Haken v. new single Nightingale (April 26)

[kirksnosehair]

I wouldn't describe Virus as boring, but as melodically uninteresting.   Every time I listened to it, it would end and I would have almost no memory of what I had just heard.  The melodies just aren't strong at all.

I won't say I am giving up on this band, but they are starting to trend down, which is a bit concerning.

This is how I have felt about Haken since the first album.  Very, very talented group of guys who write some really complex but largely unmemorable music.  I will say, though, that Cockroach King song from a previous album was stuck in my head for MONTHS.   


I always download their albums through Amazon.com when they come out and like you I listen but when it's over I can't really remember any of it, nor do I ever feel particularly interested in hearing it again.  I listened to "Virus" maybe 5 or 6 times - impressed by the chops, but not really moved by the music at all.

[gzarruk]

https://www.facebook.com/100044565693628/posts/263629718465883/

"Prognosis Festival 2022 lineup announcement. We’re going to play a special set: Vector and Virus back to back in their entirety. Looking forward to seeing y’all there!"

Will Diego be there, though?

[KevShmev]

I wouldn't describe Virus as boring, but as melodically uninteresting.   Every time I listened to it, it would end and I would have almost no memory of what I had just heard.  The melodies just aren't strong at all.

I won't say I am giving up on this band, but they are starting to trend down, which is a bit concerning.

This is how I have felt about Haken since the first album.  Very, very talented group of guys who write some really complex but largely unmemorable music.  I will say, though, that Cockroach King song from a previous album was stuck in my head for MONTHS.   


I always download their albums through Amazon.com when they come out and like you I listen but when it's over I can't really remember any of it, nor do I ever feel particularly interested in hearing it again.  I listened to "Virus" maybe 5 or 6 times - impressed by the chops, but not really moved by the music at all.

I get that regarding Virus and chunks of Vector, but not the first four albums. The first four albums are all pretty great, although it took me a bit of time to get into the band in general (re-read this whole thread if you are bored for some epic fail posts by me from 4-5 years ago ), so Virus could always grab me once I get back to it.  I just haven't had the urge to revisit it since it was a miss for me last summer/fall.

[jammindude]

Can’t wrap my head around not finding Visions memorable or melodic.

It’s not my favorite album of theirs by any stretch, but it is the one that most often gets melodies stuck in my head. Especially the Premonition overture intro piece. And then the Mind’s Eye/Portals/Shapeshifter trilogy, which goes into the absolutely gorgeous Deathless.

In fact, that 4 song run might be my favorite (musically speaking) song grouping of all time from them. But I can see where the title track kind of jumps around a bit. I remember bits of it, but it doesn’t flow as well as their other epics like Crystallized IMO.

[MinistroRaven]

https://www.facebook.com/100044565693628/posts/263629718465883/

"Prognosis Festival 2022 lineup announcement. We’re going to play a special set: Vector and Virus back to back in their entirety. Looking forward to seeing y’all there!"

Will Diego be there, though?

Don't bet on it

[Nick]

https://www.facebook.com/100044565693628/posts/263629718465883/

"Prognosis Festival 2022 lineup announcement. We’re going to play a special set: Vector and Virus back to back in their entirety. Looking forward to seeing y’all there!"

Ugh, 2022 is gonna be rough. I have a shit ton of time off this year with what my company let us carryover, but no clue if I'll be in the same boat in 2022. That being said that year will already have, at minimum, a cruise to the edge, an Ayreon show, and now it looks like a Vector/Virus show, if not here then somewhere.

[Fritzinger]

Has there been anything else than fan-made rumors that indicate turmoil between Diego and the rest of the band? None of the members have actually said anything, or did I miss something?

[IDontNotDoThings]

[Edit: removed the link because some info on it might be used to dox the members, but I have evidence & can DM it to people who want it.]

[Fritzinger]

That would suck big time. I wonder when they will say something about this and if Diego is still doing the next tour with them.

Still, I remain in denial. Haken is THE dream team in the music business for me right now.

[RoeDent]

Roine's never said anything about Bodin leaving The Flower Kings, which is the massive elephant in the room regarding that band. If nothing else, the official statement will come when the next album comes out and Diego isn't on the credits.

[Elite]

Aaaand, since that's my hometown, I'm basically going.

See you there, Nick!

[Fritzinger]

Aaaand, since that's my hometown, I'm basically going.

See you there, Nick!

Wait a minute, I just saw that this is in NL. I don't know why but I just presumed this was somewhere in the US.
This is the weekend of Easter.

Vector and Virus back to back?

Count me in 

[Evermind]

To those who frequent the festival, do the tickets usually sell out fast? I plan to wait a little bit to see how the Covid situation goes. I've got tickets for this year's ProgPower Europe in NL (actually last year's but you know), and if that happens and I get my visa, it should still be valid for spring 2022. So I may actually go and see this if it's still possible to secure the tickets mid-October this year.

[Elite]

I've visited all editions of the festival (1, in 2019) and that one was sold-out to the point where it became impossible to see some of the bands. For example they programmed Soen on a smaller stage in between the main stage sets of Haken and Leprous, to many people's chagrin.

Honestly, I have no idea how fast this will go. The 2020 edition wasn't sold out beforehand and almost actually happened, but I'm not sure what this one will do. I can imagine many people sitting out until they're sure the festival can actually continue as planned.

[roa71]

Ugh, 2022 is gonna be rough. I have a shit ton of time off this year with what my company let us carryover, but no clue if I'll be in the same boat in 2022. That being said that year will already have, at minimum, a cruise to the edge, an Ayreon show, and now it looks like a Vector/Virus show, if not here then somewhere.

Hoping to hear Vector / Virus sets on Cruise to the Edge in April 2022.  Typical sets on the cruise are about 75 min and there are 2 sets.  Play Vector at first set and encores. Virus for 2nd and encores.  Would be awesome.  Heck, I will even write their set lists:

Day 1:
Vector
1985
Falling Back to Earth

Day 2:
Virus
Cockroach King
Architect

[IDontNotDoThings]

[Edit: removed the link because some info on it might be used to dox the members, but I have evidence & can DM it to people who want it.]

nobloodyname, your inbox is full, dummy

[Nick]

Enough is out there publically at this point that I feel comfortable stating that Diego is 100% out of the band. Won't comment further on anything else about why at this time.

That said I have no inside knowledge of if they've even started the search for a replacement, and if so who that might be, so I'm excitedly looking forward to finding out who that will be. One thing about COVID is it bought them time to make that decision that usually wouldn't be there.

[KevShmev]

Enough is out there publically at this point that I feel comfortable stating that Diego is 100% out of the band. Won't comment further on anything else about why at this time.

That said I have no inside knowledge of if they've even started the search for a replacement, and if so who that might be, so I'm excitedly looking forward to finding out who that will be. One thing about COVID is it bought them time to make that decision that usually wouldn't be there.

Damn. 

[gzarruk]

Enough is out there publically at this point that I feel comfortable stating that Diego is 100% out of the band. Won't comment further on anything else about why at this time.

That said I have no inside knowledge of if they've even started the search for a replacement, and if so who that might be, so I'm excitedly looking forward to finding out who that will be. One thing about COVID is it bought them time to make that decision that usually wouldn't be there.

Yeah, it was pretty obvious anyway, as he did NOTHING to promote Virus (rightfully so, I hated the album ).

What I find interesting is that none of them has said anything officially, there might still be some legal stuff going on behind the scenes.

As for who might replace him, is Peter Jones still available? (Looking at you, Rich).

[ariich]

What I find interesting is that none of them has said anything officially, there might still be some legal stuff going on behind the scenes.

I'm afraid I don't know as much as people would like me too, and haven't actually talked to anyone from the band about it so all I have is second-hand tidbits. But I do get the impression that they want to announce something but can't because there's some sort of legal stuff that isn't resolved yet. I know some people feel annoyed that they've said nothing, but I can't fathom any situation where they would choose to keep something like that back unless they had to.

As for who might replace him, is Peter Jones still available? (Looking at you, Rich).

It should go without saying that I would love love love for this to happen. But I don't know if would, I mean Pete has a full-time job currently. If at some point it looks like it's a possibility, I'll obviously be doing what I can to try and influence it to happen.

[Elite]

I'm available! But I'm a terrible piano player

[Zydar]

I play a mean triangle though.

[Fritzinger]

I play a mean triangle though.

Don't laugh about triangle players! They're usually studied percussionists and sometimes they have to wait 243 bars until their part comes and if they miss that exact moment, they fuck up 100% of their job 

[hefdaddy42]

I play a mean triangle though.

Don't laugh about triangle players! They're usually studied percussionists and sometimes they have to wait 243 bars until their part comes and if they miss that exact moment, they fuck up 100% of their job 

[kirksnosehair]

I feel like there is some context missing in this announcement that Diego is out.  Was there some kind of incident or have there been some kind of public feuding between him and others in the group?  Someone mentioned that he did nothing to promote "Virus" so there must have been a reason for that, right?  I'm assuming there was already some tension for some reason that hasn't been stated here.  Am I on the right track here? 


I'm just curious because you all seem to be almost expecting this.

[Ben_Jamin]

Could be he didn't like the direction they're were going, "Creative/Personal reasons/differences" and decided to stay to record the album and tour. And now the Tour never happened, the legal stuff could be working out what to do since that tour was cancelled.

Could be they found their Keyboardists and are just waiting for this legal stuff to get settled And it's likely a longer process now due to delays and all this fun stuff.

[cramx3]

The point that it seems legally related makes me think something about copyright or writing credits.  Just a guess though, I've got no idea.

[Bentower]

I'd be willing to wager that Diego is a member of Devin's next band project. Climbing up the ranks of mid-tier prog metal, then. 

[darkshade]

Haken has been a case of diminishing returns for me. I got into them shortly after Visions came out. I bought those first 2 albums, loved them, prefer Aquarius the most. I forget how, but I contacted them at some point because I wanted a copy of their old demo and they sent it to me, along with all kinds of stuff like business cards, stickers, etc... I liked the demo as well, I thought this was going to be a favorite new, young band. I was so pumped for The Mountain, but when it came out, I felt underwhelmed. Restoration EP was pretty cool, so I thought maybe they'd get back on track with the next album, but while I liked a couple of the songs, I wasn't into Affinity all that much. The last two albums, let's just say, not my cup of tea. I'm not saying I want them to recreate their first 2 albums, but I just don't care for the direction they've gone in especially the last 2 albums, and I always felt like they deserved a stronger singer as well, especially considering he doesn't play anything.

[cramx3]

I'd be willing to wager that Diego is a member of Devin's next band project. Climbing up the ranks of mid-tier prog metal, then. 

And then he will come crawling back to Haken when Devin breaks that project up.

[gzarruk]

Could be he didn't like the direction they're were going, "Creative/Personal reasons/differences" and decided to stay to record the album and tour. And now the Tour never happened, the legal stuff could be working out what to do since that tour was cancelled.

He did make a comment like "this is what Clear would've sounded like if other creative choices were made" or something along those lines. He also was nowhere to be found on Virus (I know he's in there, but he was given almost no room to do anything interesting on the album, it's like he's Jason Newsted on ...And Justice for All, he's there, but he isn't). They could've hired a session keyboardist and the result would've been almost the same.

I'd be willing to wager that Diego is a member of Devin's next band project. Climbing up the ranks of mid-tier prog metal, then. 

The problem with that is that nobody, except Dev, is a permanent member of Devin's band(s).

Ninja'd by Cramx3.

[cramx3]

Devin has been working on a few projects, his Puzzle album and also a music for a TV show (I think, he's kind of vague on details) but those projects definitely sound like something he could use Diego's skill set for, but he hasn't (that I noticed) said anything about Diego.  Could be he also just won't talk about it until Haken does, but I could totally see Diego working with Devin in the future, but I don't see that being a reason to leave Haken because he likely won't ever be stable with Devin unless there's some sort of deal between them to keep him along for Devin's wild ride through life which just doesn't make sense either given the way Devin ended the DTP due to not wanting to pay people who wouldn't be involved in his next project.

[Ben_Jamin]

Could be he didn't like the direction they're were going, "Creative/Personal reasons/differences" and decided to stay to record the album and tour. And now the Tour never happened, the legal stuff could be working out what to do since that tour was cancelled.

He did make a comment like "this is what Clear would've sounded like if other creative choices were made" or something along those lines. He also was nowhere to be found on Virus (I know he's in there, but he was given almost no room to do anything interesting on the album, it's like he's Jason Newsted on ...And Justice for All, he's there, but he isn't). They could've hired a session keyboardist and the result would've been almost the same.

I'd be willing to wager that Diego is a member of Devin's next band project. Climbing up the ranks of mid-tier prog metal, then. 

The problem with that is that nobody, except Dev, is a permanent member of Devin's band(s).

Ninja'd by Cramx3.

Oh yeah. Forgot about that post. I should try and find it and listen to it.

Seems his ideas were likely shot down enough to where he could have said "Enough of this, I'm recording this and I'm out."

[gzarruk]

Seems his ideas were likely shot down enough to where he could have said "Enough of this, I'm recording this and I'm out."

And he probably only recorded the album because of contractual reasons. Something similar happened with Kevin Moore and DT, he recorded Awake and then he was out.

[cramx3]

Considering Diego is like not even audible on the album, I don't see the purpose of that, but it's plausible.