The Haken thread v. Restoration

[ariich]

Yeah there were a few pretty random things.

The train horn absolutely cracked me up!

[YtseCullen]

Finally getting into some Haken, I had Visions for awhile but never really gave it much of a listen, I bought the Mountain and Aquarius last night.

Can't believe how awesome these guys are. How did I not get into them sooner.

Really loving Falling Back To Earth off of the Mountain

The Cockroach King isn't my favourite, but I can't get it out of my head.

Just started spinning Aquarius now for the first time

[ReaPsTA]

If you're going to get really dorky about rating albums, you have to adjust each song's score for the amount of time each song takes on the album.  Here's an example using BCSL by Dream Theater:


TRACK NAME                 RAW SCORE   TRACK TIME (minutes)    ADJUSTED RAW SCORE

A Nightmare to Remember    3/5         16.2                    48.6
A Rite of Passage          3/5         8.6                     25.8
Wither                     4.5/5       5.43                    24.435
The Shattered Fortress     3.5/5       12.82                   44.87     
The Best of Times          3/5         13.13                   39.39
The Count of Tuscany       4/5         19.3                    77.2

TOTAL POSSIBLE ADJUSTED RAW SCORE (total album length in minutes times five):  377.4

TOTAL ADJUSTED RAW SCORE EARNED (all ajusted raw scores added up):  260.295

Adjusted score (both sides divided by total album time):  3.45/5

If you just took (3 + 3 + 4.5 + 3.5 + 3 + 4) / 6 you'd get 3.5.  As you can see though, this would be inaccurate.  The .05 out of five matters people.  Our opinions must be precise!

[RoeDent]

Finally bought my first Haken album today, Visions! I've only really heard the title track before now, so it'll be great to get into the rest of the album. As for the title track, it must surely be in the reckoning as one of the great prog epics of the 2010s, by the time this decade comes to a close.

Also, while I'm here, that tour diary video is hilarious! Pete "The Face of Haken" walking in slow motion to Careless Whisper, the YMCA warmup, Ray sliding in and out of the room. 

[me7]

As for the title track, it must surely be in the reckoning as one of the great prog epics of the 2010s, by the time this decade comes to a close...

Hold your judgement until you get Aquarius and listen to "Celestial Elixir"

[RoeDent]

Hold your judgement until you get Aquarius and listen to "Celestial Elixir"

I've heard Celestial Elixir, and it's great too, but I think Visions tops it.

[YtseCullen]

Holy this band is growing on me! Can't believe how long it took for me to dive in and get into some of their stuff! These guys are unreal!

[Estiui]

Absolutely, amazing stuff. There is no song in their catalogue I could dislike, although I would rather be glad if they don't use growls any more, like in The Mountain 

[YtseCullen]

Visions is the last one I've gotten into and listened to a lot, definitely my favourite! Deathless is such a cool laid back track and one of my faves.

[jammindude]

Made a Haken fan today.

Met up with an old friend I hadn't seen in awhile. Showed him The Path, and the first couple of minutes of each track from Atlas Stone thru Because It's There.

He was so blown away that he got on his phone and ordered it on the spot!   

[KevShmev]

The Path and Atlas Stone are both really good; 10 minutes of really good music there.

Falling Back to Earth has grown on me, as well. 

I just wish the rest of the album appealed to me, but it doesn't.  Not like I haven't tried, though.  But those three songs listed above are all winners.

[jammindude]

Oh man! Because It's There may be my #1 part of the entire album.

[Estiui]

I think that The Path, Atlas Stone, Cockroach King, In Memoriam, Because It's There, Falling Back to Earth and Pareidolia are 10 out of 10 songs. As Death Embraces and Somebody are 9 out of 10 songs. The closest to perfection album I've ever heard.

[me7]

I think that The Path, Atlas Stone, Cockroach King, In Memoriam, Because It's There, Falling Back to Earth and Pareidolia are 10 out of 10 songs. As Death Embraces and Somebody are 9 out of 10 songs. The closest to perfection album I've ever heard.

Agreed.
I've heard albums that have higher "Highs" but The Mountain is the most consistent album I can think of right now.

[ThatOneGuy2112]

I think the run from The Path to Falling Back to Earth is fantastic and really consistent, but there's a noticeable drop-off after that. The last 3 songs are still good, Pareidolia in particular, but they don't match the quality of the other songs on the album. Somebody I see as just an ok track. When it comes to getting close to perfection and consistency, there's a ton that come to mind before this one would.

[jammindude]

I think the run from The Path to Falling Back to Earth is fantastic and really consistent, but there's a noticeable drop-off after that. The last 3 songs are still good, Pareidolia in particular, but they don't match the quality of the other songs on the album. Somebody I see as just an ok track. When it comes to getting close to perfection and consistency, there's a ton that come to mind before this one would.

I felt this way for a long time...the first 20 spins or so. But now ADE has become a very welcome soothing moment after the intensity of the first 6 tracks. And then Somebody just won me over by virtue of being a grower.

[Lucidity]

I think Somebody is one of the most amazing songs off the album.

[425]

I agree. There's something haunting about the repetition of that one line, too. And it's an all-around great song.

My opinion of The Mountain as a whole hasn't fully settled yet. It's definitely a very good record, with highlights, to me, being Atlas Stone, Because It's There, Pareidolia and Somebody. The other songs are good as well. One thing is, as me7 said, it doesn't have highs as high as those of other albums. I think this album is a grower, though, and I'll definitely keep coming back to it.

The thing is, I just can't think of it as being anywhere near a better album than Aquarius, which is still in my opinion the high-water mark for Haken's material. Celestial Elixir is one of the best songs I have ever heard by any band, and the rest of the album is almost as good. Visions and The Mountain are great albums in their own right, and Haken is well on their way to having a great career, but it will be somewhat sad for me personally if they never put out an album that I like better than their debut, however hard to top that record is in my view.

[Onno]

I don't listen to The Mountain very often, but it does get better every time I listen to it. For me, Somebody is still the weakest song on the album, but at first I didn't like it at all and now I think it's a cool song, even though it's too repetitive IMO.

[ariich]

I would say my least favourites are As Death Embraces and Somebody, but they're both (a) still really nice songs, and (b) kind of crucial in keeping the album so perfectly balanced.

[Estiui]

I would say my least favourites are As Death Embraces and Somebody, but they're both (a) still really nice songs, and (b) kind of crucial in keeping the album so perfectly balanced.

I totally agree.

By the way, I'm doing some sort of tribute to this almost perfect album, I'm doing a strings arrangement for each song of the album. Most songs are not complete, I planned to do the most important parts of each song (or maybe my favourites) and then I'll join all parts to have some kind of "strings summary" of The Mountain. I'll post it here when it's all done, I think I'll have ended it for next week. Here you can listen to the first part, which is an arrangement for "The Path":

https://soundcloud.com/powe-toor/the-path

I think that the final arrangement of the album will have a duration of around 15 minutes. Of course, don't expect it to be perfect and realistic. It's all done with my keyboard, Cubase 5 and 2 VSTi, and it's my first strings arrangement, but it's being fun at least!

[KevShmev]

Even though I only really like those three songs I mentioned the other day, most of the rest of the album is still listenable.  Well, except Cockroach King.  That song still has embarrassingly bad vocal melodies (which ruin the fact that it is musically pretty good).

[jammindude]

Even though I only really like those three songs I mentioned the other day, most of the rest of the album is still listenable.  Well, except Cockroach King.  That song still has embarrassingly bad vocal melodies (which ruin the fact that it is musically pretty good).

To each their own. I am actually a singer, and think those vocals are some of the coolest parts of the whole album.

...and the bridge in particular. 

[ThatOneGuy2112]

Those melodies are actually pretty cool. Yeah, they're quirky as hell, but that's what makes them so great. If anything, they're memorable too.

[ariich]

Those melodies are actually pretty cool. Yeah, they're quirky as hell, but that's what makes them so great. If anything, they're memorable too.

Agreed, the vocal lines are my favourite thing about the song, although it's not one of my favourites on the album.

[FlyingBIZKIT]

Because It's There has some amazing vocals, and it's hard to pick what my favorite chorus on this album, probably a tie between BIT, FBTE, and Somebody

[ariich]

For me it's the run of In Memoriam - BIT - FBTE that is basically perfection. Also happens to be my favourite 3 choruses on the album.

[425]

Those are all great choruses; however, I would also mention Pareidolia in that category, perhaps even as my favorite chorus of the album.

[Lucidity]

Those are all great choruses; however, I would also mention Pareidolia in that category, perhaps even as my favorite chorus of the album.

Pareidolia, Cockroach King, and In Memoriam have incredible choruses 

[Estiui]

I love all choruses on the CD, but if I had to choose, I'd go with Falling Back to Earth.

[Estiui]

Here is the strings rendition I've made for The Mountain, covering some parts of each song. Of course, it's an amateur work, and it's not done with a real orchestra, just for fun! I'll upload a YouTube video version soon. Here is the SoundCloud file:

https://soundcloud.com/powe-toor/haken-the-mountain-strings-rendition

Edit: video version on the following link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRFi1Ugcrgk

[Dublagent66]

I love all choruses on the CD, but if I had to choose, I'd go with Falling Back to Earth.

Best song on the album.  Ok, I'm ready for the next album.....any day now.

[Zydar]

I just saw this on their Facebook page:

"We're taking a break from touring this summer to record a new EP which is already sounding horrifically good!"

So we'll probably get some new music later this year

[ariich]

Awesome!

[BlackInk]

Fantastic, bring it on!