Haken – one of the most underrated bands of contemporary British progressive rock returns with the third album “The Mountain“. In one of his interviews, the band’s keyboardist Richard Henshall stated that the new release of the group is just the one thanks to which Haken will go down in the history of art rock. But is this bold thesis reflected in reality?
The two previous albums, “Aquarius” and “Visions,” were concept albums — two monumental, multi-part tracks that told one specific story. So you could expect that the guys from Haken would treat us with another musical story again. However, in the case of “The Mountain”, the group departed from the conceptual tradition and decided to focus on writing thematically non-connecting songs, and put emphasis on separate compositions and personal lyrics. Frequent, unexpected changes of tempo, a mix of various musical styles such as metal, hard rock, jazz / fusion, characteristic vocals and virtuoso guitar parts are the band’s calling card. Thanks to the combination of all the above-mentioned factors, the listener will find something for himself in every piece.
We start climbing the title mountain with the song “The Path”, which draws a gentle path leading to “Atlas Stone”. Here, landscapes painted with an extensive palette of sounds await us. You can clearly see the changes in the pace of the brush, whose strokes combine many musical styles. The next section of the road called “Cockroach King” starts quite steeply, but soon we easily catch the right pace and march along winding paths. During the jazz interlude, we allow ourselves a moment of rest, after which we continue the march. We come across “In Memoriam”, during which a stronger wind breaks out, but we do not give up and bravely wade on. The rocky trail turns into a forest path leading through “Because It’s There”. The legs guide us themselves, you will pass through wonderful vocal harmonies. The surrounding greenery thins out and we can see dark clouds in the distance. Again and again you can hear the thunder of “Falling Back To Earth”. We speed up our pace for fear of the storm, but after a while we notice that during “As The Dark Embraces” disturbing clouds begin to flow in the opposite direction and the sky above us clears up after a while, and we feel solace in our souls. The penultimate part of the journey is ahead of us, i.e. “Pareidolia”. We can already see the summit in front of our eyes and overcome the steeper parts of the approach, holding on to the chains firmly driven into the rocks. For a moment it seems to us that we hear angelic choirs. Finally, we reach the top and grand finale of our musical journey, i.e. “Somebody”. Now we can look down on the road we have been able to walk.
As you can see, our climb was by no means monotonous, and even abounded in various events. There were moments of horror and spiritual catharsis. The landscapes changed like in a kaleidoscope and we were not bored for a moment. It seems that a single ascent of the Mountain constructed by Haken is not enough to see all the nuances buried inside. Some will treat it as another trip, and others will certainly return to this place more than once on the musical map. I don’t know about you, but I’m going to be a frequent visitor here.