Haken – ‘Affinity’ [Review]
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Authentic originality is hard to come by in music. Every style comes complete with its own formula, and countless bands follow their respective recipes in lockstep with each other. The result? Bland, beige sameness.
Even in the prog world, copycat clone bands abound. One band brings a unique style to the table, and scores of followers follow it down to the last EQ notch on a guitar amp. Finding something fresh, new, and interesting can be a tough slog at times.
If you’re bored of soundalikes, Haken are here to save your day – and possibly your entire year.
The first thing to point out about Affinity is that yes, you are going to spot some strong influences in there. Chief among them will be Karnivool, Dream Theater, and Tesseract – although there’s also a fair helping of ‘80s-era Yes, Toto, and King Crimson, too. But – and this is the big but – few original styles are born in a vacuum. Throwing everything including the kitchen sink into the musical melting pot (see what I did there, hohoho), blending it all up, and seeing what comes out is a perfectly valid way to do something different.
Beyond title track Affinity’s dodgy interstellar transmissions, which set up a distinct sci-fi vibe, lies Initiate. Choppy syncopated guitars give way to widescreen clean chords and a pitch-perfect vocal that Ian Kenny would be proud of. Apocalyptic riffage follows before collapsing into a dramatically clean climax.
1985 is the first of Affinity’s standout songs. Haken’s eighties influences come to the fore here, their totality guaranteed to provoke nostalgia in those who witnessed said decade first-hand. More than a few sections sound like Tesseract jamming with Dream Theater – something sure to get prog fans of all generations salivating. Filthy extended-range guitars dig into the dirt as glorious synths weave a dramatic tapestry in the background…1985 is frickin’ perfect.
Just get your hands on this album as soon as it’s out, and listen to 1985. If you don’t have a grin splitting your face by the end of it, you don’t have a heart. Or you’re deaf. Or possibly dead. Consider seeking medical attention.
Back to the realm of relatively sensible song lengths with the near-five-minute Lapse. Karnivool vibes permeate this one, twisted rhythms underpinning soaring, emotional vocals with a cutsey keyboard / guitar solo section stuck in the middle. Cue a clean breakdown and a return to uplifting heaviness…and it’s all over.
Time for Affinity’s lengthiest track. The Architect weighs in at fifteen minutes forty seconds – a challenge indeed in the goldfish-attention-span culture we occupy today. Anything and everything that can happen happens in The Architect, from an appropriately foreboding intro to dense instrumental sections, melodic gymnastics, odd-time insanity, a brief harp break, pensive Karnivool-esque vocal hooks, the obligatory immense bass solo, Holdsworthian legato guitar lines, and even a small smattering of crushing djent. In short, The Architect is nothing short of masterful. Applause-worthy, even.
Fans of Yes’s poppy side will embrace Earthrise as it alternates between modern epicness and classic funky moments. Music for the head and the hips alike here, delivered with plenty of humour and unpredictability. Almost impossibly cool.
Moving into Affinity’s home stretch, Red Giant is a spectacularly arranged I-can’t-believe-it’s-4/4 winner that’ll have you going back over and over again just to figure out what the fuck’s going on; The Endless Knot gets intense via frantic distorted synths, Tesseract-level compositional complexity, and a brief flirtation with brostep before still another top-class guitar solo that never once strays into too-wanky territory; and final nine-and-a-half-minute epic Bound By Gravity unfolds like origami in reverse, a gorgeously serene ballad you’ll happily soak your ears in for hours.
If Haken have peers at this point, they’re definitely tourmates Between The Buried And Me, who dug into the depths of prog history themselves on last year’s Coma Ecliptic. Musical trainspotters will have a field day with Affinity – and for those of you who just care about quality musicianship and world-class songwriting, this is sure to be one of your favourite progressive albums of 2016.
TMMP RATING: 100% (Essential Listening!)
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