We’re doing a ranking? Alright, I’m in.
6. Aquarius - Sorry guys, not a huge fan of this one. I got into Haken post-Affinitour, probably early 2018. It’s not that I don’t have a good time with thus album, it’s great, but this is just so far outside of what I turn to Haken for that it falls to the bottom for me.
Highlights: Aquarium, Drowning in the Flood, Celestial Elixir
5. Vector - I love this album. First new album I was on board for, and it was on this tour that I got to see them for the first time (including meet and greet + lessons with Charlie and Ray). Over time though, it’s proven to be less than I thought it was upon release. A 7 track album, and one of them is an intro tape? Not the best, though it all makes sense now.
Highlights: Good Doctor, Veil, Nil By Mouth
4. Visions - Another great album. I need to stop saying this, because they all are. Visions suffers from the fact that the rest of the album feels very much overpowered by the title track and Nocturnal Conspiracy. Which is more of a problem because I think Nocturnal might actually be my least favourite track on the whole thing. Mind’s Eye-Shapeshifter is a great 3 song run though, and Premonition serving as a full on overture is awesome.
Highlights: Portals, Deathless, Visions
3. The Mountain - This and my number 2 pick are often interchangeable, I just happened to listen to this less recently so it’s lower down. This album is the most perfect balance of ballads and bangers. It’s not often you get an album that can open with something as airy as The Path and end with something as dark and downtrodden as Somebody, yet find room for lounge jazz piano solos, optimistic choruses and outright neck-breakingly heavy riffs. Mountain rules! Cutting it down to three highlights sucks, because there’s way too many tracks deserving of the spotlight.
Highlights: Atlas Stone, Because It’s There, Falling Back to Earth.
2. Virus - Vector’s ending was too open ended? Yeah, that’s for good reason. As Quantum of Solace is to Casino Royale or (retroactively) A New Hope to Rogue One, so is Virus to Vector. And yet, this one trumps it beyond measure. There are great hooks all over this thing, a myriad of callbacks to previous records and so much world building. You want Haken to go more in the direction of Tool and Karnivool? You get Carousel. Wanna hear what it would’ve been like if they were involved in Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds? Well, there’s an instrumental hook shared between Prosthetic and Messiah Complex that has you covered. Nah, too much heavy? Have the restraint offered by Canary Yellow. And, being a sequel, we’ll even let Clear have a reprise, but with vocals! The songs left unmentioned are no slouch either, with the building syllables of Invasion’s verses being a vocal highlight, and The Sect proving as a perfect go-between for the heavy and light tracks either side.
Highlights: Prosthetic, Carousel, Messiah Complex
1. Affinity - Bleeps and bloops of machinery whirring to life give way to a rhythmic pulse. A moment of rest, and you’re thrown into my favourite Haken album. I’m 23 (nearly 24), so I wasn’t around for the 80s, but there’s such a nostalgic feel to each song here. 1985 is a masterpiece for Diego’s synth, Bound By Gravity gives me one of the warmest feelings that any song ever has, The Architect is heavy as all hell, Red Giant is haunting, Earthshine is one of the most upbeat tracks in their discography, and the breakdown of The Endless Knot will be played on an endless loop if I ever have my own nightclub. Everything that Haken has been up to this point comes to a head on this album, and you can see why they had to take such a different approach for the following two albums. This was also my introduction to Haken’s music (since my first experience as a whole was through Shattered Fortress), so I hold a particular soft spot with this one. A certain Affinity, if you will.
Highlight: 1985, Architect, Endless Knot.
Topic: Haken v. new single Nightingale (April 26) (Read 452016 times)
