Topic: Album Review #52: Haken - Affinity
Review Guy !zxpIikCDvo started this discussion 10 years ago #53,397
Haken are a British progressive metal band and this is their 4th full-length studio album, the follow-up to the very highly acclaimed 2013 album The Mountain. They're known for an extremely high level level of musical technique (think a tasteful Dragonforce) and a kind of grand 'epicness' which recalls the better moments of Yes in their prime.
This new album, Affinity, is a bit of a let-down to me. Too much of it feels like things we've already heard from these guys. There is one superb track, called '1985', which clocks in at about 9 minutes, and is an homage to all that was great about the 80s, including the music, the movies and the computer games. In the middle of this track there's a brilliant and delightful tribute to Vince DiCola's soundtrack work for Rocky 4 (the film), that scene where Stallone is training in the snow. If you have any kind of love or nostalgia for that movie, or the 80s in general, go to Youtube and check out that instrumental section.
The rest though doesn't do much for me. It's always nice and impressive, and sometimes great, but very rarely does it hit you in the emotional gut like their previous album, or the utterly amazing track 'Celestial Elixir' from their debut.
5/10
This new album, Affinity, is a bit of a let-down to me. Too much of it feels like things we've already heard from these guys. There is one superb track, called '1985', which clocks in at about 9 minutes, and is an homage to all that was great about the 80s, including the music, the movies and the computer games. In the middle of this track there's a brilliant and delightful tribute to Vince DiCola's soundtrack work for Rocky 4 (the film), that scene where Stallone is training in the snow. If you have any kind of love or nostalgia for that movie, or the 80s in general, go to Youtube and check out that instrumental section.
The rest though doesn't do much for me. It's always nice and impressive, and sometimes great, but very rarely does it hit you in the emotional gut like their previous album, or the utterly amazing track 'Celestial Elixir' from their debut.
5/10
Dr. Whom !7MHPahvoGY joined in and replied with this 10 years ago, 9 minutes later[^] [v] #696,383
Review Guy !zxpIikCDvo (OP) replied with this 10 years ago, 7 minutes later, 16 minutes after the original post[^] [v] #696,386
@previous (Dr. Whom !7MHPahvoGY)
Any chance you could take your shtick back to Tinychan Doc and stop derailing all the threads on here with your boring shitposting? Yeah I know, I know, "Tincyhan doesn't exist TGBobby2Comix", but it does, so kindly return to it.
Any chance you could take your shtick back to Tinychan Doc and stop derailing all the threads on here with your boring shitposting? Yeah I know, I know, "Tincyhan doesn't exist TGBobby2Comix", but it does, so kindly return to it.
Dr. Whom !7MHPahvoGY replied with this 10 years ago, 1 hour later, 1 hour after the original post[^] [v] #696,389
@previous (Review Guy !zxpIikCDvo)You're starting to sound a bit cross. Try to keep your feelings under control.
Review Guy !zxpIikCDvo (OP) replied with this 10 years ago, 22 minutes later, 1 hour after the original post[^] [v] #696,394
bhutan joined in and replied with this 10 years ago, 6 hours later, 8 hours after the original post[^] [v] #696,426
@696,383 (Dr. Whom !7MHPahvoGY)
> > Haken are a British progressive metal band
> So it's basically dad rock, then.
@previous (Review Guy !zxpIikCDvo)
hes right for once tho
> > Haken are a British progressive metal band
> So it's basically dad rock, then.
@previous (Review Guy !zxpIikCDvo)
hes right for once tho