Haken v. new single Nightingale (April 26)

[IDontNotDoThings]

I have very mixed feelings about The Mountain, so take this with a mountain (heh) of salt, but here's my ranking:

#1. Somebody
#2. Atlas Stone
#3. Falling Back To Earth
#4. Because It's There
#5. Cockroach King
#6. Pareidolia
#7. The Path
#8. In Memoriam
#9. As Death Embraces

[me7]

I'm having a hard time deciding whether or not it's better than Aquarius, but I suppose time will tell.

Good luck with that. After several years, I still can't decide between Aquarius, Mountain and Affinity.

[Fritzinger]

I'm having a hard time deciding whether or not it's better than Aquarius, but I suppose time will tell.

Good luck with that. After several years, I still can't decide between Aquarius, Mountain and Affinity.

I had the same problem when Affinity wasn't out yet. The Mountain and Aquarius are on one level for me, although they are very, very different.

The Affinity came out and became my favourite album of the band.

three whole albums and there's not a single song I dislike so far! Although if I'm being honest, Because It's There may end up as my least favorite Haken song out of them all... but that aside, these guys are really good, and I'm glad I finally decided to start checking them out. Next up is Restoration, which from what I've heard has what's considered by a lot of people to be the best Haken song of them all.

I know all albums and there still is not one song by Haken which I don't like.
Because It's There is beautiful in my opinion. It has that very unique sounding choir and a great melody. And a bass solo. And electronic drum samples! There is so much going on in this song, although it's "only" a ballad!

Crystallised is amazing, but not my favourite Haken track. That would be The Architect. Jesus, you don't know Affinity yet! I can't imagine the world before I got to know Affinity  Easily one of my favourite prog albums of all time.

[Revenge319]

I know all albums and there still is not one song by Haken which I don't like.
Because It's There is beautiful in my opinion. It has that very unique sounding choir and a great melody. And a bass solo. And electronic drum samples! There is so much going on in this song, although it's "only" a ballad!

Crystallised is amazing, but not my favourite Haken track. That would be The Architect. Jesus, you don't know Affinity yet! I can't imagine the world before I got to know Affinity  Easily one of my favourite prog albums of all time.

I've heard great things about Affinity. From what I can tell, it's the fan-favorite alongside The Mountain. I think Affinity's actually the album I'm most excited for, so here's hoping I love that one!

[me7]

The Affinity came out and became my favourite album of the band.

Seems like we have a similar taste regarding Haken.
You have heard Virus, right? Where do you rank that?

[Fritzinger]

I know all albums and there still is not one song by Haken which I don't like.
Because It's There is beautiful in my opinion. It has that very unique sounding choir and a great melody. And a bass solo. And electronic drum samples! There is so much going on in this song, although it's "only" a ballad!

Crystallised is amazing, but not my favourite Haken track. That would be The Architect. Jesus, you don't know Affinity yet! I can't imagine the world before I got to know Affinity  Easily one of my favourite prog albums of all time.

I've heard great things about Affinity. From what I can tell, it's the fan-favorite alongside The Mountain. I think Affinity's actually the album I'm most excited for, so here's hoping I love that one!

They're becoming more technical with that one, that's not everybody's thing. I personally love that.

The Affinity came out and became my favourite album of the band.

Seems like we have a similar taste regarding Haken.
You have heard Virus, right? Where do you rank that?

Yes- but I don't dare to "finally" rank it yet I think there is still so much more to discover (especially when I read the lyrics).

[jammindude]

My rankings for The Mountain

1. Falling Back to Earth
2. Because It’s There
3. Cockroach King
4. Atlas Stone
5. In Memoriam
6. Pareidolia
7. Somebody
8. The Path
9. As Death Embraces

But honestly, those top 6 are nearly untouchable and often shuffle around a bit.

[Zydar]

The Mountain is my favourite Haken album, I guess I'd rank it this way:

1. In Memoriam
2. Cockroach King
3. Falling Back To Earth
4. Because It's There
5. Atlas Stone
6. Pareidolia
7. Somebody
8. The Path
9. As Death Embraces

[TheLordOfTheStrings]

Guys... I'm so excited for Virus. xD

[Revenge319]

So the plan was to listen to Restoration, since that was Haken's next release after The Mountain. However, I reeaaally wanted to listen to Affinity, so I decided to listen to that instead. I'll say that after one listen, I would not call it my favorite Haken album. There's a couple songs or so that I thought were just okay. HOWEVER! This has without a doubt two of their best songs so far. They're better than Visions, better than Celestial Elixir, and perhaps even better than my favorites on The Mountain. I like the style they went for with this album. Sometimes that style doesn't do much, but sometimes it works out perfectly. Onto the rankings, which it was really hard not making #1 a tie...

1. The Architect
2. Bound By Gravity
3. The Endless Knot
4. Lapse
5. 1985
6. Earthrise
7. Initiate
8. Red Giant
9. affinity.exe

I get the feeling this list is a somewhat popular opinion, but who knows, perhaps there's a bunch of Red Giant fans who are waiting to ambush me or something! I think this album will grow on me a lot, but for now, I'd probably put this at the bottom of my Haken album rankings. That being said, it's still a good album and I will definitely be revisiting it. Next up is Restoration, for real this time.

[IDontNotDoThings]

My ranking is almost identical to that, but with Initiate & Lapse switched.

[NoFred]

It’s a good order, but then Red Giant so “low”... my guess is you’ll never stop reordering these it’s such a good album.

[ariich]

My ranking is very different, with Red Giant and Earthrise right near the top and The Architect at the bottom.

[Nick]

Alright, so the more I binge Virus the more I think this is their most cohesive work to date. It may take a good number of spins to process, but now I have a hard time imagining most songs as independent pieces. It flows together really well and feels like a full album. Having no real low points or songs I dislike helps in that regard. That being said I am giving "Only Stars" a bit of a pass as it's kinda a epilogue to Vector/Virus, but I really don't find much value in it on its own. I'd say "Clear" does a much better job opening the saga then that song does closing it.

Don't forget, 1pm ET/6pm UK is the Canary Yellow twitch stream today.

And more importantly.

SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY
Same time, quiz night, with what promises to be the best quizmaster yet.

[Max Kuehnau]

Btw, my guess for what the third single will be is The Strain. (simply because of its length)

[MinistroRaven]

Alright, so the more I binge Virus the more I think this is their most cohesive work to date. It may take a good number of spins to process, but now I have a hard time imagining most songs as independent pieces. It flows together really well and feels like a full album. Having no real low points or songs I dislike helps in that regard. That being said I am giving "Only Stars" a bit of a pass as it's kinda a epilogue to Vector/Virus, but I really don't find much value in it on its own. I'd say "Clear" does a much better job opening the saga then that song does closing it.

Don't forget, 1pm ET/6pm UK is the Canary Yellow twitch stream today.

And more importantly.

SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY
Same time, quiz night, with what promises to be the best quizmaster yet.

It's happened with  me too. Repeated listens gave me a better appreciation of the album. (I liked it from the beginning but now I like it even more)

[Nick]

Twitch stream. 1pm Eastern, 6pm UK. Make sure you JUST DO IT. #LeBuef #SpellingProbablyWrong

[me7]

An informative Interview with Ross is up on YouTube by Sonic Perspectives. Several spoilers regarding Virus.

[Max Kuehnau]

Here's something that occured to me: If you take a look at the back cover of Virus (which is here: https://www.amazon.de/Virus-Standard-CD-Jewelcase-Haken/dp/B086PNTJRV/ref=sr_1_1?__mk_de_DE=%C3%85M%C3%85%C5%BD%C3%95%C3%91&keywords=haken+virus&qid=1589191524&s=music&sr=1-1), you can clearly see the album consisting of seven pieces (as Vector was). Now, are there 11 tracks on your CDs (those who were able to review it, ariich and others) or 7?

[Fritzinger]

Here's something that occured to me: If you take a look at the back cover of Virus (which is here: https://www.amazon.de/Virus-Standard-CD-Jewelcase-Haken/dp/B086PNTJRV/ref=sr_1_1?__mk_de_DE=%C3%85M%C3%85%C5%BD%C3%95%C3%91&keywords=haken+virus&qid=1589191524&s=music&sr=1-1), you can clearly see the album consisting of seven pieces (as Vector was). Now, are there 11 tracks on your CDs (those who were able to review it, ariich and others) or 7?

11. Messiah Complex is split into 5 tracks, but it's still one song to me. As mentioned, I already programmed a one-track-version of the song 

[Max Kuehnau]

Here we have another fairly newish review: http://tuonelamagazine.com/review-haken-virus/

[me7]

https://www.velvetthunder.co.uk/haken-virus-insideout-2020/

[Revenge319]

I listened to the Restoration EP just now. It's... my least favorite Haken release so far. It's certainly good, but all of their other releases are a lot better. These are merely first impressions, though, so it's possible that this one will really grow on me, and perhaps even become my favorite Haken release. And since there's only three songs, I'll give my thoughts on each one since it shouldn't take too long.
Darkest Light is #3; I admit that for some reason, I had a hard time staying focused. This isn't the fault of the song, this is just a problem I tend to have when listening to new music. It was still good from what I remember, but that being said, I can't recall anything particularly interesting outside of the intro.
Earthlings is #2. I really like the atmosphere in this song. I can definitely see this one growing on me a lot. I'm not sure what else to say about it for the time being, but it's a very good song.
And #1 is, well, Crystallized. I've seen a lot of people say that this is Haken's greatest song. And I can definitely see why after hearing it only once! That being said, it's not my favorite. It's in my Top 10 Haken songs for sure, but at least as of right now, I wouldn't call it my most favorite of them all. There's nothing really wrong with Crystallized, but I feel like there's a couple parts that should have been shortened or removed, like the acappella section in the middle of the song. I don't mean that the song is too long, I just feel like there were a couple sections that didn't necessarily fit with the song. Like... imagine if you inserted part of BTBAM's "Medicine Wheel" right before The Crimson Sunset in A Change of Seasons; it'd sound really nice, but it wouldn't work. Small criticism aside, amazing song! It's easy to see why it's considered their best song yet.

Well, only one album left to go (until Virus releases, that is). From what I can tell, Vector tends to be a lot of people's least favorite Haken album, but I hope I enjoy it regardless, as I've been really looking forward to this one lately. Coincidentally or not, my favorite albums happen to be the unpopular ones (for instance, my favorite Dream Theater album is BC&SL), so maybe this might end up being my favorite?

Also, as a side-note, ever since I gave my impressions on Affinity, it has grown on me quite a bit, and I love just about everything on it... except Red Giant, that one's still my least favorite.

[jammindude]

Clutching my pearls at the very notion of removing the acappella section of Crytsallized. Possibly my 2nd favorite all time Haken moment (#1 is the key change in the second half of Drowning in the Flood)

[Elite]

Crystallised is in my bottom 10-15 Haken songs, mostly because it's so bloated and pretentious. As far as 'songs' go Haken have done so much better. I never have the urge to listen to the track and seeing it live was quite underwhelming. That does not mean the song doesn't contain good parts - the a cappella section is great, as is the chorus reprise thing at the end - and this write-up makes it look terrible, which it certainly isn't. There's just too much prog bullshit and needless wankery in the song for me to really consider it among Haken's top songs.

[Crow]

restoration is interesting because they actively made two of the songs worse and the third one they picked is still somehow weaker than the other two despite being the only one improved

it's their most pointless release for sure

[jammindude]

I was one of those people that had the demo for a very long time before Restoration came out.

I would not say that they made them “worse“. They are just different takes on the same idea. When I first heard them, they were parts I liked better and parts that I didn’t like as much. However I adored Crystalized right away and I still do. I think it’s their best song, but it looks like I’m in the minority. Earthlings took a long time to grow on me, but now I do think I like it better than the original. However I do think that the original Blind is quite a bit better than Darkest Light.

[425]

Count me among those who do not quite get the craze about Crystallised. I like the song, but I like a lot of their other songs better. Also, it's disappointing that it seems like they prefer to rotate between it and Visions when they decide to play a long epic, and neglect Celestial Elixir (which is my #1 Haken song).

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

Look at all this blasphemy. Crystallized is one of Haken's best songs.

I probably still have Celestial Elixir as my number one too, though.

[Dublagent66]

Crystallised is an acquired taste.  If you don't like it, acquire some taste. 

[ariich]

Crystallised is fine, but it's far from Haken's best IMO. Most sections are themselves excellent, but it becomes increasingly incoherent as it goes on, even more so than the original Snow.

[NoFred]

Crystallised is good but yes, a meandering listen in a couple of spots. Still for the aspects of their style on display it’s peak Haken.

Restoration cover art is fantastic.

[Elite]

Crystallised is fine, but it's far from Haken's best IMO. Most sections are themselves excellent, but it becomes increasingly incoherent as it goes on, even more so than the original Snow.

Hear hear.

[Buddyhunter1]

hey hey, psst

1985 is their best song

[nattmorker]

Look at all this blasphemy. Crystallized is one of Haken's best songs.

I probably still have Celestial Elixir as my number one too, though.

I agree! Celestial Elixir is my favorite song of theirs, Crystalized is a close second for me. I love every part of it!