ALBUM REVIEW: Virus – Haken

HAKEN‘s The Mountain was probably the finest progressive rock album released in 2013, and many of prog brethren made no effort to hide their enthusiasm for it. In the eyes of many, HAKEN merged the modern with the traditional excellence on that album. They did what most others couldn’t; that is, prove that the traditional ‘70s prog could be exploited to suit a revolutionary sound.

More thrilling than that was perhaps the fact that HAKEN displayed diligent prospects to be one of the few from the progressive rock underground who could happen to gain genuine recognition from beyond the clannish prog arena that’s gathered together as the years have gone by. Like the best parts of COHEED AND CAMBRIA and KARNIVOOL were twinned with the spiritual enthusiasm of YES and the noetic profusion of GENTLE GIANT, there were so many reasons to feel thrilled for this group, even if a listener had spent most of their lives listening to the style.

So yeah. With The Mountain, prog fans thought fairly omnipresent awareness might be on the course for the Londoners. That is not something that these same prog fans think about the band come Virus – the group’s sixth studio album – although HAKEN went multiple directions with 2016’s Affinity and 2018’s Vector. Virus continues and closes the story that was started with Vector, and it also lends from and follows up on the aforementioned The Mountain.

Virus is not an entirely new ballgame for the band. No. For what it’s worth, this new outing is ardent preservation of the act’s sound. They have never sounded this opaque. It should be stated before anything else that HAKEN have unleashed another masterpiece here, and it doesn’t even fall short when compared to the modern classic that preceded it years ago.

Yet HAKEN have still distanced themselves from widespread success on this one, now probably more than ever. They’ve moved towards the ever-increasingly complex territory, embracing both retro and modern, most likely to the glee of self-proclaimed proggers and the chagrin of everyone else. It’s an interesting thing, really; one would usually peg a retrogressive 1970s revival as being inherently tame compared to something new, but HAKEN have managed to sound more challenging than ever as their sound becomes a perfect mix of vintage and contemporary. The result of which is an intensely multi-faceted album that doesn’t give itself up easily to a listener. Virus is another bewildering record from these guys, and even if it has more of its foot in the traditional, it is most certainly fresh new ground HAKEN are surveying here.

The immense intricacy isn’t a good or bad thing on its own but it does largely define the encounter with Virus, especially when it’s set up in comparison with the band’s past work. Some technically-inclined music unravels itself straight away. Even if you’re a prog vet, don’t be surprised if the first few listens leave you cold. Sure enough, repeated listens start bringing sense to the album. Prosthetic, Invasion, and Carousel probably stand out as the highlights right off the bat. Amid the continual pyrotechnics, it’s an extra achievement that each of the eleven mazes here has a character of their own. Prosthetic, for instance, is frantic and angular. The Strain has eccentric confidence, whereas Canary Yellow sounds bleak by contrast.

The Messiah Complex suite, comprised of five pieces, is the crown of Virus in many ways. In a certain way, this epic pays tribute to HAKEN‘s past days by frequent recurring themes that are threaded thru-and-thru. Suffice to say, Messiah Complex offers its own experience that is definite, though not separate, from their past achievements.

With all said and done, it’s just motivating to hear a band play to the absolute limits of their abilities. And considering that one can think of a few in progressive music today that play together as well as HAKEN, that is saying a lot. Virus is excellently written and paced. Its brilliance, however, lies in the way it nourishes the atmosphere in production and execution. With their sixth opus, HAKEN have once again proven that prog fan’s acknowledgement of them once as the most promising band in progressive music has been well-grounded.

Rating: 10/10

Virus is set for release on July 24th via InsideOut Music.

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