Progressive pioneers Haken spent 2024 celebrating their most recent acclaimed studio album, ‘Fauna’, in the most comprehensive way possible, as part of their ‘An Evening With’ run throughout the world. Playing two full sets each night, the band performed ‘Fauna’ in full, before returning to the stage to run through a selection of the best-loved cuts from their catalogue. In a homecoming of sorts for Haken, on September 21st, 2024 the band played London’s legendary O2 Forum, and the document of that special evening is what’s witnessed on ‘Liveforms: An Evening With Haken’ – released May 9th, 2025.
To coincide with this announcement, the band have launched a video clip of their performance of ‘Beneath the White Rainbow’ which you can watch now here:
The band comments of the release: “The Evening With Haken tour across North America and Europe was without a doubt one of our favourite tours we’ve done, showcasing 3 hours of music from our entire discography, including our latest record ‘Fauna’ performed in full which was an absolute blast! Conducting an ‘evening with’ format is something that we’ve seen tried and tested by some of our favourite artists, and it felt like an important band bucket list item to tick off at this stage in our career, to celebrate all we’ve achieved in the last 15 years. When discussions arose as to which show we might document on film, it was a no-brainer for us that our homecoming show in London, at the legendary 02 Kentish Town Forum, should be the one. And the home crowd did not disappoint, on what turned out to be such an electric atmosphere, we just so happened to capture one of our best performances from the entire tour for our fans to relive again and again.”
Filmed by Paul Green Productions (Devin Townsend, Steve Hackett) & mixed by Jens Bogren (Between The Buried and Me, Ihsahn), the 3CD+Blu-ray release comprises all the music played on that evening, in both stereo & 5.1 Surround Sound, as well as bonus behind the scenes interviews with each band member. The Gatefold 2LP edition features the entirety of the ‘Fauna’ album performed that night. Both formats featuring iconic artwork from Dan Goldsworthy, whose work also graces the cover of ‘Fauna’.
The full setlist is as follows:
Set 1: The Last Lullaby Taurus Nightingale The Alphabet Of Me Sempiternal Beings Beneath The White Rainbow Island In The Clouds Lovebite Elephants Never Forget Eyes of Ebony Crystallised
Set 2: Puzzle Box Earthrise Cockroach King Nil By Mouth 1985 The Strain Strainwreck Canary Yellow Drowning In the Flood Visions
The band will be performing on Cruise To The Edge 2025, before heading to Latin America for a run of shows. Following this the band will continue work on a brand-new studio album
4th-9th April – Cruise To The Edge 2025, Miami, USA 25th April – Club Peppers, San José, Costa Rica 27th April – Sale Puebla, Mexico City, Mexico 29th April – El Teatro Flores, Buenos Aires, Argentina 30th April – Live Era, Montevideo, Uruguay 2nd May – Teatro Cariola, Santiago, Chile 4th May – Bankers Open Air, São Paulo, Brazil
HAKEN are:Ross Jennings Richard Henshall Charlie Griffiths Pete Jones Conner Green Ray Hearne
Haken guitarist Charlie Griffiths returns with a follow-up to his 2022 solo album. This time Charlie assumes the moniker ‘Tiktaalika’ and presents ‘Gods of Pangaea’ – set for release on March 14th, 2025. The album picks up where the last left off, and continues with an exploration into an ancient forgotten world, colliding with the human-centric planet we inhabit today.
To coincide with today’s announcement, the title track from the album has been launched, featuring vocals from Texture’s Daniël de Jongh. The video sees Charlie coloring in the striking cover art, once again created by Dan Goldsworthy (Sepultura, Body Count, Aborted). Watch it now here:
Musically the album pays tribute to the art of the guitar riff, with its DNA strands reaching back to the golden era of metal with flavours of Mercyful Fate, Judas Priest, Megadeth and Metallica. Of the creative process Charlie explains, “This time around I wanted to be more song oriented, rather than having an overarching concept. Although I had a rough blueprint for the shape of the album in my head and was always conscious of the balance and flow of the album experience; starting with a fast thrasher, following up with a longer progressive track, then a slower sludgy song, followed by a softer track and so on. I finished all the music first and really focused on each section be there for a good reason, with a guitar riff that propels the song.”
The album sees Charlie joined by drummer Darby Todd (Devin Townsend) and basis Conner Green (Haken). He is also helped by a collection of some of the best vocalists in the business, with Tommy Rogers (Between The Buried & Me), Rody Walker (Protest The Hero), Vladimir Lalić (Organised Chaos) all joining the aforementioned de Jongh. “I had all the music written for a good while”, comments Charlie, “I was able to allow them to really percolate in my mind before moving on to the lyrics and vocal line demos. I’m very specific with melodies and word placement so the singers can focus on just delivering it 100% without having to figure too much out. Of course every single track came out a thousand times better than I’d hoped; everyone did an incredible job!”
The full tracklisting is as follows:
1.Tyrannicide feat. Daniël de Jongh 3:54 2.Gods of Pangaea feat. Daniël de Jongh 8:36 3.The Forbidden Zone feat. Vladimir Lalić 5:52 4.Mesozoic Mantras feat. Vladimir Lalić 6:32 5.Fault Lines feat. Rody Walker 6:30 6.Give Up The Ghost feat. Daniël de Jongh 5:15 7.Lost Continent feat. Tommy Rogers 9:12 8.Chicxulub 7:31 (Bonus Track on CD & Digital)
The album was mixed by Adam ‘Nolly’ Getgood and mastered by Tony Lindgren at Fascination Street studios. The album will be available as a Limited CD Edition (incl. 1 bonus track), Gatefold LP & as Digital Album. Pre-order now here: https://tiktaalika.lnk.to/GodsOfPangaea
Marillion, Steve Hackett, Flying Colors & Big Big Train headline the biggest prog cruise ever!
Cruise To The Edge, progressive rock’s largest festival at sea is set to return in 2024 with its biggest cruise ever! The 9th voyage of the prog festival at sea sails from Miami, Florida, March 8th – 13th, 2024, aboard the Norwegian Pearl visiting Ocho Rios, Jamaica and George Town, Grand Cayman.
Headlined by prog legends Marillion, Steve Hackett, Flying Colors and, for the first time, Big Big Train, the event features some of the world’s greatest prog-rock musical artists. The lineup includes returning acts Adrian Belew, Martin Baare, The Flower Kings, Haken, Protocol, Queensryche, PFM, Airbag, and Baraka, alongside cruise debuts by Gryphon, Lonely Robot, and legendary prog metal group Symphony X. More bands are expected to be announced in the coming months. The event is once again hosted by Jon Kirkman and Roie Avin.
Beyond the sun, fun, and exquisite dining, there will be artist/cruiser photo experiences, Q&A sessions, special theme nights and other events designed to optimize the artist/fan experience. The cruise will once again feature the unprecedented CTTE Late Night Live, where fans can sign up to showcase their own musical talents.
Cruise to the Edge is truly the greatest prog-rock show on earth and is a can’t-miss event for prog enthusiasts throughout the world.
Progressive rockers Haken are excited to reveal their new studio album ‘Virus’, the follow-up to 2018’s acclaimed album ‘Vector’, will be released June 5th, 2020. By way of introduction, the band have recorded a special video message to give some background to the record:
Today also sees the launch of the album’s first single and opening track ‘Prosthetic’, with a video directed by Vicente Cordero. Watch & listen to this punchy opening salvo here:
The band comments: “Prosthetic was the first song we completed during the ‘Virus’ writing sessions and we always felt it would be the perfect opener for the album. It’s a very guitar heavy track with its roots in 80s thrash riffing, but with the unconventional rhythmic twists and turns we often like to explore in Haken. We sadly never had a Jeff Hanneman and Robert Fripp collaboration, but this song at least draws on inspiration from them both!
Lyrically the song is a bridge between our two albums Vector and Virus. The message was brilliantly brought to life by video director Vicente Cordero, who also beautifully captured the live energy of the band in a way that both enhances the song, and perfectly sets the scene for what’s to come.”
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
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. Pre-order now here: https://haken.lnk.to/Virus
‘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”.
HAKEN IS Ross Jenning Richard Henshall Charlie Griffiths Diego Tejeida Conner Green Ray Hearne
HAKEN, one of progressive music’s most exciting bands, are celebrating the 10th anniversary of their spectacular debut album ‘Aquarius’, originally released on March 29th, 2010. On recent tours, the band has been performing the “Aquamedley” to celebrate the album. You can see a performance of that medley today, taken from the ‘L-1VE’ release from 2018.
HAKEN are: Ross Jenning Richard Henshall Charlie Griffiths Diego Tejeida Conner Green Ray Hearne
1.affinity.exe/Initiate 2.In Memoriam 3.1985 4.Red Giant 5.Aquamedley 6.As Death Embraces 7.Atlas Stone 8.Cockroach King 9.The Architect 10.The Endless Knot 11.Visions
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