Haken - Aquarius

Stacking 3 - ten minute plus songs at the beginning of any album (especially a debut) can be a bit of a risky decision.  Fans of progressive rock/metal, though, have come to expect the unexpected and tend to keep an open mind.  They know it’s about the full album experience and not just a group of short “bursts of radio friendliness” jammed together on one disc. Haken daringly challenge listeners in this manner on their debut Aquarius.  Haken also take it one step further because not only are the first three songs lengthy, but the amount of music herein threatens the disc’s capacity at 73 minutes.

In my estimation, the closest prog metal kin for this English sextet would be Dream Theater and Shadow Gallery. The comparison is rather broad as Haken has been able to develop their own style which seems more heavily influenced by 70s prog rock like Yes, Crimson King, and ELP. A testament to that is that the keyboards play a very important role in the band’s sound and are the underpinning for most song structures. At times, some of the songs threaten to go off track with copious time changes and forays in completely new directions (“The Point of No Return”) but the band is able to rein it in before it all goes awry and in the end, play out their ideas with varying degrees of success. If you have a tendency to prefer melodic prog then you will find much to enjoy here.

Vocally, Ross Jennings is infinitely more listenable than James LaBrie (to these ears anyway). Ross possesses a very clear and clean tone. There are a couple instances where he colors his voice with a rougher edge most specifically in “Drowning in the Flood” or in the total switch up to a death growl used sparingly in “Streams”. His voice may be a bit generic for some but to me, it is not lacking in any character at all. Brad Delp of the band Boston had a very recognizable voice that was full of personality and conviction. So too, Ross. It’s nice to see the band make use of harmony vocals as they only add to the beauty and majestic sweep of this grand album.

When you have musicians of this caliber write songs like “Eternal Rain” & “Stream” it’s hard not to be impressed. I appreciate the band’s sense of humor (or wackiness) like on the intro to “The Point of No Return” or even the change-over section after the searing guitar solo in “Eternal Rain”. These moments shed light on the band’s interest in being unique and to defy expectation. Not to overlook the contributions of the guitarists or rhythm section, there some really fantastic turns in these departments too; I'll leave it up to you to discover some of these nuggets of joy.

Aquarius is graced with immaculate production and excellent dynamic range. The instruments are all audible and mixed to the most discerning audiophile’s taste. The meticulous attention to detail adds to the overall experience and raises hopes for what is to come on subsequent releases. Haken have delivered a very strong debut and are definitely a band to watch. If you like DT and SG but prefer less metal and more rock in your prog then Haken deliver on all counts.

Release Date: March 29th, 2010
Label: Sensory Records

TRACK LISTING

1.  The Point of No Return
2.  Streams
3.  Aquarium
4.  Eternal Rain
5.  Drowning In the Flood
6.  Sun
7.  Celestial Elixir

Total playing time:  01:12:47

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*Comments:

May 23, 2010

Reviewer: M.J.