VISIONS

Here in ProgArchives, when you are about to rate an album and choose 5 (or 1) stars, it warns you and tells you to use these ratings sparingly, as most poor albums have some positive qualities, and not all good albums are masterpieces.

This is just the case: a real masterpiece.

Starting from Premonitions, minute 0.00, you enter a world of .... how can I put it? A complex trip throughout deep strings, crushing heavy riffs, crazy technical passages, epic choruses and top-notch Haken magic. --- Going a bit into detail:

Premonitions: Instrumental, will live you breathless. Non-stop musical sickness. Many themes played in this song are reprised throughout the album. (9/10)

Nocturnal Conspiracy: Starts with a sweet build up, into one of the most notable choruses of the album, both epic and haunting at the same time, featuring excellent singing and guitars. (10/10)

Insomnia: A proggy, catchy song with heavy riffs and some crazy time signatures. (8/10)

The Mind's Eye: One of my favourite songs, reminiscent of nu-prog-metal (Linkin Park? Dream Theater? Leprous?) It's weird, this song reminds me of so many bands, but its so unique at the same time... Notable singing and keyboards, Short, epic and sweet. (10/10)

Portals: Another instrumental, as the title says, a Portal between what would be the first and the second half of the album. Unique, eclectic (King Crimson with 8-string guitars maybe?) and full of prog madness, that flows naturally into.... (8/10)

Shapeshifter: Heavy, powerful, circus-ish at times (Celestial Elixir?). Another peak of the album, incredible, shiver-inducing chorus, and (once again) crazy instrumental passages. (10/10)

Deathless: A kind of rest, maybe quieter than the other songs. Profound lyrics, moody keyboards, and a really interesting build-up that spans the whole song, to climax at the end, typical of post rock/metal, but not post at all. (10/10)

Visions: The final epic, 22 minutes long. I won't talk about this song, I think it's actually illegal for a mere mortal to mention an art piece of this magnitude. (11/10) --- All in all, it's beautiful how Haken made a step forward, found a lot of new things to add to their style without risking too much or getting repetitive, and at the same time, create a wonderful conceptual album that deserves more than 5 stars. How songs merge into each other, the vocals, the keyboards, the string arrangements, the instrumental passages, the epic choruses.

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