Progressive rockers Haken are pleased to release their highly-anticipated 6th studio album 'Virus' today. The album is the follow up to 2018's 'Vector'.
Longtime Haken collaborators, Blacklake, have designed the visuals and artwork and the album will be available as a Limited 2CD, Standard CD, Gatefold 2LP + CD & as Digital Album.
Order now here: https://haken.lnk.to/Virus
You can watch the videos for the singles here:
Invasion: https://youtu.be/2Rkx6b5vFdQ
Canary Yellow: https://youtu.be/KJQy1Waj_cY
Prosthetic: https://youtu.be/4EmbYo65Pbs
By way of introduction, the band recorded a special video message to give some background to the new record:
Since releasing ‘Vector’ in October 2018, Haken have completed headline tours the world over, played sold-out shows across Europe and North America as support for Devin Townsend and picked up a Prog award for their efforts too! All the while, they have been quietly, secretly working on the follow-up album, entitled ‘Virus’.
Drummer Ray Hearne reveals, “since releasing ‘The Mountain’ in 2013, one question has been asked of us time and time again, ‘who is the Cockroach King?’. This is something we were interested in exploring more deeply too, so we essentially did that through our music; elaborating and expanding upon the intervallic, harmonic, rhythmic and lyrical themes of that song. The end result is in an arc which spans across two albums: ‘Vector’ and ‘Virus’”.
Once again, Adam ‘Nolly’ Getgood has mixed what is perhaps the most eclectic Haken album to date, with the 7 tracks revealing hints of influences from multiple genres, all intertwined with Haken’s own recognisable sound. Guitarist Richard Henshall had this to say about the production, “Using Nolly again was a no-brainer, as we wanted the two albums to be sonically connected. But having just spent a day mixing with him in his studio, it’s obvious that this album will be an evolution of the ‘Vector’ sound. These songs seem to allow a lot more freedom of creativity with the production, so we’re excited to see where it leads”.
The track-listing is as follows:
1. Prosthetic
2. Invasion
3. Carousel
4. The Strain
5. Canary Yellow
6. Messiah Complex i: Ivory Tower
7. Messiah Complex ii: A Glutton for Punishment
8. Messiah Complex iii: Marigold
9. Messiah Complex iv: The Sect
10. Messiah Complex v: Ectobius Rex
11. Only Stars
‘Virus’ is the culmination of a musical thought experiment which started with the ‘Vector’ writing sessions in 2017 and holds intriguing potential for the band’s future, as vocalist Ross Jennings explains, “whilst ‘Virus’ can absolutely be enjoyed as a stand-alone work, it is thematically and conceptually linked with ‘Vector’, so our intention is to perform both albums back to back for a special performance someday”.
"Simply put: this is Haken's best record yet." - Prog
"Virus is another superb entry in Haken's catalog" - Metal Injection
"This is an album that goes for the jugular." - Blabbermouth.net
"With Virus, Haken continue their journey atop the prog mountain." - The Prog Report
HAKEN are:
Ross Jenning
Richard Henshall
Charlie Griffiths
Diego Tejeida
Conner Green
Ray Hearne
HAKEN online:
www.hakenmusic.com
www.twitter.com/Haken_Official
http://www.facebook.com/HakenOfficial
INSIDEOUT MUSIC online:
www.insideoutmusic.com
www.youtube.com/InsideOutMusicTV
www.facebook.com/InsideOutMusic
www.twitter.com/InsideOutUSA
www.insideoutmusic.store
INSIDEOUTMUSIC Spotify Playlists:
Best of Haken - InsideOutEssentials
Prog Rock Essential
Prog Metal Essential
