"An Evening with HAKEN"
presented by Atonal Agency
Die Veranstaltung ist teilbestuhlt bei freier Platzwahl
If you’re talking about modern progressive rock and don’t bring up Haken, you’re doing it wrong. Since the south English sextet started jamming together in 2004, they’ve been one of their genre’s most loyal yet, simultaneously, adventurous forces. Every album they’ve released is distinct from all the rest, but they’re all tied together by their incalculable time signatures, fearless songwriting and majestic vocals – and, of course, their critical acclaim.Haken’s 2010 debut, Aquarius, gave British prog a sorely needed lifeline. In establishing the band’s balance of mighty hooks, off-kilter riffs and flamboyant keyboard lines, it made them the most exciting and experimental sons of the genre’s homeland since Porcupine Tree emerged almost two decades prior. The next year’s Visions somehow pushed the melodies and scope even further, setting the stage for breakthrough The Mountain: an avant-garde behemoth that united the best traits of Gentle Giant, Metallica and Soft Machine in one swipe.Since then, Haken have gleefully dabbled in ’80s synths on 2016’s Affinity, before the conceptual duo of Vector and Virus aggravated their heavy metal leanings to invigorating levels. How do you honour such an eclectic, unpredictable career? You make Fauna: Haken’s most genre-busting and conceptually fascinating album to date.“The premise of the album when we started writing it was that every song would have an animal assigned to it,” explains singer and co-founder Ross Jennings. “They all have something related to the animal kingdom that we could write about, but they also connect to the human world. Each track has layers, and some of them are more obvious than others.”“Conceptually, it reminds me of The Mountain,” adds guitarist and fellow founder Richard Henshall. “There, we had the idea of not really a narrative-based album, but more the concept of climbing a mountain and overcoming the obstacles along the way. Then we took that and thought about how it could relate to our everyday lives. All of Fauna’s animals relate to us, personally.”A prime example is the titanic and heart-wrenching finale, Eyes Of Ebony. On one level, the track is about the near-extinct northern white rhinoceros: the last male died in captivity in March 2018. However, deeper than that, it’s also dedicated to Richard’s father, who died of a heart attack almost exactly three years later.“I decided that it’d be cool to write a song about my dad, because he was very supportive,” the guitarist explains. “He used to send out demos way back, before we were big, sending them all around the world for free. He would burn the CDs himself and write the bio for us. It was quite an interesting concept for me that the northern white rhino just died and wouldn’t be coming back, and I saw how that related to me personally with my dad.”
Progressive Metal · 39.7€ · https://backstage.eu/haken-europe-2024.html