Progarchives, the progressive rock ultimate discography
Haken - Restoration CD (album) cover

RESTORATION

Haken

Heavy Prog


From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

Bookmark and Share
Second Life Syndrome
PROG REVIEWER
3 stars I've been accused of being a Haken fanboy. In fact, I have to admit that I have been at times. For a band this young, they have remarkably little in the way of missteps or duds, and I'm proud to be a fan of their quirky, groovy heavy prog that will be remembered for decades. However (and this is a big however), I feel nothing but disappointment over their new EP called "Restoration". You see, back in 2008 or so, Haken was shopping their original demo around, and it was really amazing stuff. The production values, however, were pretty bad. For years, then, fans have been clamoring for a remaster of this original demo. Problem: the masters for this demo no longer exist. So, instead of rerecording the tracks, Haken decided to take three of them to modify significantly. These three tracks---"Darkest Light" (originally "Blind"), "Earthling" ("Black Seed"), and "Crystallised" ("Snow")---make up this new EP.

I feel very strongly, though, that Haken has made their first misstep. This EP will sell very well and many fans that never heard the originals will love it, but I find all three of these remakes to be far inferior to the original recordings, even with the production problems in the old demo. There are two main reasons for this opinion. First, I feel that Haken added a ton of "wankery" for no purpose. Their original demo had none of this technical poppycock, and so it feels forced, out of place, and almost lazy, as funny as that sounds. Second, the personality has been sucked out of these songs. While they are still recognizable, many of the melodies have been altered, structures changed, and the highs and lows have been nerfed, so to speak. This is a very sleek EP, but it has lost the character that made me fall in love with the band.

Since this is such a short EP, I will simply go over the three tracks in order to explain. First, "Darkest Light" is relatively similar to the original. Though this is true, I feel that some additions are simply not composed well, and I dislike the changes to the stuttering riffs, especially the omission of layers. As with all these tracks, too, I feel that new bassist Conner Green has either been silenced in the mix or simply isn't that interesting when compared to former bassist Thomas MacLean. It's very guitar-heavy and has little in the way of groove.

Next, we have "Earthlings". This is my favorite of the three because I do feel that the new structure of the song is rather nice. The last few minutes are pretty close to the original, and so I liked that. The first half, however, just feels weak and like it's missing something, especially in the vocal portions.

Finally, we have the abomination: "Crystallised". Yes, you read that word correctly. "Snow" is one of my top three favorites from Haken, but they have taken it, elongated it to pretentiousness, added meaningless wankery, and composed new parts that seem totally out of place. "Snow" was a masterpiece of stark, black and white folk music, full of Gentle Giant influence and organic emotion and melody. All this has been sapped out, and a nominal orchestration has been added that destroys everything the original was. In addition, the technicality takes away from the masterful lyrics, and my very favorite parts have all been either erased or neutralized. Even the vocal rounds in the middle are incredibly dull, as they completely miss both the high and low notes of the original. Haken has destroyed one of their best compositions. With Mike "Bluebeard" Portnoy's involvement on this track, I guess I should have expected this.

"Restoration", then, is nothing of the sort. It comes across as being created under compulsion by InsideOut, and the performances are by the book, emotionless, and simply "blah". I'm not sure if I can bring myself to hear this EP anymore, as I cringe every time I hear the mediocrity. Haken, I beg you, please do not let this be representative of your next album. For the love of all that is holy, don't lose yourselves in your success.

Report this review (#1298403)
Posted Tuesday, October 28, 2014 | Review Permalink
3 stars They've taken the bad things from the last 3-4 Dream Theater albums and they've incorporated them into the Haken formula. Hoping this is just for the EP and they come back to creativity for the new album in 2015.

I havent listened to the 2008 demo too much, so it hasnt affected my vision of this EP. Its just uninspired and bland. I actually like Darkest Light, but Earthlings seems shallow and Crystallised just has a good moment here and there, too much wankery and meaningless "musical masturbation", not a very epic ending, maybe because the whole song lacks epicness and cohesiveness.

I also miss the riffs a lot on this EP, after listening to it i feel like there isnt a lot of "headbanging" segments like on Cockroach king, Falling Back to earth, pareidolia, portals, visions, etc. I just need heavy riffs and this EP lacks in that regard IMHO.

Report this review (#1300336)
Posted Monday, November 3, 2014 | Review Permalink
4 stars Haken-Restoration

'Restoration' is Haken's re-recordings of three songs from their 2008 demo 'Enter the Fifth Dimension'. I find this interesting though, this new EP actually shows them heavier and less apt to copy other bands. There is still definitely a Dream Theater influence, but it's not as prominent and comes up at better times. Unfortunately, it still shows them copy Gentle Giant at the end, but they're getting there as far as 'being their own band' goes.

It begins with a very strong opener 'Darkest Light', where Ross Jennings's vocals are very strong. The keyboards fit surprisingly well with the crunching guitar, and this is a much heavier song then anything that was on 'The Mountain'. If you have a good ear for bass like I do, I'm sure you'll also be able to hear the great bass work given by Conner Green. The next song 'Earthlings' is a softer melancholy track. Unlike the soft songs on 'The Mountain', however, this song isn't a ballad and is actually more akin to a melancholy Porcupine Tree song such as 'Heartattack in a Layby'. This isn't a copy though, this is a unique song. It's nice how they started out with the heavy 'Darkest Light', then went to 'Earthlings', it shows that they are powerful in both styles.

The final song is the suite 'Crystallised'. It's unfortunate that this is a song that has almost everything about Haken that originally annoyed me. This sounds more like an outtake from the previous album then something that would fit well on this EP. At least the Dream Theater-sound alike is understandable, seeing as Mike Portnoy plays the drums on this track. The song is okay until about halfway through when the Gentle Giant-copying comes back. So I find the second half of this song boring and having the same problems as 'The Mountain'.

Overall, if you're like me and was annoyed by Haken's copying of bands you should certainly check this EP out. I'm glad I gave it a try, and I hope they take the styles of the first two tracks and continue with that for whenever they release a new album. I'll be curious to see what a new album by them will bring.

Hope you found this review helpful.

(Originally Written for www.MetalMusicArchives.com)

Report this review (#1300432)
Posted Wednesday, November 5, 2014 | Review Permalink
3 stars Have to say that Haken turns into one of my fav bands during this last years. The mixture of hard prog metal sections and pure symphonic movements is very intense and totally captivating.

Perhaps the three songs of this EP are not totally original but renewed versions of old tracks, I really appreciate Haken hard work which turns this songs into very powerful and surprising epics.

Even when I feel a certain lack of creativity in here, the album has in "Darkest Light" a great and strong metal opener that sounds a little bit "Dream Theater" to me. "Earthlings" is the more "melodic" song of this EP and have some awsome dark atmospherical moments based on guitar. The long epic "Crystallised" is an almos 20 minutes mixture of all the styles played by Haken on their previous albums, from pure prog metal to experimental and delightful complex sections.

Not the best of Haken but a very strong bunch of songs that confirms Haken as one of the most interesting bands nowadays... 3.5*

Report this review (#1358580)
Posted Saturday, January 31, 2015 | Review Permalink
Flucktrot
PROG REVIEWER
5 stars I'm going both go against the grain (given some folks' criticism of this album) and set a new personal first (never given 5 stars to an EP) and call this album a masterpiece of progressive rock.

I'm late to the game in truly appreciating Haken, although I have been monitoring their buzz and attention on ProgArchives and at festivals and live events. There were a number of aspects to their previous works (a bit derivative, playful bits that were perhaps a bit more childish than interesting, etc.) that just kept me from really coming back (although I have to admit that I have overcome some of these reservations in more recent times).

I can find none of these nitpicks on this album. There are no extraneous or repetitive parts. There are no playful bits that make me cringe the first time I hear them. There is no pushing of vocals beyond what I would consider to be tasteful or out of range. Instead, this is the work of a band that appear to be songwriting and recording pros. Of course, given that this album consists of reimagining prerecorded material (which I admit to not having heard), there is perhaps a bit of irony to my initial stance. On the other hand, it could instead be the case that Haken are more able to cut the fat and get down to business in a way that they were not able to when first starting out. I'm going to go with the second option. I love every second of this album, and there are very, very few albums about which I can say this.

Darkest Light is the rifferific opener, and it is great throughout, and just bursting with creativity and variety. Sometimes with the syncopated bits and thundering bass lines, I hear the brutality of some of my favorite Leprous material, only to be pushed out of my short term memory by a crunching riff that worms into my brain. I wouldn't want a whole album of this, but it's an excellent slice of prog metal in my book.

Earthlings is the haunting comedown from the opener, and it is captivating to my ears throughout. Relying much more on traditional song structure, this song really works due to the musicality (note: not technicality) involved, from each slight guitar vibrato to subtle bass crescendo. And just when the traditional song structure might begin to tire, a powerful and understated outtro takes us home. Great atmosphere and restraint throughout.

Crystallised represents the band's finest epic in opinion. Although earlier extended songs contained undeniable high quality material, there were either moments of extending too far (Visions) or not quite nailing the change-of-pace sections (Celestial Elixir), with this song I hear a procession of creative and well-executed ideas, strung together in a way that flows quite nicely, and transitioned expertly. This song has just about anything I could want from Haken, from a killer guitar solo to open the middle section to inspired and energetic vocal harmonies to the grandiose conclusion.

There you go: a great album throughout, without a second that I wouldn't qualify as excellent. So what if it's under 35 minutes??? If I don't hold it against Rush, than I'm not going to hold it against Haken either. I'm certainly looking forward to what Haken might come up with next!

Report this review (#1386757)
Posted Tuesday, March 24, 2015 | Review Permalink
4 stars This was my second album that I listened to from Haken, well this is an EP not an full album but you know. This is very much like a short successor to The Mountain, the mix and mood of both albums are very similar, the songs are very similar in terms of a writing perspective and the instrumentation and playing is also very similar in style to The Mountain. I think this is a pretty good EP for the most part, Darkest Light is a bit of a heavy song that has a bunch of Djent. Earthlings is a bit of a softer song with some atmospheres. Crystallised is the epic that... well... I think that should've actually been on The Mountain, replacing a few songs or making The Mountain a double discer. The structure of that song is unbelievable, its dynamic and it's got emotion, it does rip from Gentle Giant with those harmonies they did on The Coakroach king. It's a very unique EP and I'm very glad I picked this up.
Report this review (#2379516)
Posted Monday, May 11, 2020 | Review Permalink
1 stars After the considerably overrated "The Mountain", Haken released their second EP, "Restoration". It basically sounds the exact same as The Mountain and I'm not joking, all three tracks could've been in that album.

Darkest Light is a generic prog metal tracks that copies Dream Theater WAAAAY too much. Please make something that makes you say "That's Haken!" not "That's Dream Theater!". I simply don't care at all about that track.

Earthlings is a truly beautiful song, it has an amazing build up and, pay attention to what I'm about to say: It's just as long as it deserves to be. I ended up really liking this track and I feel like it's the best work from the album.

That's something I can't say about Crystallized! The closing "epic" is hailed by many as Haken's master work. To me it just proves (along with Visions' title track) that Haken doesn't know how to make epics. An epic is a track that is +20 minutes long because it *needs* to be of that length, otherwise many aspects and sections of the track would go to waste if it got trimmed. Crystallized is a ten minute song overextended to almost twice its length. And I'm very sorry but it just doesn't work. You can tell they had a good concept behind it but was unfortunately ruined when they bloated it. Just, not good.

One Star.

Report this review (#2536876)
Posted Tuesday, April 20, 2021 | Review Permalink

HAKEN Restoration ratings only


chronological order | showing rating only

Post a review of HAKEN Restoration


You must be a forum member to post a review, please register here if you are not.

MEMBERS LOGIN ZONE

As a registered member (register here if not), you can post rating/reviews (& edit later), comments reviews and submit new albums.

You are not logged, please complete authentication before continuing (use forum credentials).

Forum user
Forum password

Copyright Prog Archives, All rights reserved. | Legal Notice | Privacy Policy | Advertise | RSS + syndications

Other sites in the MAC network: JazzMusicArchives.com — jazz music reviews and archives | MetalMusicArchives.com — metal music reviews and archives

Donate monthly and keep PA fast-loading and ad-free forever.