Haken v. new single Nightingale (April 26)

[Revenge319]

Deathless > Host > Because It's There > Sun > Canary Yellow >>> Lapse

[425]

I think most of these are among the strongest songs on their respective albums (Sun being the main exception, but I hold everything on Aquarius in very high regard), and I'd have a hard time ranking them amongst each other. Really interesting set of tracks.

If I absolutely had to choose a favorite, I think I'd go with Because It's There.

[IDontNotDoThings]

Host > Lapse > Because It's There > Deathless > Sun > Canary Yellow

which is also pretty close to my ranking of the albums:
Affinity > Vector > Aquarius > The Mountain > Visions > Virus

[Elite]

Because It's There > Host > Deathless > Sun > Lapse

[NoFred]

Host > Canary Yellow > Lapse > Because it's there > Deathless > Sun

But in album context Because it's There is 10/10 perfect midpoint/peak track

For the playlist I'd pop out Lapse and put Red Giant in its place (high similarity to Host and Canary Yellow)

[Buddyhunter1]

All y'all ranking Lapse last fill me with disappointment. Though to be fair it doesn't really belong with the other songs here IMO; it's the closest Affinity has to a "ballad" I suppose but it's a lot more upbeat and dynamic.

[Fritzinger]

All y'all ranking Lapse last fill me with disappointment. Though to be fair it doesn't really belong with the other songs here IMO; it's the closest Affinity has to a "ballad" I suppose but it's a lot more upbeat and dynamic.

Bound By Gravity would like a word with you 

[Buddyhunter1]

All y'all ranking Lapse last fill me with disappointment. Though to be fair it doesn't really belong with the other songs here IMO; it's the closest Affinity has to a "ballad" I suppose but it's a lot more upbeat and dynamic.

Bound By Gravity would like a word with you 

I totally forgot about that. Why isn't that on here instead? Does it not count because it's the closer?

[ariich]

All y'all ranking Lapse last fill me with disappointment. Though to be fair it doesn't really belong with the other songs here IMO; it's the closest Affinity has to a "ballad" I suppose but it's a lot more upbeat and dynamic.

I mean, most of them aren't really ballads (come on, Host is epic), the only ones I'd sort of describe that way are Because It's There and Canary Yellow. But I thought the connection was more about them being moody and slower/quieter, and on that basis I agree the Lapse is an odd inclusion. I'd say Red Giant is the better fit really.

Also where is Earthlings ffs?

[jammindude]

All y'all ranking Lapse last fill me with disappointment. Though to be fair it doesn't really belong with the other songs here IMO; it's the closest Affinity has to a "ballad" I suppose but it's a lot more upbeat and dynamic.

Bound By Gravity would like a word with you 

Best song on the album. Criminally underrated.

[Ben_Jamin]

All y'all ranking Lapse last fill me with disappointment. Though to be fair it doesn't really belong with the other songs here IMO; it's the closest Affinity has to a "ballad" I suppose but it's a lot more upbeat and dynamic.

Bound By Gravity would like a word with you 

I totally forgot about that. Why isn't that on here instead? Does it not count because it's the closer?

It's not on here because It's a playlist I made.

The way I make playlists is the songs have a sense of similarity, either with the music, lyrics, structure, rhythm, or vocals. Here I found out, these Haken songs, all are similar in either of those ways. They're jazzy, songs about Death/Renewed-Life, and flow into each other well.

[Nick]

All y'all ranking Lapse last fill me with disappointment. Though to be fair it doesn't really belong with the other songs here IMO; it's the closest Affinity has to a "ballad" I suppose but it's a lot more upbeat and dynamic.

Bound By Gravity would like a word with you 

Best song on the album. Criminally underrated.

Raise your hand if you've seen it live.

o/

[Elite]

All y'all ranking Lapse last fill me with disappointment. Though to be fair it doesn't really belong with the other songs here IMO; it's the closest Affinity has to a "ballad" I suppose but it's a lot more upbeat and dynamic.

Bound By Gravity would like a word with you 

Best song on the album. Criminally underrated.

Raise your hand if you've seen it live.

o/

Raise your hand if you've seen Aquarium live

o/

(I know that wasn't the point, but at least I beat you in something Haken live setlist related)

[Evermind]

Raise your hand if you've seen Haken live

o/

Because that's how high the bar is currently set for me, only saw them once and had to travel for it.

[Nick]

All y'all ranking Lapse last fill me with disappointment. Though to be fair it doesn't really belong with the other songs here IMO; it's the closest Affinity has to a "ballad" I suppose but it's a lot more upbeat and dynamic.

Bound By Gravity would like a word with you 

Best song on the album. Criminally underrated.

Raise your hand if you've seen it live.

o/

Raise your hand if you've seen Aquarium live

o/

(I know that wasn't the point, but at least I beat you in something Haken live setlist related)

To be fair, people do not have a hard time beating me in that department, despite the number of shows I've seen because:

1. I never got to see them in the early days in Europe, or their first PP appearance, meaning I have not seen a lot from the debut.
2. I did not see the PP show where they played Visions in full, so am missing some songs off of that album.
3. The only cruise they've been on that I've missed was the one they played The Mountain in full on, so still missing a song or two from that.

[Fritzinger]

All y'all ranking Lapse last fill me with disappointment. Though to be fair it doesn't really belong with the other songs here IMO; it's the closest Affinity has to a "ballad" I suppose but it's a lot more upbeat and dynamic.

Bound By Gravity would like a word with you 

Best song on the album. Criminally underrated.

Raise your hand if you've seen it live.

o/

Raise your hand if you've seen Aquarium live

o/

(I know that wasn't the point, but at least I beat you in something Haken live setlist related)

Alright then.

Raise your hand if you've seen Africa by Toto by Haken live.

o/



#edit: in the front row.

[IDontNotDoThings]

Also where is Earthlings ffs?

in the trash

[Nick]

All y'all ranking Lapse last fill me with disappointment. Though to be fair it doesn't really belong with the other songs here IMO; it's the closest Affinity has to a "ballad" I suppose but it's a lot more upbeat and dynamic.

Bound By Gravity would like a word with you 

Best song on the album. Criminally underrated.

Raise your hand if you've seen it live.

o/

Raise your hand if you've seen Aquarium live

o/

(I know that wasn't the point, but at least I beat you in something Haken live setlist related)

Alright then.

Raise your hand if you've seen Africa by Toto by Haken live.

o/



#edit: in the front row.

I mean...

o/

To both points.

[Fritzinger]

All y'all ranking Lapse last fill me with disappointment. Though to be fair it doesn't really belong with the other songs here IMO; it's the closest Affinity has to a "ballad" I suppose but it's a lot more upbeat and dynamic.

Bound By Gravity would like a word with you 

Best song on the album. Criminally underrated.

Raise your hand if you've seen it live.

o/

Raise your hand if you've seen Aquarium live

o/

(I know that wasn't the point, but at least I beat you in something Haken live setlist related)

Alright then.

Raise your hand if you've seen Africa by Toto by Haken live.

o/



#edit: in the front row.

I mean...

o/

To both points.

Don't tell me how to win this fight. Isn't your life! It isn't your right to take the only thing that's mine!!1!!!!

[nattmorker]

Alright then.

Raise your hand if you've seen Africa by Toto by Haken live.

o/



#edit: in the front row.

o/

They played that song in Mexico as well, but they played it because Richard's keyboard was not working before starting "Celestial Elixir" so the rest of the band was improvising and they played Africa... and I was in the front row!

I had to share this because most of you would beat me in the Haken-live department since I've only seem them live twice.

[cramx3]

Well, this did happen in 2020 so....

[v_clortho]

I saw them open for Devin Townsend in March of 2020. Oh wait, no I didn't. Darn pandemic. I still have tickets for that show though. I wonder if they'll play?

[MinistroRaven]

We're pleased to announce that the elusive YELLOW VINYL is available NOW. But be quick because there are only 100 copies available!!

Shop: www.omerch.com/shop/haken

[gmillerdrake]

I saw them open for Devin Townsend in March of 2020. Oh wait, no I didn't. Darn pandemic. I still have tickets for that show though. I wonder if they'll play?

Me, My wife and three sons were set to see them play in St. Louis where they were going to play all of Affinity.....then, six days before the show everything was cancelled and that was that 

[NoFred]

I saw them open for Devin Townsend in March of 2020. Oh wait, no I didn't. Darn pandemic. I still have tickets for that show though. I wonder if they'll play?

Me, My wife and three sons were set to see them play in St. Louis where they were going to play all of Affinity.....then, six days before the show everything was cancelled and that was that 

Same tix for both Stl and Pittsburg to see the Affinity shows... oh well at that time we had no idea their next release was so soon and it's one of the best of the year

[Fritzinger]

I'm revisiting VIRUS on vinyl right now. Yeah, this is by far the best album released this year...

[Dellers]

Interestingly Haken is pretty much the only band that I've liked less over the years. I bought every album up until Vector, but wasn't enjoying that as much as the previous albums. Virus is just not my cup of tea at all. Apparently most fans are very happy with how they're sounding right now, but to me the change has not been for the better. I guess I'm the weird one, but they really sound very different now than some years back.

[Elite]

To be fair, people do not have a hard time beating me in that department, despite the number of shows I've seen because:

1. I never got to see them in the early days in Europe, or their first PP appearance, meaning I have not seen a lot from the debut.
2. I did not see the PP show where they played Visions in full, so am missing some songs off of that album.
3. The only cruise they've been on that I've missed was the one they played The Mountain in full on, so still missing a song or two from that.

Oh, alright. In that case, I do beat you in a lot of stuff, because I've seen them at least once on every European tour since 2010. I think the list of songs I haven't seen them play is quite short and contains mainly stuff they have rarely done anyway.

Let's just try to figure it out. I think (omitting Virus for obvious reasons) these are the only songs I haven't seen them play:

Sun (only one known performance)
Because It's There
Somebody
Darkest Light
Earthlings (no performances ever)
Lapse (only three performances ever)
Bound by Gravity (only two performances ever)
Host (no performances ever)

[me7]

I love Vector and Virus, but they are indeed different. Though I expect the to change again on the next release.
Anyone who would like something closer to older material should.check out Hen's solo album. Criminally underrepresented, not comparable to typical guitarist solo albums a la Petrucci.

[Fritzinger]

I love Vector and Virus, but they are indeed different. Though I expect the to change again on the next release.
Anyone who would like something closer to older material should.check out Hen's solo album. Criminally underrepresented, not comparable to typical guitarist solo albums a la Petrucci.

I love The Cocoon by Hen, but I don't think it sounds anything like Haken's earlier material (though the majority of all albums up to The Mountain were written by him). I think, the jazzy/weird/djenty/staccato stuff is more present on that album than on any Haken album, but the music is just not that heavy (if that makes sense).

Fantastic album; I'm one of 100 proud owners of its vinyl edition too (I have yet to get it signed though)

[me7]

Yes, I was focused on the heaviness. It's definitely jazzier than Haken has ever been.

[Elite]

I wouldn't call The Cocoon 'jazz' at all, but this is also partly because using the word 'jazzy' to describe music which isn't jazz kind of rubs me the wrong way. No offense meant though, perhaps I'm pretentious

[Fritzinger]

I wouldn't call The Cocoon 'jazz' at all, but this is also partly because using the word 'jazzy' to describe music which isn't jazz kind of rubs me the wrong way. No offense meant though, perhaps I'm pretentious

If I thought the music was actual jazz, I would have used the actual word jazz instead of jazzy    While listening to an album by Dave Brubeck, I would never think of saying "wow that's jazzy". I use this word to express that music of another genre features jazz influences.

And I think The Cocoon does have those influences, especially when it comes to harmonies/voicings and lines.

[gzarruk]

Interestingly Haken is pretty much the only band that I've liked less over the years. I bought every album up until Vector, but wasn't enjoying that as much as the previous albums. Virus is just not my cup of tea at all. Apparently most fans are very happy with how they're sounding right now, but to me the change has not been for the better. I guess I'm the weird one, but they really sound very different now than some years back.

I'm 100% in the same boat as you. Vector was good but not their best style change imo, and Virus completely killed the band for me.

[Crow]

i've been spinning this one for a bit and i've come to a conclusion:

this is the new worst haken album. idk this probably isn;t fundamentally weaker than vector, which i still liked, but god it's just so BORING. there's nothing fresh or exciting about it and not even any good songs to dig into, the shorter length tracks are all completely interchangeable, the epic is a mess, carousel is genuinely the only interesting song on the entire record and even then it doesn't hold a candle to their best stuff

y'all are insane calling this the best album of the year i don't get it 

that novena album earlier in the year was really good though?

anyways haken ranking
the mountain
aquarius
affinity
vector
visions
virus

they only have two really good albums in their discography and the last one was released in 2013 it might be time to give up on this band lol