Haken v. new single Nightingale (April 26)

[RoeDent]

You don't truly own the album unless you have a physical copy, whether vinyl or CD. Thankfully, there are lots of people who still care for physical music, and the CD revival will happen eventually.

Nice to see as well that Haken have acknowledged the Aquarius issue.

[Mosh]

No way, CD revival will never happen. Vinyl is popular again mostly for aesthetic reasons, CDs are more of an inconvenience to most people and don't really have any advantages in sound.

[jakepriest]

You don't truly own the album unless you have a physical copy, whether vinyl or CD.

Bullshit.

No way, CD revival will never happen. Vinyl is popular again mostly for aesthetic reasons, CDs are more of an inconvenience to most people and don't really have any advantages in sound.

This x100

[me7]

CDs are nice since they are a tangible product AND sound good. Downloads and vinyl each fail in one of these aspects.

[RoeDent]

No one thought the vinyl revival would happen, but it has. Everything comes round in cycles. So the CD revival WILL happen someday. It's a generational thing. CDs have served us well for 30 years. We must appreciate that.

[jammindude]

You don't truly own the album unless you have a physical copy, whether vinyl or CD. Thankfully, there are lots of people who still care for physical music, and the CD revival will happen eventually.

Nice to see as well that Haken have acknowledged the Aquarius issue.

All of this +1

[Implode]

Wait really? I just ordered the CD and the vinyl. Oops.

Yeah, not sure how often you do vinyl, but that is the norm now. It won't have a CD case or booklet or anything, but most new vinyl comes with a CD in a clear plastic sleeve.

I'll keep that in mind for next time. Though to be honest, I have no problems with having given them extra money.

[The Letter M]

You don't truly own the album unless you have a physical copy, whether vinyl or CD. Thankfully, there are lots of people who still care for physical music, and the CD revival will happen eventually.

Nice to see as well that Haken have acknowledged the Aquarius issue.

All of this +1

Agreed. It's for this reason that I very rarely buy digital-only media and usually only go digital if there's exclusives.

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2012/sep/03/do-you-own-your-digital-content

Here's a good article from a couple years ago but I'm not sure if any ideas or laws have changed since then. Either way, ice spent over 12 years building a physical library of music and as long as there's a physical format (especially CDs), I'll still keep buying them.

Back to Haken, I was ecstatic to see that they've addressed the Aquarius issue, so now I can wait for the re-release and not pay insane money for an original release.

-Marc.

[YtseJamittaja]

SPOILER ALERT



I got a copy from my friend early and I have listened this now a few days 

Just loving what I hear. It's interesting how there's so dark heavy songs but then few happy songs and few mellow songs. Really big variety I think. Hopefully this will raise your hype! 



affinity.exe = interesting nugget for somebody who wants to translate the morse code on the background, I have feeling it could mean something funny! But yeah, nothing more in that track, just "intro" for the album.

Initiate = I like how they use that intro rhythm later on Bound By Gravity and the chorus on The Architect. This song have raised but it's just somewhere in the middle on my rankings. That heavy interlude is kicking so much my ass

1985 = Damn those 80's sounds and synth drums!! Maybe one of my favorites of the album. That Rudess-style keyboard at the beginning is really cool. The chorus is cool, not the strongest one but liking it a lot! But that 80's synth interlude is  Really strong track and I really like to see this live!

Lapse = Positive vibes, nice song with catchy chorus but not in my faves. Funky synth solo is quite cool though.

The Architect = Really complex was my first thought. This has everything. If you're trying to air drumming this (at least the intro), you will fail.The chorus is the best one, strong and huge and in my mind all the time! Interesting Opeth-part before Einar's part. I first thought it's Ihsahn screaming but well, Einar has his influences  Initiate chorus at the end is majestic. I know this song will be raising on my list, it's just too complex for me for now 

Earthrise = Another positive song with double bass and 7-string. It's really awesome that they can make this kind of uplifting songs with 7-string! Chorus is great and there are a lot of nice elements here. That part at the 4 minute mark reminds me of Coldplay, really meldic song overall! 

Red Giant = Quite strange song, first time I waited when the song is starting properly but it is not going to fly in any place. I would have liked a little stronger, huge chorus but this left me a little cold.

The Endless Knot = When I first heard this single, I really liked it. Now I like it even more in the context of album. One of my favorites of album. Dupstep part is the highlight. A strong raiser on my rankings.

Bound By Gravity = Became a skip track sadly really fast. Mellow song. I like the "is this the life..." backing vocals and last verse with Initiate rhythms and majestic ending. But still a bit boring I could say.

[jakepriest]

1985 is easily the best song on the album (mainly because of the great 80's synths) and might be a top 3 Haken song ever.

[Train of Naught]

The Architect and The Endless Knot are my favorites by a pretty big margin. Though it's still growing on me and 1985 is right behind those two, great album honestly, probably my #2 Haken.

[jakepriest]

Tbh I don't like The Architect at all once the first part is over and the ambient interlude kicks in. Gets incredibly boring for me. 

[Crow]

omg why isn't it Friday yet dies dies dead dying death

I'm gonna listen to the album Friday even tho obviously I won't be getting the cd then

[Implode]

Unpopular opinion: there is neither djent nor dubstep on this album.

[Evermind]

Oh, I'm going to listen to it soon and see for myself if there's any djent.

[jakepriest]

Unpopular opinion: there is neither djent nor dubstep on this album.

A few passages feel pretty djenty to me. Not all-out djent, but there is that polyrhytmical quality and "duhjent" tone.

[BlackInk]

And that part in The Endless Knot is definetely dubstep. At least metal/dubstep fusion. Don't think that's really up for debate.

[Train of Naught]

There's some Drum 'n Bass-esque stuff at the end of Red Giant too though this could be up for debate. That Endless Knot section is without a question dubstep.

[Heretic]

Bound by Gravity might seem boring at first, but once you listen to it a good bit, it cements itself as one of the best. The melodies are gorgeous, the lyrics are good, and the overall song is quite beautiful.

[BlackInk]

1. The Architect
2. 1985
3. Red Giant
4. Bound by Gravity
5. Initiate
6. Earthrise
7. Lapse
8. The Endless Knot

It was just a matter of time.

[YtseJamittaja]

Hard but I try.

1. 1985
2. The Architect
3. The Endless Knot
4. Earthrise
5. Initiate
6. Lapse
7. Red Giant
8. Bound By Gravity

[ariich]

I literally can't rank all the songs. Best I can do is put them into 2 tiers.

Tier 1:
1985, Earthrise, Red Giant, The Endless Knot

Tier 2:
affinity.exe/Initiate, Lapse, The Architect, Bound by Gravity

It's all bloody great though. For me the weakest stuff is in The Architect, but that song has some glorious stuff as well so I can't really rank it any lower than the others in tier 2.

[Crow]

but what about affinity.exe

[Train of Naught]

Tier 1: The Architect, The Endless Knot, 1985, affinity.exe/Initiate

Tier 2: Red Giant, Bound By Gravity

Tier 3: Earthrise, Lapse

[ariich]

but what about affinity.exe

I don't really consider it separately from Initiate, so I edited my post.

[Crow]

tbh ive never even heard it so 

[ariich]

tbh ive never even heard it so 

If you've listened to the Initiate youtube vid then you've heard half of affinity.exe already.

[Implode]

Wow, my unpopular opinion is more unpopular than I thought. Sure, there are sounds that sound like dubstep, but dubstep is a completely different rhythmic feel and speed. There's not even a drop. There's about as much dubstep in this album as there is circus music in Aquarius.

But....that's just like...my opinion, man.

[ariich]

Wow, my unpopular opinion is more unpopular than I thought. Sure, there are sounds that sound like dubstep, but dubstep is a completely different rhythmic feel and speed. There's not even a drop. There's about as much dubstep in this album as there is circus music in Aquarius.

But....that's just like...my opinion, man.

Has anyone suggested that there's a remotely significant amount of dubstep on the album? I'm pretty sure it's only the instrumental in Endless Knot, and that is very definitely a dubstep infusion, though not pure dubstep obviously.

[Nel_Annette]

Having the ".exe" in the title isn't going to fuck with the sound file in my computer as long as I have the ".mp4" or whatever afterward, is it? I don't want to rip the album just to find the first track won't play because the computer reads it as an executable file. 

[Implode]

Wow, my unpopular opinion is more unpopular than I thought. Sure, there are sounds that sound like dubstep, but dubstep is a completely different rhythmic feel and speed. There's not even a drop. There's about as much dubstep in this album as there is circus music in Aquarius.

But....that's just like...my opinion, man.

Has anyone suggested that there's a remotely significant amount of dubstep on the album? I'm pretty sure it's only the instrumental in Endless Knot, and that is very definitely a dubstep infusion, though not pure dubstep obviously.

Nah, I just wouldn't use dubstep to describe, but I can understand why other people do.

Having the ".exe" in the title isn't going to fuck with the sound file in my computer as long as I have the ".mp4" or whatever afterward, is it? I don't want to rip the album just to find the first track won't play because the computer reads it as an executable file. 

You'll be fine. It's the last extension that matters.

[Nick]

8. Lapse
7. Red Giant
6. Bound By Gravity
5. Initiate
4. Earthrise
3. The Architect
2. 1985
1. The Endless Knot

1-4 are tier 1 amazing songs.
5-6 are really good tier 2 songs.
7-8 are good tier 3 songs.

[Implode]

I literally can't rank all the songs. Best I can do is put them into 2 tiers.

I'm pretty much the same way, except I have 3 tiers:

Godtier: 1985, The Architect, Endless Knot

Greatier: Initiate, Lapse, Earthrise, Bound by Gravity

Goodtier: Red Giant

[BlackInk]

Nah, I just wouldn't use dubstep to describe, but I can understand why other people do.

I mean, this is basically as if they'd have a guest rapper do a verse on one of the songs, but you'd refuse to call it rapping because the whole song isn't like that.

[ariich]

Nah, I just wouldn't use dubstep to describe, but I can understand why other people do.

I mean, this is basically as if they'd have a guest rapper do a verse on one of the songs, but you'd refuse to call it rapping because the whole song isn't like that.

Well, no, there might be another specific genre that it sounds closer to that Implode knows of. It's still splitting hairs though.