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omphaloskepsis View Drop Down
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    Posted: February 01 2024 at 06:28
Haken is one of my top-five favorite modern prog bands.  Fauna is my favorite Haken album, but I love them all.  On the eve of their North American tour "An Evening With Haken", it's time to show Haken some love. 

Haken begins their tour in LA on February 10th. Haken plans a three-hour, two-set show.  Haken will play their entire Fauna album, plus cuts from every album, including "Crystallized" from their Restoration EP.  I got tickets to the Fort Worth Show.Wink

I adore the way Ross Jennings varies his vocals. On Fauna, the entire band contributed to vocal melodies.  They had a portable microphone. If a band member had an idea, he'd ask for the microphone and then hum/sing the melody and Ross would interpret the vocal epiphany.  Haken seems like a band that is having fun making music. I'm a fan girl. Smile
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Dapper~Blueberries View Drop Down
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Points: 352 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Dapper~Blueberries Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 01 2024 at 11:04
They are a very amazing band, agreed! Virus is my personal favorite Haken album, how they merge their prog metal ideals with some bits of djent, hardcore, and various of ideas makes the album such a good listen.

I assume you probably already heard of them, but nonetheless check out Caligula's Horse, Leprous, and Vola if you want more juicy prog metal!
D~B
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Grumpyprogfan View Drop Down
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Points: 11577 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote Grumpyprogfan Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 01 2024 at 11:07
Yeah, I enjoy Haken. Visions is still my favorite, but Fauna was a great album where the band were writing outside their comfort zone and it worked.

I also dig Henshall's solo project The Cocoon.

Enjoy the show.
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Dapper~Blueberries View Drop Down
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Points: 352 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Dapper~Blueberries Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 01 2024 at 11:32
^^ Oh yeah Cocoon is good! Really dig that one song that incorporated a bit of hip hop. I know this might not be a popular opinion, but I am a bit of a sucker for when prog incorporates some hip hop, and vice versa.
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richardh View Drop Down
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Points: 27958 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote richardh Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 02 2024 at 00:10
I really don't 'get' Fauna at all. I even bought the album on CD having not bought a CD for ages to try and work what I'm missing. Still not happening for me and nothing stands out at all. I like Affinity the best. Seems to have the perfect balance of ideas. At one time Haken were a band I was desperate to see play live but now I'm less sure. I also want to mention the 'spin off' band TEMIC and their album Terror Management Theory which I much prefer over Fauna. One of their members is the ex Haken keyboard player Diego Tejeida. I suspect he could be a big loss and maybe the reason I'm not feeling it with Fauna.

Edited by richardh - February 02 2024 at 00:12
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richardh View Drop Down
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Points: 27958 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote richardh Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 06 2024 at 00:18
Not the most inspiring thread for this very interesting English heavy/borderline prog metal band. I don't know whether the 'silence' is because people don't think they've done much of note in recent years(?) Fauna did very well in the AOTY2023 poll so I know a lot of people like it so I expected more comments if I'm honest. 
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MikeEnRegalia View Drop Down
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Points: 21138 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote MikeEnRegalia Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 06 2024 at 00:56
I'm a huge Haken fan. There's just not that much to talk about them just now, at least for me, and my spare time is really limited ...
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MikeEnRegalia View Drop Down
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Points: 21138 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote MikeEnRegalia Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 06 2024 at 01:17
FWIW, I think that Haken will always be one of the bands that attract both fans and haters. They are really popular, and they incorporate a wide array of influences both from classic prog bands and new/non-prog areas. A good example: Gentle Giant and Djent. I really like that, but there will always be those who hate them for doing such sacrilegious things ... LOL
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Psychedelic Paul View Drop Down
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Is this the dawning of the Age of Aquarius or is it just a song by the 5th Dimension? No one knows for sure when the Age of Aquarius begins or ends. Even astrologers disagree on when the Aquarian age will start or whether it's already started. One thing we do know for sure though is that a Zodiacal Age (or Great Year) lasts precisely 2,160 years, in line with Earth's precession through the twelve signs of the zodiac. Having said that, I have just one Earth year to listen to every artist (including Haken) on my Heavy Prog Britannia playlist during the course of next year. I can honestly say I've never listened to a Haken album in full, but I have Visions of discovering many exciting Heavy Prog artists I've never heard before. I know there's The Mountain to climb in listening to everything, but I have an Affinity for Heavy Prog anyway, so it promises to be a fun ride, especially when you Vector in the fact that I've enjoyed listening to many Heavy Prog bands in the past, including Anathema, Budgie, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Uriah Heep and Wishbone Ash (only one of which is officially listed as Heavy Prog by the way). Anyway, getting back to Haken, you may be interested to know that their 2020 Virus album had nothing whatsoever to do with the coronavirus outbreak, being purely coincidental, and that the concept and inspiration behind Haken's latest album Flora was Philip K. Dick's Blade Runner. Cool

                 2010: Haken - Aquarius - http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_k8_DcNjoF489-og0MXNkPuFBFl8nnXfNI
                 2011: Haken - Visions - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DO61NWKkyWQ
                 2013: Haken - The Mountain - http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mgkHPkfiUG8S1GwHX2K2kZZx6pEOQc6o0
                 2016: Haken - Affinity - http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mHvCMb92d3-SC9QTGqOegM-XIelynWUl0

                 * Album ratings to follow Smile


Edited by Psychedelic Paul - February 08 2024 at 02:19
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MikeEnRegalia View Drop Down
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Points: 21138 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (2) Thanks(2)   Quote MikeEnRegalia Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 06 2024 at 03:28
^ They will actually have to decide whether to do a "Flora" album next LOL
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Psychedelic Paul View Drop Down
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Points: 39999 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote Psychedelic Paul Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 06 2024 at 03:38
Originally posted by MikeEnRegalia MikeEnRegalia wrote:

^ They will actually have to decide whether to do a "Flora" album next LOL

Yes, that'd be the obvious follow-up. Smile
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mathman0806 View Drop Down
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Points: 6401 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote mathman0806 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 06 2024 at 04:58
I like Haken. Saw them in 2020 on the second show before Covid locked things down. They were doing a side tour while opening for Devin Townshend. They played Affinity (my favorite) in its entirety. The mix was off at the start of the show but a great performance.
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Octopus II View Drop Down
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Points: 10350 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote Octopus II Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 06 2024 at 06:45
Although not a massive fan of Haken, I received 'Fauna' as a Christmas gift, and I have to say I have rather enjoyed listening to it. Smile
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edefakiel View Drop Down
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Points: 293 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote edefakiel Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 06 2024 at 13:22
My affection for "The Mountain" and "Restoration" ranks at the zenith of my musical preferences, with "The Cocoon" closely trailing in my estimations. "Affinity," while esteemed, occupies a tier slightly beneath these aforementioned masterpieces, in my personal hierarchy of musical appreciation. Subsequent works, as per my tailored taste, descend further in my regard, positioned below "Affinity."

In reflecting upon their discography, it is my perspective that their most illustrious moments were inaugurated in their early phases.
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^ I agree totally with this. My favourite album is The Mountain followed by Visions and Aquarius. After those my preferences goes down with each release and I'm not overly fond of Fauna at all which is my least liked of theirs. I do own all their albums on vinyl apart from the first 2 (also Restoration), which are extremely expensive, but I will get them one day. Smile
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richardh View Drop Down
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Points: 27958 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote richardh Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 06 2024 at 22:02
I quite like this review of Fauna which may encourage me to keep going. (also a great example of how music should be reviewed imo)

I wrote not a very nice review of The Mountain way back. At the time I was a little intoxicated by Anathema's then recent albums We're Here Because We're Here and Weather Systems, the latter being one of the best modern prog albums in my view.
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MikeEnRegalia View Drop Down
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Points: 21138 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote MikeEnRegalia Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 07 2024 at 01:02
^ Interesting, I hear no connection between Anathema and Haken - it's completely different worlds. Mountain is a fantastic release, but of course if you listen to it expecting it to sound like Anathema, you will be disappointed. It sounds more like Haken Wink

EDIT: And I wonder how you get to "soulless" ... I think you mean the "emo" aspect of Anathema which is absent in Haken. But listen again to this track and explain to me how it lacks soul:



Edited by MikeEnRegalia - February 07 2024 at 01:10
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richardh View Drop Down
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Points: 27958 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote richardh Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 07 2024 at 23:15
^ Funnily enough I own that on CD and vinyl. Yes it's very nice but not very representative.

I wasn't looking for a band to sound like Anathema at all, but The Mountain sounded in places like them and that was bothering me (for no good reason admittedly as having influences is never an issue). It's a long time since I've listened to it though. Sadly Anathema are no more and their last release was something like 2016. A unique family based band ( mostly involving the 3 Cavanagh brothers and latterly the wonderful singer Lee Douglas joined her ever present drummer John Douglas in the band). I regard them as one of the very best bands of the last 30 years. Hopefully Haken will eventually be as good. I feel they are totally directionless though at the moment and wondered why Fauna was so highly regarded going by the AOTY poll anyway, still not clear to me. Are they just a technical band I sometimes wonder. I don't want to be part of the chorus though of 'they are now just a boring prog metal band' that seems to be around. I don't see that being the case but I'm not hearing great songs or anything that sounds instrumentally inventive particularly. All a bit of a puzzle that is not being cleared up by this thread at all Wink
BTW the term 'emo' never connected with me. I suspect that Anathema went through this more on their early 00's albums such as A Natural Disaster and A Fine Day To Exit. Those were more punkish as they moving away from their death/doom styled 90's albums and towards the spiritual music that embodied thir later (and best imo) releases.
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MikeEnRegalia View Drop Down
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Points: 21138 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote MikeEnRegalia Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 08 2024 at 02:13
^ Check out the newer Katatonia releases, especially City Burials. Really a better fit to (newer) Anathema than Haken ever was Smile
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omphaloskepsis View Drop Down
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Points: 6339 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote omphaloskepsis Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 08 2024 at 02:48
Objectively, I think The Mountain is the peak of Haken.  However, Fauna is my favorite.  I've listened to Fauna over 60 times.  Fauna won Prog Report's album of the year, album cover of the year,  and epic of the year ...and is also my husband's favorite Haken album. We're pumped to see Haken perform the entire album live.

  Vector is my least favorite Haken album, but I still like it.   Different strokes for different folks.Wink 




Edited by omphaloskepsis - February 08 2024 at 11:03
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