In July 2007, Haken showcased their music for the very first time to a packed out London bar with a great response, followed the next week by a sold out show at The Peel in Kingston. Within months of this double-debut performance, Haken were billed in support of Riverside (Inside Out) at Camden's prestigious Underworld. Haken continued performing sets to packed houses throughout London and on UK tours in support of cult metal bands King's X (Inside Out), Bigelf (Custard Records), and To-Mera.
One of Haken's demo tracks was featured on the cover CD for the second issue of 'Classic Rock Presents Prog' magazine in 2009.
Haken meld metal with progressive rock, drawing influences from contemporary bands like Dream Theater and IQ as well as "old school" icons Genesis and Queen.
_Aquarius_ is Haken's debut release - a 72 minute, larger than life conceptual sci-fi/fantasy work filled with bombastic keyboard flourishes, stunning vocals, and lethal guitarwork. The album was recorded in Germany at Spacelab Studios (Delain, Everon, Wolverine) and mastered in Germany at Eroc's Mastering Ranch. The stunning artwork is by Dennis Sibeijn at Damn Engine created to tie in with the Aquarius story.
Early on in the writing process for the album, Haken were contacted by the Laser's Edge Group who later signed the band to their specialist progressive metal label Sensory Records, through which _Aquarius-
_ was released worldwide in March 2010
Rob Kachluba - Hell Hound.
'I am totally blown away. Haken is the best thing to happen to progressive metal in many, many years. Hailing from England, this relatively young band has unleashed a masterpiece.'
In their brief existence, HAKEN have become highly respected within the British metal and progressive communities. Their unique and imaginative genre-bending approach to music has garnered praise from all corners of the globe and they are becoming more widely known in The States and across Europe with interest beginning to develop in Japan and Australia.
They played a high profile show with the legendary Freak Kitchen at the London Underworld in November 2011.
They played the new UK Prog Metal Fused Festival with Vanden Plas and Threshold in April 2011 and a sell out warm up HEADLINE show for this festival at the HOUSE of PROGRESSION in Kingston Upon Thames with To-Mera - 25 March.
HAKEN played at MONKEYFEST 2011 in the UK on July 2_2011 with Guthrie Govan, Rob Chapman and Andy James.
HAKEN played on the same bill as Dream Theater at Loreley in Germany at NIGHT of the PROG VI on July 9 - 2011, along with Anathema, Vanden Plas and IQ. There were lots of HAKEN T-shirts in the front and they had the best show so far to a generous and enthusiastic crowd, culminating with a standing ovation.. A beautiful weekend of great friends and great progressive music.
HAKEN made their highly well received USA debut at CENTER STAGE in Atlanta as part of the prestigious PROGPOWER USA XII in September 2011 alongside some legendary bands including Therion, Sanctuary, Vanden Plas, Evergrey, Forbidden, Labyrinthe and Ihsahn.
They headlined Day One of GENERATION PROG with Exivious in Nurnberg - Sep 23 - 24, 2011.
Haken are billed to play a great prog show at THE ASSEMBLY in Leamington Spa on Nov 27, 2011, with Arena and Touchstone.
AQUARIUS continues to take the progmetal world community by storm -
inspiring passionate debate on the established prog and metal forums around the World and was progarchives no1 album of 2010.
VISIONS, their second concept album, will be released on October 24th 2011 on The Sensory Label [Laser’s Edge]. They have aimed to raise the bar with their composition and their playing and move up to the next level. Pre release copies sold exculsively at PROGPOWER USA XII in Atlanta and GENERATION PROG in Nuremberg ahve already received critical claim and placed them at the top of The Progarchives 2011 a prog album chart
A track from VISIONS will be on the free CD in issue 21 of Classic Rock presents Prog 21 out in late November 2011, along with an interview and album review.
HAKEN has an official website THE POINT OF NO RETURN - A big appreciative HAKEN thank you goes out to Richard Jouen for designing and running this site so passionately and professionally:
http://www.hakenmusic.com/
hakenmusic@hotmail.co.uk
Blind
Haken Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
shine your darkest light into my eyes.
I'm blind to your obsession,
you hide your weakness behind cold confession.
"Forgive me father for I have sinned"
Just take a look what a mess
your faith has put you in.
I can feel no guilt when the eye of the storm
is blind to what I've done inside my mind.
I once believed indefinitely
and I could forgive myself.
Take away my wisdom,
place your darkest thoughts into me.
Take away my vision,
shine your darkest light into my eyes.
You're cold and I'm corroding,
you're blind to my weakness for someone all-knowing.
How can I believe when I've not seen?
Just take a look what a mess
my faith has put me in.
I can feel no guilt when the eye of the storm
is blind to what is wrong inside my mind.
I once believed indefinitely
when I could forgive myself.
Take away my vision,
shine your darkest light into me.
Take away my wisdom,
place your darkest thoughts into my mind.
Now I feel the guilt when the eye of the storm
is wise to what I've done inside my mind.
I will believe indefinitely,
but I can't forgive myself.
The song Blind by Haken is an emotional and intense lyrical piece which discusses the idea of conflicting beliefs and the difficulty in forgiving oneself. The lyrics begin with the singer calling out to have their vision taken away and to have darkness shone into their eyes, which can be interpreted as a metaphor for a desire to have a different perspective and be free from the constraints of their own beliefs. The following line reads “I’m blind to your obsession, you hide your weakness behind cold confession”, which implies that the singer cannot see or understand the obsession of another person and that their attempts at seeking forgiveness are not genuine. The line “just take a look what a mess your faith has put you in” suggests that the singer sees the negative effects of blindly following a faith without truly understanding its purpose or implications.
The singer then speaks about their own beliefs, saying that they do not feel guilt when the “eye of the storm” does not see what is happening in their own mind. However, the following line suggests that they once had a strong belief that allowed them to forgive themselves, but this has been diminished. The song then continues with a repetition of the opening lines, once again calling for a change in perspective and thought. It then explores the struggle of conflicting beliefs with the lines “you’re blind to my weakness for someone all-knowing” and “how can I believe when I’ve not seen”. The song concludes with the singer feeling guilt, but still striving to believe indefinitely, despite their inability to forgive themselves.
Overall, Blind is a song that explores the complexities of belief, self-forgiveness, and the struggle to understand the beliefs of others. The lyrics are written in a poetic and open-ended way, leaving room for personal interpretation and reflection.
Line by Line Meaning
Take away my vision,
Remove my ability to see
shine your darkest light into my eyes.
Expose me to your most malevolent and undiluted influence.
I'm blind to your obsession,
I'm unaware of your fanatical devotion.
you hide your weakness behind cold confession.
You conceal your vulnerability with an unemotional acknowledgment of wrongdoing.
"Forgive me father for I have sinned"
The artist partly apologizes for their wrongdoings.
Just take a look what a mess
your faith has put you in.
The religious figure being referenced is in a worse emotional place after following their faith.
I can feel no guilt when the eye of the storm
is blind to what I've done inside my mind.
The singer feels no remorse when it appears that no one knows what they've thought.
I once believed indefinitely
and I could forgive myself.
The artist used to have unending faith and gave themselves absolution.
place your darkest thoughts into me.
Make me susceptible to the worst of your ideas.
You're cold and I'm corroding,
You're unfeeling and unsympathetic, and as a result, the artist feels like they're deteriorating.
you're blind to my weakness for someone all-knowing.
The singer is in love with an omniscient being, and the other person doesn't seem to see why.
How can I believe when I've not seen?
The artist questions how they can have faith when they lack direct observation.
Now I feel the guilt when the eye of the storm
is wise to what I've done inside my mind.
The singer is now culpable now that they've realized that their inner thoughts are exposed.
I will believe indefinitely,
but I can't forgive myself.
The singer will continue to have faith forever, but they won't ever absolve themselves.
Contributed by Benjamin O. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@Big_Funi_Official
Hearing the mix on this demo makes me feel less awful about mine. If haken can sound like this 12 years ago and come in with a beautiful mix that is virus so can I and so can you!
@NUGGet-3562
Oh my gosh I just now figured out this exists and I LOVE IT!!!!! I listen to Haken all the time, love all their albums, but I didn't even know this was a thing until now and as I was listening to it I was singing along and I couldn't stop smiling, this is freaking awesome
@andreasjensen6617
I really hope they do a updated version of this album at some point
@jc13OM
I love these versions as much as the EP, both are just greats.
@zamponha
If you guys like the jazzy part at 7:20 you should listen to richard’s side project Nova Collective. Super proggy and has a lot of jazz influences, really nice
@nonpoint666rocks
This is awesome. I love cheaply recorded haken!
@WaterMelonHead9922
I actually think I like this better than the EP. the bass is much more pronounced and more harmonious with the rest of the music and the vocals here and it sounds great even though the audio quality is crap.
@lockheed6859
Well, they replaced their old bassist with Connor Green, their new bassist
@xumiga528
No Dislikes ^^, this album deserves a remaster.
@lillillill9758
Just because you said that it got a dislike!!!