Aquarius (Haken album)
Aquarius is the debut Studio album by the Progressive Rock/Progressive Metal band Haken. It is a concept album about a couple who has a mermaid daughter.[1] The tracks are generally longer, the shortest track being just under 7 minutes and the longest being nearly 17.[2] The Album artwork was created by Dennis Sibeijn,[3] who has also worked with 3, Job for a Cowboy, and See You Next Tuesday, among others. Despite the band having released two previous demos, none of the multiple songs already recorded were re-released on this album. It is the second highest rated 2010 album on ProgArchives as of 7th December 2011.
Track listing
All songs written and composed by Richard Henshall.
| 1. |
"The Point of No Return" |
11:26 |
| 2. |
"Streams" |
10:14 |
| 3. |
"Aquarium" |
10:39 |
| 4. |
"Eternal Rain" |
6:42 |
| 5. |
"Drowning in the Flood" |
9:28 |
| 6. |
"Sun" |
7:19 |
| 7. |
"Celestial Elixir" |
16:56 |
|
Total length:
|
72:44 |
Personnel
Main Band
Guest Musicians
- Craig Beattie - Trombone
- Alex Benwell - Trumpet
- Pablo Inda Garcia - Clarinet
- Marged Hall - Harp
- Darren Moore - Trumpet
- Jon Roskilly - Trombone
- Dave Ruff - Flute
[5] [6]
Reception
The reception of this album was generally positive across the board.
- Eduardo Rivadavia of Allmusic praised it as the strongest prog album yet to come out in the 2010s.[7]
- The website Allmetal guide deemed Aquarius as very good.[10]
- The website Prog Archives gave the album good reviews across the board; an average of all the reviews received were nearly 5 out of 5 stars.
- The European leg of the ProgPower tour called Haken the most exciting sound to emerge from the modern progressive movement.[15]
- The German webzine Powermetal gave Aquarius a good review, saying the band had conquered the London rock scene in only a few concerts,[9] as did Just for Kicks Music, another German webzine. JFKM gave "both thumbs up" to the album, as well as giving it 12 out of 15 points[8]
- The webzine BlogCritics.com Music gave Aquarius a rave review, saying its a joy to listen to from start to finish, and that there is jazz, blues, metal, and everything else tossed in for good measure.[11]
- Classic Rock Magazine featured the song Eternal Rain as a free track of the day on April 15, 2010. The small review given was positive, calling it "interesting music from a young London band who combine jazz, metal and prog, delivered with excellent musicianship."[12]
- The progressive rock e-zine Sea of Tranquility's Pete Pardo praised the album, giving it 4.5 out of 5 stars, saying "Haken have arrived folks...make sure to check this one out." [13]
References
- ^ http://www.haken.fr/interviews_0810_en.htm
- ^ Allmusic guide page for Aquarius with track listing. Retrieved 2010-08-18
- ^ Allmusic guide Aquarius page with artist credit. Retrieved 2010-08-18.
- ^ Allmusic guide Aquarius listing, with track list. Retrieved 2010-08-18.
- ^ Allmusic guide Aquarius page with musicians credit. Retrieved 2010-08-18.
- ^ Allmusic guide Haken biography and member listing Retrieved 2010-08-18.
- ^ a b Rivadavia, Eduardo. "Aquarius". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/album/r1729679. Retrieved 2010-08-19.
- ^ a b Kohlruß, Thomas. "Haken: Aquarius". Just for Kicks Music. http://www.justforkicksmusic.com/detail.asp?id=10551&sid=462002M64N12N116N196&uid=0&lid=2. Retrieved 2010-08-19.
- ^ a b Löwenstein, Regina (2010-07-18). "Haken - Aquarius". Powermetal.de. http://powermetal.de/review/review-Haken/Aquarius,16445.html. Retrieved 2010-08-19.
- ^ a b "Review: Haken- Aquarius". Allmetal Resource. http://allmetalresource.com/2010/05/10/review-haken-aquarius-2010/. Retrieved 2010-08-19.
- ^ a b Dodge, Marty. "Music Reviews: Paradox, Haken, Svarti Loghin, The Devil's Blood, and Subaudition". Blogcritics. http://blogcritics.org/music/article/music-reviews-paradox-haken-svarti-loghin/. Retrieved 2010-08-20.
- ^ a b Dome, M.. "Track of the Day: Haken". Classic Rock Magazine. http://www.classicrockmagazine.com/news/track-of-the-day-haken/. Retrieved 2010-08-20.
- ^ a b Pardo, Pete. "Review: Haken: Aquarius". Sea of Tranquility. http://www.seaoftranquility.org/reviews.php?op=showcontent&id=9047. Retrieved 2010-11-02.
- ^ Weiss, Aaron. "Haken – Aquarius". ProgSnobs. http://www.progsnobs.com/music-reviews/haken-aquarius/. Retrieved 2011-01-26.
- ^ ProgPower Europe's page for Haken. Retrieved 2010-08-19.
External links