Author Topic: [Music] Haken - Aquarius  (Read 5081 times)

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Offline TimmyHiggy

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[Music] Haken - Aquarius
« on: April 25, 2010, 03:08:25 PM »
Artist: Haken
Album: Aquarius
Genre: Progressive Metal / Other
Year of Release: 2010
On Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Aquarius-Haken/dp/B0036OOWR4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1272224421&sr=8-1

                               

The much anticipated debut album from british proggers Haken, who manage to fuse an original blend of progressive metal with some frankly bizarre moments which range from disney-esque cheese to evil circus music!
The album is a concept album telling the fantasy tale of a mermaid.
Note: Plot is my interpretation of the lyrics!

1. The Point of No Return

Plot: The child is born with flippers. The family decide the best thing to do with this "circus freak" is to set it free into a stream. The end of the song sees the family living with the guilt.

Music: Haken are quick to introduce themselves to newcomers with the 2 main elements of their sound in the first 30 seconds, with the track opening with a doomy riff which very quickly takes an interlude into planet bizarro with a very brief few bars whose style I can't even begin to describe!
Overall the song is very strong and extremely atmospheric, with a filthy death growl section, very petrucci-esque melodic guitar line in the middle, frankly mental instrumental section in the middle featuring solos from everyone and number of style changes!

Highlights: 1st verse is a real strong point, with a really beautiful melody. Instrumental section is a must listen too, just for how insane it is. Love the harmonies on the last vocal section.
Negatives: Keyboard lead sounds in the solo section are just too weird for my taste.


2. Streams

Plot: This track sees a happy young mermaid in her childhood stream before being caught by something unseen, and the fate of the mermaid is passed into the hands of whatever it was that caught her.

Music: Part 1 is very happy and is probably best described as cheese. It has to be the first time I have ever bought a CD which has "mmm bap bap" backing vocals! Part 2 starts with a church organ, and leads into a very doom-laden section with vocals that sound like they have been detuned. Pure filth! Part 3 starts off very ambient and atmospheric before ending with a sadder rendition of the intro theme followed by a much quieter and less powerful rendition of the chorus of part 1. The track goes out on another bit of great guitar work.

Highlights: Doomy middle section and very minor end section
Negatives: Lyrics are pretty cheesy and "streams of life digress like water running through my veins" has me very puzzled!

3. Aquarium

Plot: Our mermaid is now being held in an aquarium and put on display for the paying public, which seems to be effecting her health and she is desperate for her freedom once more.
Music: Very atmospheric song, with some more beautiful melodic verses and some more great melodic guitar soloing in the lead up to the second verse. After nearly 6 minutes of intense music, we are given some major key rock complete with gruff hetfieldy vocals and insane shredding! This is followed by a funky riff followed by some more of the Haken signature mental heavy section. Then comes the major key twin guitar shred after a great organ solo, then the song resumes where it had left off before!

Highlights: The whole song is outstanding. My favourite moments are the final chorus followed by the haunting guitar solo.
Negatives: Not the biggest fan of the chorus when done gently.

4. Eternal Rain

Plot: The catcher realises he has done wrong, and fears what fate has in store for him.

Music: Chilled intro leads into a fast verse. The chorus is very singalong (or at least I dont seem to be able to stop myself!). The solo section in this song is one of the best in the whole album, with some great melodic parts along side some mental fast guitar playing (sounds like 8 finger tapping to me!!). Then the music centres around a crazy theme for a bit, before working its way back to the chorus via a big chords melodic guitar solo!

Highlights: INSTRUMENTAL SECTION!!!
Negatives: Can't think of anything I dislike or would want to change!

5. Drowning in the Flood

Plot: On his way to return the mermaid to the sea, the ship is wrecked. The mermaid manages to save her catcher, but at the cost of her own life.
Music: AWESOME heavy riff!!! Great groove to the inter-verse instrumental work, and a great melodic chorus. About five minutes of great heavy riffage we are taken to a beautiful jazzy section. Final vocal part is absolutely (im sorry, im going to use the e word) EPIC! We are then given a keyboard solo to see off an incredible piece of music.
Highlights: If I had to single out one thing, it would be the main heavy riff as it seems to be the catalyst for all this awesomeness!
Negatives: I WANT MORE!!!

6. Sun

Plot: The scene of the cover, with the mermaid vaporising in the wake of this tragedy.

Music: A ballad to calm you after the brutality of the last track. This track grows on me with every listen.
Very calm and (sorry, I've said this a lot so far) beautiful.

Highlights: the acoustic gutiar revisiting the "freak of nature" theme from Aquarium and the massive harmonies on the "Aquarius" lyric.
Negatives: Use of the word "Vaporise"

7. Celestial Elixir

Plot: The mermaid is in the afterlife, leaving all those who encountered her to deal with their guilt and grief.

Music: Probably the most insane thing on the album. Opens with a variation of the albums opening, before going mental and oom-pah again.  To be honest, I don't think it is even worth me lengthening what is already a lengthy post with a proper description of a 15 minute song so here are the keywords/phrases:
Bonkers
Rocker
Off
Your
Earlier Themes (in a good way)
Tuba
Calm
Heavy
Huge Chorus
Strange slidey bit
Jazzy piano solo
OOM-PAH
Disney
Frantic
Banjo

Positives: The vocals are extremely enjoyable, as is the instrumental section. I can assure you that you won't have heard anything like it!
Negatives: I was laughing a bit too much the first time I heard the tuba part and missed the banjo.

Overall: Really great album by any standard, but even better when you consider that this is the DEBUT! The band have really found their own unique sound where other bands usually end up fumbling a little bit having not really found their feet yet. Vocals are great, and the reason they don't get much of a mention is purely because they are the most "normal" thing about the band.
A quick note on the mental sections (the bits under the /other in the style!). Whilst being one of the things I enjoy most, it is also one of the things I feel can derail the track and make it almost lose impact. I find I get used to it and almost end up concentrating on the 2 different styles seperately and almost make myself forget the craziness straight after it happened in order to continue with some of the really great heavy, tense stuff! Not often a great strength is also a great weakness though, and I feel that it will probably be the thing that splits peoples opinions on the band, not that that is a bad thing!

Overall 9.5/10
Buy this album!!
i heard if you put bread in the rooof of your mouth it means oyu don't cvry when you're shoocppig ononsosni.
<br />/I vea aben told buy   spletn spencer adn timhiggy and that zletar guy to potost gcase imm drunk for the fist imeiiiiiiiiiiiii eoand evryoen ois mkaking funof eme :O(<br />
<br />

Online ariich

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Re: [Music] Haken - Aquarius
« Reply #1 on: April 26, 2010, 02:06:00 PM »
Negatives: I WANT MORE!!!
Quote
Music: Probably the most insane thing on the album. Opens with a variation of the albums opening, before going mental and oom-pah again.  To be honest, I don't think it is even worth me lengthening what is already a lengthy post with a proper description of a 15 minute song so here are the keywords/phrases:
Bonkers
Rocker
Off
Your
Earlier Themes (in a good way)
Tuba
Calm
Heavy
Huge Chorus
Strange slidey bit
Jazzy piano solo
OOM-PAH
Disney
Frantic
Banjo

:lol Best bits of the review.

Glad you're liking it anyway. Drowning in the Flood has fast become one of my favourite songs ever. :tup

Ariich is a freak, or somehow has more hours in the day than everyone else.
I be am boner inducing.

Offline TimmyHiggy

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Re: [Music] Haken - Aquarius
« Reply #2 on: April 26, 2010, 03:23:27 PM »
I can't help but keep listening to this album!
Any disagreements about the plot? I pretty much skimmed the lyrics at mega speed to try and pull it out :p
i heard if you put bread in the rooof of your mouth it means oyu don't cvry when you're shoocppig ononsosni.
<br />/I vea aben told buy   spletn spencer adn timhiggy and that zletar guy to potost gcase imm drunk for the fist imeiiiiiiiiiiiii eoand evryoen ois mkaking funof eme :O(<br />
<br />

Offline faemir

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Re: [Music] Haken - Aquarius
« Reply #3 on: April 28, 2010, 04:07:08 PM »
This is the first album i've ever bought on itunes, need to buy it on cd too.

Offline Zook

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Re: [Music] Haken - Aquarius
« Reply #4 on: April 28, 2010, 07:24:51 PM »
I sampled the first couple minutes of The Point of No Return and couldn't help but laugh. This is weird music. I'll give the whole album a listen though.

Online ariich

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Re: [Music] Haken - Aquarius
« Reply #5 on: April 29, 2010, 12:45:14 AM »
This is weird music.
Says the guy from Krotchraut. :lol

Ariich is a freak, or somehow has more hours in the day than everyone else.
I be am boner inducing.