The British sextet Haken made its debut in 2010 with the album Aquarius almost as an ideal neo-prog rock band that is well versed in both classic prog and more recent prog metal. They also manage to perform this with great virtuosity, while singer Ross Jennings guards the accessibility of their complex songs with his supple and melodic voice. The Mountain is Haken's third album, with the difficult
… climb of life (but also of the band) as its theme. This regularly turns out very serious, especially Jennings sometimes sings with a slightly too exaggerated behavior. Fortunately, Haken also manages to break through this with playful intermezzos and tight harmony vocals that are sometimes reminiscent of the baroque choirs of the seventies group Gentle Giant. Above all, The Mountain sounds bombastic, epic and technical to perfection. And those are of course excellent qualifications in the prog rock genre. (MR)more
