Norway's progressive metal monsters are back with their latest album God's Equation and the follow-up to 2005's Enigmatic Calling. Pagan's Mind really made a huge impact on the progressive metal scene back in 2002 with their second album Celestial Entrance. That album saw them combining all the best elements of Dream Theater and Queensryche with a huge sense of excitement and melody and hammered home with a very strong and heavy guitar presence. Many heralded that particular album as the dawning of a new era in progressive metal. Enigmatic Calling was considered a "safe" follow-up and although was still a solid album, really didn't offer anything new. With God's Equation, Pagan's Mind has continued with the Stargate theme on their album covers; only this time, we get a six-armed goddess holding various artefacts sitting in front of it. Musically, I find this album a little more interesting than Enigmatic Calling in that it heralds both a triumphant return to the soaring melodies found on Celestial Entrance as well as ushering in a newer and more aggressive modern metal style to their sound.

After a dreamy keyboard flavored instrumental opener, the title track God's Equation sees Pagan's Mind in very fine form. The modern drop D tuned guitars combined with speedy and almost thrashy heavy metal are all important players in this sometimes very technical track that also features the trademark soaring vocals and harmonies by vocalist Nils K. Rue. United Alliance keeps the standards of quality held high with it's mid tempo style, heavy riffs and swirling synthesizer. Nils once again provides the rich melodic vocal and the very expressive lead work by guitarist Jorn Viggo Lofstad doesn't go unnoticed either. The more "traditional" Pagan's Mind sound is also found with Painted Skies and the epic album closer Osiris' Triumphant Return. Painted Skies uses chunky riffs to drive the otherwise eerie atmospheric vibe that permeates this song. A fine example of modern prog metal, it also features strong vocal harmonies and more outstanding lead guitar work. Osiris' Triumphant Return is a massive epic that uses marching, doom laden heavy riffs, lots of keyboard accents and an overall more traditional prog metal sound. Solid instrumental passages and yet more strong vocal harmonies are the highlights of this track which serves as a virtual showcase for all that this band has to offer. An interesting cover of David Bowie's Hallo Spaceboy from his 1995 album Outside is included here as well. A curious addition to this album, Nils K. Rue adopts a very "Bowie" like singing style and overall, the band does a solid job of not only keeping true to the original arrangement, but also in "beefing" it up a little in true Pagan's Mind fashion. With tracks like Atomic Firelight, Evolution Exceed and Alien Kamikaze, Pagan's Mind takes a detour into the realms of more modern heavy metal with crunching drop D tunings, screaming vocals with added voice effects and a stronger dose of aggression than is usually dealt by this band. Some of it even has "metalcorish" like qualities with the breakdowns and thrashy style. Only the occasional melodic vocal line by Nils K. Rue reminds the listener that yes, this is still in fact a Pagan's Mind album.

With God's Equation, Pagan's Mind throws some very different attitudes and emotions at the listener. The warm and melodic vocal harmonies can all of a sudden be shattered by aggression and rage. The vocal harmonies here remind me a lot of Australia's Vanishing Point and are a real treat if vocal harmonies are important aspect for a great prog metal experience for you. Pagan's Mind absolutely shines on a few tracks on this album whereas other "experiments" of fusing more traditional prog metal with modern metal styles comes off sounding disjointed and pieced together. There is little transition between the two styles Pagan's Mind is attempting to "merge" here. God's Equation has lots of great moments and should please fans of the band but it's certainly no Celestial Entrance as for the first time in this band's career, we see a noticeable dip in song quality with several tracks on this album. If you're looking for an album that fuses traditional prog metal with a great sense of modern heaviness in an almost flawless soundscape, try the latest Symphony X album Paradise Lost instead.