Alright getting near 2 straight weeks of nothing but Haken. I have a clear cut #1 best song that's heads and shoulders above everything else that they've ever done.
All four albums are great. At this point, start to stop, I'd rank them as follows.
1. Visions
2. Affinity
3. The Mountain
4. Aquarius
Aquarius is a hell of a debut album. Lots of great tunes. I like Celestial Elixir, but I don't love it. I do love the intro and some of the instrumental sections... but the verses, chorus leave much to be desired. But a hell of a "first" effort for sure.
Visions is one epic, concise story, and I think that it was well executed. Nocturnal Conspiracy is a beast of a song, and it, along with Premonition set the tone of the album nicely. Portals and Shapeshifter are a great 1/2 punch. And the title track is my 2nd favorite Haken song. Just a fantastic epic in every single way possible. Incredible everything!
The Mountain... you can tell they're finding their sound and coming of age. Really awesome album for sure. Highlights are when the choir kicks in during the intro of The Atlas Stone and the bulk of Cockroach King, which is my favorite song from this album. Somebody comes at a close second, and it's my favorite Ross performance. I find him to be a fantastic singer and do not get the complaints unless one is talking about specific tones or styles he implements because dude is a fantastically gifted chameleon. All of the other players are out of this world of course!
Affinity, what can I saw. A little rearranging, and this could have been even better. But what we did get is incredible. A lot of great songs.... an incredible mix and their best "work" to date. Which brings me to the main thing I wanted to address.
The Architect is one of the greatest songs that I've ever heard, and by leaps and bounds is Haken's crowning achievement.
I mean.. this song has it all. The technical precision throughout is awe inspiring. The intro is incredible. Every note Ross sings is incredible. The middle section sounds simple, but it's is complex and extremely impressive. The outro is insanely epic and for a band that does great outros.... this is their finest. I can forgive anyone who says that this isn't their favorite Haken song because it's lacking the "fun" that other great Haken songs have..... but good lord this song is absolute perfection.
I hate to say it like this, but the band should have named the song Affinity (the word is clearly used plenty in the song) and made it the last track instead of that song that lulls me to sleep. The Initiate reprise in the outro would have been the perfect bookend for the album. I'm sure that more people would fap over it if it were called Affinity and the last track because I know how most prog fans are
To top it off, I wouldn't have blamed the bandmembers for shooting themselves in the head after recording the musical perfection that is The Architect.