Haken - Aquarius
Sensory Records
Prog Rock/Metal
7 songs (72:44)
Release year: 2010
Haken, Sensory Records
Reviewed by Jaime
Album of the month
A minute into the first song from Aquarius and I've come to the conclusion that Haken like Yes. A lot. When I hear the lyrics, this feeling is reaffirmed, the cheese is dripping from them. The whole arrangement of the song is massive and grandiose and makes me want to go buy a cape. But that aside, Haken add their own things to that formula that make things a bit interesting in their own way, throwing in growling vocals and Meshuggah riffs into the pot with an almost carnival-esque feel poured on top thanks to the keyboards. And then there's the jazz. There are points where you envision things switching to black and white and people getting their jazz hands going. All this in the first song makes me wonder what else they've got to put together another six tracks cause there's so much in there. It's big, and it's very very prog.

The entire album is a fitting tribute to the OTT stylings of 70's prog bands in terms of songwriting, lyrics, and obscenely good performances. Yes it's cheesy, but it's prog damn it! Only the most necro forest dweller would struggle to keep a smile on his face for that opening minute of The Point of No Return. Streams is a deceptive bugger of a song as well, the first five minutes being all happy prog before going all funeral doom (seriously) and then into something from an Ayreon album. Clearly these guys have a ridiculous sense of humour but it makes the album all the better to listen to for it. The massive ending track Celestial Elixir has bloody polka in it! Finntroll would be proud. The production is fantastic as well, crystal clear with nothing sounding off and every element fitting in with each other wonderfully. Every musical section flows seemlessly into one another through some arcane magic.

I honestly didn't expect to like this album as much as I did. It's well executed prog that, I hope, has the good sense not to take itself too seriously. There's not much else to say really. Go buy.
Killing Songs :
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Jaime quoted 94 / 100
Other albums by Haken that we have reviewed:
Haken - Virus reviewed by Goat and quoted 82 / 100
Haken - Vector reviewed by Goat and quoted 84 / 100
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