Haken v. new single Nightingale (April 26)

[cramx3]

When Haken does start back touring will they tour with Devon or be the headline with one or two other bands?  I saw them in a small venue(exit-inn) in Nashville last year and was hoping they get to upgrade the next time around.

I don't think anythings been announced.  The devin tour was half way over in the US and he's working on a concert DVD from a Europe show.  I wouldn't be surprised if that tour doesn't get rescheduled.  I kind of feel Haken need to do a headline or coheadline tour for this new album though.  They should definitely do a Vector/Virus concert at some point too.

[Crow]

theory: messiah complex is split into 5 parts to show that haken are becoming a 5-person band once diego leaves and only stars is technically part of messiah complex but tracked different to represent his departure

[Nachtmerrie]

When Haken does start back touring will they tour with Devon or be the headline with one or two other bands?  I saw them in a small venue(exit-inn) in Nashville last year and was hoping they get to upgrade the next time around.

I don't think anythings been announced.  The devin tour was half way over in the US and he's working on a concert DVD from a Europe show.  I wouldn't be surprised if that tour doesn't get rescheduled.  I kind of feel Haken need to do a headline or coheadline tour for this new album though.  They should definitely do a Vector/Virus concert at some point too.

First tour will probably be Europe (at least that's what I'm hoping for). I would be surprised if we see US-band touring in Europa and vice-versa before may or june next year.

[RoeDent]

Can we backtrack a bit? Who started these Diego rumours? And where did they start? Can someone provide a link?

[me7]

It started when the album was delayed without any reason provided and Diego abstained from any promotion.

[Elite]

And then the ‘lack of keyboard’ fueled the idea that Diego may have been unhappy with the direction the band took on this album (or he wasn’t as much involved as he may have liked). Note that none of this has been verified.

[emtee]

Such a great album. They really nailed it across the board. Complexity that is appealing. Tightness. Supreme sonic quality. Great solos. Inventive compositions. One of the best prog metal albums in recent years.

[goo-goo]

LaserCD has re-stocked the 2CD digipack and mediabook, as well as the black vinyl

https://www.lasercd.com/search_results?f[0]=cp_artist1:3043

[gmillerdrake]

After a few listens here's my two cents:

It's not a bad album.....music is really good. It's by far not my favorite Haken album though. I enjoy the old school Haken rather than this newer (last two album) 'metal' Haken. I like the prog more than this chunky 'jugga jugga' metal stuff.....but it sounds good. I just think there are a lot of bands out there that have that 'sound'.

Diego is buried in the mix....which leads one to speculate if that's what is going on? Is he mad about that? With this heavier sound I think it takes away from Ross's strengths and puts him in a position to where I don't feel like his voice 'fits' all the time. Never had that feeling before. And, I just don't 'get' Messiah Complex. It just rambles and has a couple moments of cool sounding music but for the most part....for me....it's a very forgettable song.

I'm sure I'll continue to spin it but as I said.....I prefer the sound of their earlier efforts over this heavier stuff.

[jammindude]

Re: the Diego scuttlebutt...

Didn’t he also post a different mix of one of the Vector songs and say something to the effect of “this is how it should have sounded”?

In addition...their ex-keyboardist Peter did some work on Virus, which gets people wondering why.

There’s just lots of “things that make you go hmmmmm” situations that are happening all at once. Any one of which could be dismissed...but when you take all these things as a whole, and then add in the fact that the rumor is widespread right now and the band being silent about the elephant in the room.... it’s just weird. But hey, maybe it’s nothing.

[Crow]

fan theory: mike porntoy is leaving haken this year

[cramx3]

Just too much smoke to not be fire with Diego, either party could put it to silence by speaking about it, but neither had.  Definitely a lawsuit regarding something likely money related IMO, maybe credits and royalties for his exit and hence the silence because you can't speak about these things or they get used against you in court.  I'd imagine if there was a tour coming up, we'd hear something, but there's no rush to make a press release so it is what it is until something is settled and stated by the band. 

It just really sucks when these things happen within a band, but sucks even more because I think Diego was a really large part of Haken's sound.  However, with Virus, it seems the band can be just fine without him since I really enjoy the album.

[jammindude]

IDK...I’ve warmed up to the two albums when they are put together, but I honestly hope this was their “Train of Thought” and it’s out of their system.

For the record, I *ADORE* ToT for what it is. DT wanted to do “a classic metal album ala Puppets” and I believe they achieved exactly what they set out to do. I’m just glad they did not make it their new direction moving forward. I feel exactly the same way about V/V.

But I agree that Diego’s keyboards are a huge part of their core sound that I hope they don’t lose.

[mike099]

I found Diego’s new gig.  He is in a mental hospital in the Umbrella Academy.

[IDontNotDoThings]

Reasons why the rumors exist:
1) Diego released an EP which Haken didn't promote
2) Diego removed Haken from all his social media bios
3) Diego hasn't been on any of Haken's livestreams
4) Diego has been really low in the mix for Virus
5) Diego released a new single with a caption "ever wonder what the first track of Vector would sound like if different choices were made?"
6) A few days later, said song mysteriously disappeared from all platforms.
7) Virus delays nor Diego rumours have not been spoken about by any official personnel, even after the album was released.

[jammindude]

I found Diego’s new gig.  He is in a mental hospital in the Umbrella Academy.

I just started watching the umbrella Academy so this honestly made me LOL

[Nick]

Reasons why the rumors exist:
1) Diego released an EP which Haken didn't promote
2) Diego removed Haken from all his social media bios
3) Diego hasn't been on any of Haken's livestreams
4) Diego has been really low in the mix for Virus
5) Diego released a new single with a caption "ever wonder what the first track of Vector would sound like if different choices were made?"
6) A few days later, said song mysteriously disappeared from all platforms.
7) Virus delays nor Diego rumours have not been spoken about by any official personnel, even after the album was released.

Reasons why Rumour exists:
1. Kyros - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tLfGKScPI0

[Progmetty]

The Mountain has grown on me big time, I've been spamming the hell out of that album the last couple of days.
I really don't know what happened. Bit of a backstory, I got Visions back when it came out, based on DTF recommendations. I love Visions, I remember I heard it along side Circus Maximus Isolate for a good few month, British DT & Norwegian DT is what I called them back then. I was happy to finally have other bands that does the same exact thing -for my ears- DT is doing, after having been my sole progressive metal band for so long.
So I got The Mountain when it came out right away and was disappointed the band no longer sounded like DT. I gave it a few spins and it didn't click so I gave up on Haken. I remember what repelled me being mainly two things: the increase of vocal parts over instrumental wankery and the vocals doing a lot of overly cute things, like the barbershop quartet parts.
Last Friday, out of nowhere, l started singing to myself the "Lured by a treasure that was fit for fools" section and I couldn't for the life of me figure what band or song was that. Thankfully I remembered the lyrics mostly right so I googled it, dug the album out and somehow I'm in love with every track now, I even very much appreciate all the vocal work on this album.
I'm pretty excited cause I haven't been this hooked on new music in a long time and I know there's an EP and two or three more albums after this. But for now I'll keep milking this masterpiece.
I need to get that live DVD too, it's a shame they don't play the album in it's entirety on it but I'm pretty sure I'll enjoy the whole thing. Also a shame it's not on BR.

[jammindude]

The Mountain has grown on me big time, I've been spamming the hell out of that album the last couple of days.
I really don't know what happened. Bit of a backstory, I got Visions back when it came out, based on DTF recommendations. I love Visions, I remember I heard it along side Circus Maximus Isolate for a good few month, British DT & Norwegian DT is what I called them back then. I was happy to finally have other bands that does the same exact thing -for my ears- DT is doing, after having been my sole progressive metal band for so long.
So I got The Mountain when it came out right away and was disappointed the band no longer sounded like DT. I gave it a few spins and it didn't click so I gave up on Haken. I remember what repelled me being mainly two things: the increase of vocal parts over instrumental wankery and the vocals doing a lot of overly cute things, like the barbershop quartet parts.
Last Friday, out of nowhere, l started singing to myself the "Lured by a treasure that was fit for fools" section and I couldn't for the life of me figure what band or song was that. Thankfully I remembered the lyrics mostly right so I googled it, dug the album out and somehow I'm in love with every track now, I even very much appreciate all the vocal work on this album.
I'm pretty excited cause I haven't been this hooked on new music in a long time and I know there's an EP and two or three more albums after this. But for now I'll keep milking this masterpiece.
I need to get that live DVD too, it's a shame they don't play the album in it's entirety on it but I'm pretty sure I'll enjoy the whole thing. Also a shame it's not on BR.

As time goes by, The Mountain has become my #2 all time favorite album (behind Hemispheres) and given time, might even pull into a tie. But I doubt it. But wow....what an album. The albums overall theme of overcoming adversity was one of the most positive albums I had ever heard in my life and came out at a time when I was pretty much at my darkest point.

[Bolsters]

Oh actually that brings me to HDtracks. Any difference with the album version there? Is it worth it?

A lot of the time, the HDTracks version of an album will be more dynamic than the CD/Spotify version. I don't know whether that applies to this album or not.

[Revenge319]

As time goes by, The Mountain has become my #2 all time favorite album (behind Hemispheres) and given time, might even pull into a tie. But I doubt it. But wow....what an album. The albums overall theme of overcoming adversity was one of the most positive albums I had ever heard in my life and came out at a time when I was pretty much at my darkest point.

I may be mistaking you for someone else or maybe I misinterpreted something, so I apologize if so, but didn't you say Octavarium was your favorite album of all time?

[jammindude]

As time goes by, The Mountain has become my #2 all time favorite album (behind Hemispheres) and given time, might even pull into a tie. But I doubt it. But wow....what an album. The albums overall theme of overcoming adversity was one of the most positive albums I had ever heard in my life and came out at a time when I was pretty much at my darkest point.

I may be mistaking you for someone else or maybe I misinterpreted something, so I apologize if so, but didn't you say Octavarium was your favorite album of all time?

Octavarium is my favorite DT album of all time

[me7]

I just read on the internet that the Cockroach King wants to turn people into cockroaches, so that they can survive the unavoidable nuclear fallout.

The Haken cinematic universe is going places.

[erwinrafael]

After listening to Virus twenty times, Carousel has warmed up to me, but what a difference it would have made if there's more power and aggression to the vocals in the "Dead among the living..." section. Like Ray Alder or Awake era-Labri aggression.

[Progmetty]

Funny, I was reading the lyrics to the Cockroach King from the booklet then came back to browse DTF a bit and I find these lyrics apply to the Spotify guy from a rising musician's perspective, like every bit applies! Except the Spotify guy hasn't been broken his crown yet heh
Pretty cool how open to interpretation these songs are, like initially I thought the song was a pretty clear metaphor on the capitalist dream, but now I just wanna have it be about the Spotify guy

[Elite]

I always thought, before this whole Vector/Virus thing, that Cockroach King was about drugs and drug dealers. The Cockroach ‘King’ being the kingpin. The illusion of richness beckons for young people that think dealing drugs is the way to go. The ‘King’ built his empire on guile and greed.

Does that make any sense?

I don’t know if the band ever stated what the song was about, but this was always my interpretation. Turning the cockroach king into an actual cockroach kind of makes me reconsider, but I still believe this may havebeen the initial idea behind the song.

[Ben_Jamin]

I always thought, before this whole Vector/Virus thing, that Cockroach King was about drugs and drug dealers. The Cockroach ‘King’ being the kingpin. The illusion of richness beckons for young people that think dealing drugs is the way to go. The ‘King’ built his empire on guile and greed.

Does that make any sense?

I don’t know if the band ever stated what the song was about, but this was always my interpretation. Turning the cockroach king into an actual cockroach kind of makes me reconsider, but I still believe this may havebeen the initial idea behind the song.

  Me and JamminDude just discussed this in the previous page.

Now they broadened the concept of The Cockroach King. It's about one that has a Messiah Complex, and feels like saving humanity is his will and the only solution 'The Good Doctor'  sees is Extracting the DNA of a cockroach, the gene that gives a cockroach is invincibility, and splicing it with our Human DNA, his first experiment is patient 21.

On Virus, the cockroach and human DNA are now mixed, and is implanted in the human as a prosthetic. Many vitcims are now abound and soon rise against 'The Good Doctor'.

[RoeDent]

Reasons why Rumour exists:
1. Kyros - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tLfGKScPI0

Well played, sir.

[Progmetty]

I always thought, before this whole Vector/Virus thing, that Cockroach King was about drugs and drug dealers. The Cockroach ‘King’ being the kingpin. The illusion of richness beckons for young people that think dealing drugs is the way to go. The ‘King’ built his empire on guile and greed.

Does that make any sense?

I don’t know if the band ever stated what the song was about, but this was always my interpretation. Turning the cockroach king into an actual cockroach kind of makes me reconsider, but I still believe this may havebeen the initial idea behind the song.

  Me and JamminDude just discussed this in the previous page.

Now they broadened the concept of The Cockroach King. It's about one that has a Messiah Complex, and feels like saving humanity is his will and the only solution 'The Good Doctor'  sees is Extracting the DNA of a cockroach, the gene that gives a cockroach is invincibility, and splicing it with our Human DNA, his first experiment is patient 21.

On Virus, the cockroach and human DNA are now mixed, and is implanted in the human as a prosthetic. Many vitcims are now abound and soon rise against 'The Good Doctor'.

Oh that is pretty damn lame  , thanks for the head up heh
I'll just pretend the Cockroach King is limited to it's The Mountain context. Are Vector and Virus concept albums? Or is it like the AA suite with one song per album? And do they specifically say Cockroach King in the songs you're citing?

[cramx3]

I think The Strain has the best Haken Chorus in a long time  come at me

[jammindude]

I always thought, before this whole Vector/Virus thing, that Cockroach King was about drugs and drug dealers. The Cockroach ‘King’ being the kingpin. The illusion of richness beckons for young people that think dealing drugs is the way to go. The ‘King’ built his empire on guile and greed.

Does that make any sense?

I don’t know if the band ever stated what the song was about, but this was always my interpretation. Turning the cockroach king into an actual cockroach kind of makes me reconsider, but I still believe this may havebeen the initial idea behind the song.

  Me and JamminDude just discussed this in the previous page.

Now they broadened the concept of The Cockroach King. It's about one that has a Messiah Complex, and feels like saving humanity is his will and the only solution 'The Good Doctor'  sees is Extracting the DNA of a cockroach, the gene that gives a cockroach is invincibility, and splicing it with our Human DNA, his first experiment is patient 21.

On Virus, the cockroach and human DNA are now mixed, and is implanted in the human as a prosthetic. Many vitcims are now abound and soon rise against 'The Good Doctor'.

Oh that is pretty damn lame  , thanks for the head up heh
I'll just pretend the Cockroach King is limited to it's The Mountain context. Are Vector and Virus concept albums? Or is it like the AA suite with one song per album? And do they specifically say Cockroach King in the songs you're citing?

Everyone in this thread (and every Haken fan board in the world) is working out their own theories for what the actual story is.....but Vector and Virus are definitely parts 1 and 2 of a single concept that is related to The Cockroach King in some way.

That’s why I’m firm in my opinion that this should have been released as a double album instead of 2 albums 2 years apart. They work better together than separately.

[Ben_Jamin]

I always thought, before this whole Vector/Virus thing, that Cockroach King was about drugs and drug dealers. The Cockroach ‘King’ being the kingpin. The illusion of richness beckons for young people that think dealing drugs is the way to go. The ‘King’ built his empire on guile and greed.

Does that make any sense?

I don’t know if the band ever stated what the song was about, but this was always my interpretation. Turning the cockroach king into an actual cockroach kind of makes me reconsider, but I still believe this may havebeen the initial idea behind the song.

  Me and JamminDude just discussed this in the previous page.

Now they broadened the concept of The Cockroach King. It's about one that has a Messiah Complex, and feels like saving humanity is his will and the only solution 'The Good Doctor'  sees is Extracting the DNA of a cockroach, the gene that gives a cockroach is invincibility, and splicing it with our Human DNA, his first experiment is patient 21.

On Virus, the cockroach and human DNA are now mixed, and is implanted in the human as a prosthetic. Many vitcims are now abound and soon rise against 'The Good Doctor'.

Oh that is pretty damn lame  , thanks for the head up heh
I'll just pretend the Cockroach King is limited to it's The Mountain context. Are Vector and Virus concept albums? Or is it like the AA suite with one song per album? And do they specifically say Cockroach King in the songs you're citing?

It still didn't change my view of the Cockroach King though, that song I still view as about Drug Dealers.

And, Take what I say as that, a fan theory. I still haven't digested both albums enough yet, i still don't have Virus yet, so I can see the artwork in the Liner Notes.

[Progmetty]

Gotcha!
Gotta say guys, it's good to see you both posting consecutively so my lazy mind is finally reassured that you're two different guys heh
I should explain: at some point 5 or 6 years ago, watching jammindude's youtube videos, where he introduced himself as "Ben-Jammin", I started associating both accounts with the same person

[jammindude]

 I’ve been Ben “Jammin” since 1986...so I’m pretty sure I had it first, but I give him a pass.

 

[Ben_Jamin]

I’ve been Ben “Jammin” since 1986...so I’m pretty sure I had it first, but I give him a pass.

 

You get seniority, I get forum claim. 😁