in a Dream,” “Angels Serenity,” “King's Quest” and “Twilight Arise,” Infinity Divine has a heck of a time stacking up against anything that follows it. That’s forgivable given it’s a debut album, but this ultimately puts it in league of its own – a situation that’s not exactly favorable. Given the original pressing is somewhat difficult to locate these days I can only recommend the album to those with an interest in the band or those willing to take a gamble.
