Not DT, but you're close. Here's a DT rip-off band
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15. Haken – Aquarius (2010) 
On my first list, I had Haken’s ‘Visions’ up slightly higher than ‘Aquarius’. I have back from that original assessment and genuinely consider ‘Aquarius’ to be the better album nowadays. Also their third record ‘The Mountain’ can’t top the band’s debut for me. This might probably be seen as heresy to some of the newer Haken fans, but (fanboy alert) I got into these guys when they released ‘Aquarius’, have seen then live more than any other band and I was there at their first gig outside of Europe. I’ve caught them live on every tour they have done through Europe so far, and I’ve met the guys multiple times (singer Ross Jennings would come up to me after gigs to have a chat, always surprised to see the face at his gig. Even weirder story; Richard Henshall’s father came up to me after a different gig, telling me he ‘has a picture of me on my wall’. Turns out that it was a photograph of the audience at the Night of the Prog festival, I was in the middle on the first row. He proceeded to hand me all of his tokens, because he didn’t fancy any more drinks. Yes, this really happened).
By no means do I want to suggest that I’m good friends with the band or that I know them personally, but I have a history of seeing them live. Now that I got that out of the way, I can discuss this album. Containing only seven tracks, this album has the shortest track-list out the three albums they have released thus far. The album contains their third longest song,
Celestial Elixir, which is also their best (and not, as Ross Jennings once said at a gig “we will play our last song now. It’s also our best song”, proceeding into
Visions from their second album), as well as six other amazing tunes, of which quite a bunch would probably show up in my own personal Haken top 10.
Why did I pick this album as my favourite when the general consensus is that ‘The Mountain’ is their best work to date? Am I doing this really to get attention? No. I think this is their best album, because what you hear on this record is a young band experimenting with music, hitting an absolute jackpot and creating such a unique sound that is unrivalled to date. Truth be told, ‘Visions’ and ‘The Mountain’ are great albums in their own respect, but if I’m honest, they don’t really do much for me now that some time has passed. Those records are fairly stale, almost boring even, in sound. Both the band’s second and third album sound too much like other contemporary progressive metal bands do. Granted, they’re good, but that’s beside the point.
‘Aquarius’ is a unique gem in my top 50. A debut-album that managed to deliver not only a great set of music, but also a style I wish the band would have expanded more upon and the fame they needed to get heard. It’s hard to think probably, that only 6 six years ago Haken were virtually unknown. This is the disc that started it all. It’s ambitious, it’s bold, it rocks, and most of all: it’s tons of fun. Do listen to the opening of
Streams, the wacky section in the middle of
Celestial Elixir, the fun guitar solos in
Aquarium or most of album-opener
The Point of no Return, and tell me that it’s not tons of fun. That’s what makes this album great. A young band on fire, shooting for the moon and hitting it. Gloriously.
Seriously, excuse the rather silly write-up for this one.
Favourite song: Celestial Elixir
Other songs worth checking out: Aquarium, Drowning in the Flood, Eternal Rain
Other stuff by this band: Most people here know this band and most Haken fans prefer ‘The Mountain’, I think. To me, their second album ‘Visions’ is better. Like with so many other bands on this list, you can’t really go wrong with either. I’m really looking forward towards their new album, due released on April 29.
Topic: Elite's top 50 albums v. - 3 Years Older: #1: love is the dance of eternity (Read 47192 times)