Are Haken Rock or Metal?

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Topic: Are Haken Rock or Metal?
Posted: March 09 2025 at 01:53

Simple poll - please vote and explain your reasons 😊

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Posted: March 09 2025 at 01:54

I’m going with Prog Metal since Haken are predominantly Metal/Djent on all their releases.

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Posted: March 09 2025 at 03:03

MikeEnRegalia wrote:

I’m going with Prog Metal since Haken are predominantly Metal/Djent on all their releases.

True

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Posted: March 09 2025 at 03:24

Primarily Prog Metal, but Haken see why they might be labelled Prog Rock too. Smile

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Posted: March 09 2025 at 06:03

^ Yes, they stray from metal occasionally. But IMHO they are still primarily metal.

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Posted: March 09 2025 at 06:33

Prog Metal. Their last album, Fauna, was different than anything they have done. They don't make samey sounding albums like Dream Theater and are the leading innovators of their genre. I'm eagerly awaiting the live album to be released soon.

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Posted: March 09 2025 at 14:47

^ Affinity was already very different than their previous releases. Still based in metal, or rather Djent (Fauna even more so). They're also adding Jazz/Fusion to the mix, which fits nicely (with Djent).

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Posted: March 09 2025 at 21:09

I thought Fauna was actually exactly like a lot of things they have done. Don't hear anything that I can identify as being apart from other albums for me. Seemed that after Virus they needed to retrace their steps. I do like The Mountain (prog rock) , Affinity (Hybrid of the 2 poll options) and Vector (prog metal). After The Mountain they were well up there with Big Big Train as leading lights of the UK prog scene but they have become increasingly uninteresting to me since Vector which saw them perfect their prog metal style. Latterly I prefer the spin off album by TEMIC that included ex keyboard player Diego Tejeida, over Fauna personally. Anyway if you go by their most popular album they are 'prog rock' but nowadays are more 'prog metal' and a lot less interesting to me. Affinity is the sweet spot though. IMO.

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Posted: Yesterday at 00:18

Metal has always been apparent in their music. I can see how they originally made it on heavy prog here, mainly because that sub-genre is kind of an anomalous grab-bag on this site (like eclectic and crossover). It was too metal to belong on eclectic, but not quiiiiite metal as consistently to belong on PM (well, Visions was pretty metal, but Aquarius, The Mountain, and Restoration are harder to nail down). Affinity was a turn more towards metal (with some poppier elements). But as of the Vector/Virus duology, I think they solidly qualify for the PM sub-genre on PA. While Fauna IS a more diverse-sounding album, it's still very metal. Perhaps it's time for a change?

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Posted: Yesterday at 02:00

I don't think that Mountain can be called Prog Rock. Which of the main tracks on the release is not based on really heavy metal riffing and double-bass drumming? It just does not compute for me.

RYM lists both Progressive Rock and Metal as main genres, and while I agree that the release is quite diverse and covers a whole range of styles and genres, looking at their discography it seems obvious to me that they are an eclectic Prog Metal band. Smile

Another way to put this: If Haken are Prog Rock, then Dream Theater are as well. Then there is really no such thing as Prog Metal, all is just (heavy) prog rock LOL

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Posted: Yesterday at 02:07

BTW: I knew I had asked this question before ... turns out I did. https://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=131056

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Posted: Yesterday at 07:17

richardh wrote:

I thought Fauna was actually exactly like a lot of things they have done. Don't hear anything that I can identify as being apart from other albums for me. Seemed that after Virus they needed to retrace their steps. I do like The Mountain (prog rock) , Affinity (Hybrid of the 2 poll options) and Vector (prog metal). After The Mountain they were well up there with Big Big Train as leading lights of the UK prog scene but they have become increasingly uninteresting to me since Vector which saw them perfect their prog metal style. Latterly I prefer the spin off album by TEMIC that included ex keyboard player Diego Tejeida, over Fauna personally. Anyway if you go by their most popular album they are 'prog rock' but nowadays are more 'prog metal' and a lot less interesting to me. Affinity is the sweet spot though. IMO.

I saw that you tagged Virus as Prog Rock at AP ... was that intentional? The reason for me thinking of this question again was that I saw that Haken are tagged as Prog Rock/Metal at AP.

Any AP users here who want to go through the Haken discography and vote for their favorite Haken release and set their preferred genre for each release? You can do that in this Haken poll:

https://awesomeprog.com/release-polls/pa/aota-8608/vote Cool

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Posted: Yesterday at 13:53

From what I've heard, mostly prog metal. It's beefy with a hint of thousand island dressing and a sprinkle of Howard Hesseman dandruff.

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Posted: Yesterday at 14:36

I'd say the ratio is about 89% Prog Metal and 11% Prog Rock.

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Posted: 18 hours 15 minutes ago at 19:49

MikeEnRegalia wrote:

I don't think that Mountain can be called Prog Rock. Which of the main tracks on the release is not based on really heavy metal riffing and double-bass drumming? It just does not compute for me.

Another way to put this: If Haken are Prog Rock, then Dream Theater are as well. Then there is really no such thing as Prog Metal, all is just (heavy) prog rock LOL

The Mountain = Octavarium

Virus = Train Of Thought

..very broadly. I think Opeth are more consistently 'prog metal' and the standard bearers of the genre which might be why I struggle big time with them. DT and Haken can veer back and forth but it's become very fashionable to bash Dream Theater, in itself something I've grown tired of. I would say their latest could easily be heavy prog. Back to Haken, I could hear the influence of Anathema on the Mountain and DT's Octavarium has at least one nod to a favourite band of mine Muse. The heavier side of prog is generally harder to classify. For me the stand out prog metal track of all time is Phantom Of The Opera by Iron Maiden. This is where I start personally.

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Posted: 18 hours 9 minutes ago at 19:55

MikeEnRegalia wrote:

I saw that you tagged Virus as Prog Rock at AP ... was that intentional? The reason for me thinking of this question again was that I saw that Haken are tagged as Prog Rock/Metal at AP.

Any AP users here who want to go through the Haken discography and vote for their favorite Haken release and set their preferred genre for each release? You can do that in this Haken poll:

https://awesomeprog.com/release-polls/pa/aota-8608/vote Cool

Mike, your tagging system has become somewhat convoluted. I do my best with it. Basically you ask the question to start with , is it ' Prog' , 'Prog adj' or 'Non- Prog'? I would have tagged it as 'Prog'. After that there is whole bunch of categories inc either 'Rock' or 'Metal'. If I got it wrong then it's not entirely surprising. I like the site a lot though so please keep up the good work (even if the genre tagging is a pain in the arse LOL

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Posted: 12 hours 37 minutes ago at 01:27

Metal. How could there even be a doubt about that?

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