AFFINITY

I was blown away by the Mountain, and, to be honest, I couldn't imagine anything coming close to it's greatness. Boy was I wrong. Haken were able to give yet another new cool spin to their already awesome music. 80's influence was there, especially in "1985", heaviness was there, as noted in "The Architect", calmer tunes, like "Red Giant"...This record has almost everything. It's not all good, though. My only criticism of this album, is that the second half seems to be less memorable than the first. It's as if they crammed their excellent tunes all together. Nevertheless the album is not short of excitement, intrigue and beautiful melodies. Some people claim this album sounds mechanic and robotic and is, thus, soulless. On the contrary, it is my belief that the "robotic" sound, as intended, means to emphasize the vibe proposed by the band.

High points: The Architect, 1985, Initiate, Bound by gravity (though not as great a closer as Somebody), Red Giant "Less high" points ;) : Earthrise (great chorus, and such a lovely tune to ease the ears after the monstrous 15 minute epic ), Lapse, the Endless knot (kind of like Never Enough in Octavarium by DT. Nice tune, but maybe the weakest on the record).

Overall, Haken do it yet again, staying true to their style while adding new twists and turns. This is in my opinion another creative masterpiece. As the mountain was a solid 5 out of 5, I'll give this one a 4.5 out of 5 (rounding up to a 5 star rating).

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