The Mountain by Haken

The Mountain by Haken, 2013 album, here in a version released in 2021 with two bonus tracks (The Path Unbeaten and Nobody).  

Haken are an English band formed in 2007 by friends Richard Henshall, Matthew Marshall and Ross Jennings. After three years spent studying their instruments, they reunited in 2007 and recruited other members, giving life to their first demo in 2008 and then released their debut concept album, Aquarius, in 2010, the beginning of something great.

This album, as stated by guitarists Richard Henshall and Charlie Griffiths “… is the symbol of our journey as a musical group, but it also reflects broader trials and tribulations of life. On the lyrical side, we did a lot of soul-searching which gave the album an emotional depth [...] Musically, the new tracks are rawer and more exciting than anything we've created in the past. All the essential elements of our sound are still present, but they've been steered towards a grittier and more focused style.”

Listening to it, I find what the band described, and I add that with this album Haken have turned the “hope” given by the two previous albums for the rebirth of prog into a certainty, with an album that can stand alongside the works of more renowned rock bands, ranging across different sounds, as is very evident in the complex and beautiful Cockroach King, made up of vocal games, jazzy piano, bass and drums lines, and guitar solos. 

More prog metal instead in Atlas Stone (the early prog-style piano is beautiful) and In Memoriam and Falling Back To Earth; more melodic is Because It’s There with heavy riffs and vocal harmonies as well as As Death Embraces, piano and voice like the opening track The Path. Pareidolia is a complex suite that brings oriental sounds and the transition between "The Path" and "Atlas Stone" is also remarkable.  Somebody closes the album on an epic note. The bonus tracks are also beautiful. 

We are undoubtedly talking about a masterpiece of progressive metal performed with extraordinary technical skill, particularly for the virtuosity of guitar, drums and bass, and which contains tracks of great emotional charge, combining complexity with melody, blending heavy metal with jazz and classical elements and with mood changes with light and atmospheric moments, complex time signatures, arrangements and vocal harmonies.

This The Mountain forms a series of three beautiful albums, starting with Aquarius, followed by the next Visions. All three are highly recommended. This one, in my opinion, stands above the other two, if only for the continuity, creativity and confirmation of the artistic and technical abilities of a truly great band in my opinion. 

Note: All links to the musicians' works are in the TAGS under the article title or on the "Artists" page