Review Summary: Haken brings emotion back into prog. Can't think of a more emotional and well-rounded prog album from the last 20 years. And djent bits may require listeners to purchase a neck brace. That is a good thing.
Lets get the basics out of the way, first. 1) I really loved this album. Like a lot. 2) No I am not going to explicitly state that Haken is better than Dream Theater. 3) Yes, they are all incredible musicians. Welcome to progland. 4) Yes, yes, I agree that this band is underrated and DT gets too much credit.
Recent prog has taken on a slightly... emotionless tone. Very good recent progressive bands like Opeth, Dream Theater, Porcupine Tree, Simon Says, and so on have not managed to produce records that make listeners feel the way that King Crimson, Genesis, Camel, Floyd, and the likes' records did. Feel and emotion has seemingly been replaced with raw musicianship, which, admittedly, is at a level that the early prog giants couldn't ever dream of achieving. Compare the beautiful, shiver-inducing solo of Firth of Fifth to the shreddy-freddy of John Pettrucci when he plays DT's most popular songs. The technicality is through the roof, but the new stuff feels emotionless and flat. What is this age of stale prog rock that we have come to live in?
Haken to the rescue!!! These British shmucks have managed to combine the raw musicianship of modern prog with the downright beautiful songwriting and emotional-stimulus that old prog once had. Ill break down why I think this is true.
The flow of the album as a whole is beautiful. The songs blend beautifully with one another, and several themes are carried throughout. The most obvious is the beautiful melody of "The Path," which manifests itself as an a capella intro and chorus for "Because It's There," as well as the theme to the a bonus track. Similar gems are found throughout the record. Of course, this is nothing explicitly new in the world of prog, but its all about the execution. Every song manages to be fairly unique from the others, while still allowing themes to flow through and emotions to be unrepeated (except for the djent-y bits, during which emotions typically induced by a healthy combination of ecstasy and steroids do tend to be repeated. Thats a good thing.)
"The Path"/"Atlas Stone" give the album a warm and positive introduction, keeping things just progressive enough (like the funky 5/4 groove of "Atlas Stone") to keep musical connoisseurs happy while not making it so intense as to scare away prog newbies (like the intro to Opeth's Pale Communion album does). The bridge of "Atlas stone" grooves so well and has such a sticky melody that I can't resist simply smiling every time I hear it.
We then flow into "Cockroach King", which is a reason in itself to upvote this album. The song conveys emotions of realization and challenge, with hints of a darker remainder of the album. Interestingly, the music retains a convincingly positive and powerful tone, but the clear-cut lyrics juxtapose feelings of irony and slightly comedic cliche’s which foreshadow decline in the rest of the album (“the hunter draws closer to his prey”). The instrumentation is truly wonderful in this song. The combination of intricate a cappella and classic prog, as well as a very funky but nonetheless amazing jazz snidbit featuring amazing bass playing and expertly combining prog and jazz drumming, make this song unique in the prog world. I admit that I believe that this is the best song Haken has yet released.
“In Memoriam” brings a more dark overtone to a similar type of theme to what is heard in “Atlas Stone,” as well classic odd-meter Haken keyboard-djent which brings wild head bobbing into the mix of the album. Bring a neck brace wherever you plan to listen to this song.
“Because It’s There” gives the listener a rest from the hard prog of the last two songs. The a’capella introduction and then the drum sampling over other parts of the song is very different from anything that would be expected from prog metal, but makes for a very emotional and pretty prog ballad. The theme is repeated from the opening track, giving the album good continuity. The chorus of this song, as well as the next, is truly epic. Haken hit gold with the theme from “The Path” and execute it beautifully in this song. This song is probably the ideal piece of music to test speakers with- Haken’s meticulous, perfectionist audio production efforts become clear through the many subtleties, such as water droplets or quiet yet intricate vocal lines behind the main melody. There aren’t so many instruments as to cloud the soundstage, but enough that the differences between good and bad sound systems should be obvious if using this song as a tester.
The next song, “Falling Back to Earth,” an emotional, hard-hitting prog anthem laced with metal, mathrock, jazz, and epic drumming, slams us with classic Haken musicianship, but more importantly a host of emotional switches. The verse conveys brute anger, the chorus conveys some sense of euphoria, the instrumental bridge introduces a sense of complete and utter confusion, the epic guitar solo and vocal bridge bring the emotion of absolute outrage, which is followed by the euphoric feeling of the chorus. The second half of the song brings emotions of exhaustion, and reintroduce absolute anger, which, (along with different instrumentation) makes the last chorus feel darker than it did before. This song should be a lesson to other bands as to how to lace a 12 minute song with emotion. This is my second favorite track on the album.
The dark piano ballad “As Death Embraces” follows follows the emotions of second half of the “Falling Back to Earth,” confirming that the album would have a dark end.
The next track, “Pareidolla,” introduces far-eastern musical influences with a very dark vocal melody to create what is ultimately the darkest song of the album. Vocal lines such as “all my friends have drowned” make it seem as though whatever character this album is about has emerged from hibernation to find empty desolation and ruin. Influences from Opeth make themselves apparent in this track. I do have to admit, I am not a huge fan of this track, as it doesn’t have as much dynamic and emotional variation as other tracks. To me, it feels more like a recent Opeth or Dream Theater song.
The closing track, “Somebody,” is dark but finishes the album with a sense of pride, recovery, and most importantly, hope. The last two minutes and fifteen seconds of the track make an absolutely grand finish, which manage (for me, at least) to transform the darkness conveyed through the last three songs into a new age, laced with hopeful possibilities.
Through and through, the album makes me think of a character who begins a great journey to do great things, but is then knocked down by the futility of his struggles, deals with a plunge into depression and regret, and then emerges back into the world as a wiser person with the conviction to truly live out the rest of his/her life to the fullest. No recent prog albums (even The Awakening by DT) have so strongly conveyed so much emotion through a 70 minute track… the overall emotional flow of this album should be a model for other prog bands to emulate.
Additionally, this album is recorded with impeccable quality, meaning that the listener is truly rewarded for listening through high def systems. Listening on my logitech Z623 desk speakers makes the album sound good. Listening through the Martin Logan SL3’s in my living room reveals intricate detail that I would not have otherwise noticed… Listening to Cockroach King though my friend’s Sennheiser HD650’s with signal going through a wonderful headphone amp revealed more layers of intricacies, proving the meticulous effort that Haken had taken in recording this album cleanly. The drums sound huge, although they do not occupy all of the mix. The jazz bits are crystal clear, and make it sound as though you are right there in the studio with the guys as they played it. Most importantly, all of the instruments are distinctly separated. Even during the hardest prog bits, I can clearly make out what the bass, guitars, keyboard, and drums are doing. This is rare in prog these days, as bands cloud their songs with so many instruments and sounds that it becomes difficult to discern which one is which. Additionally, as audio equipment has become cheaper and more available, many bands have opted to resort to using cheaper recording techniques. Haken seems not have taken this shortcut.
The verdict is that this is an amazing progressive rock album. I can’t bring myself to think of a better prog album released in the last 20 years. Good job Haken. I hope that Affinity will be as good.
