Yesterday, I decided to listen to this album on a whim. I was looking for bands similar to Dream Theater with more eclecticism and weirdness, and Haken came up. I decided to listen to their highest-voted album on Metallum, that being "Visions". Reading more into it, I find out that it's recommended for fans of Dream Theater's Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory and that album's my God-damn jam. I knew instantly I had to give this a listen, and I have no regrets in the slightest. I have no problem saying that this album is flawless.
To explain Haken's sound on this album would be a bit difficult. While it definitely is heavy prog/prog metal and so bears good similarity to other bands like Porcupine Tree and the aforementioned Dream Theater, it stands on its own with its touches of 70s British prog, featuring the symphonic, theatrical flair of bands like Genesis and Camel as well as the surreal eclecticism of bands like Gentle Giant and Van der Graaf Generator. While it doesn't religiously commit to any of these tendencies, choosing not to be so surreal as to become "avant-prog", nor too symphonic to become "symphonic prog", it melds their tendencies together to build a sound that's very much recognizable as being specific to Haken.
Visions is a concept album. Its heavy prog sound and dreamy quality, as well as its thematic parallels (murder, reincarnation, dream visions) definitely earns it a comparison to Dream Theater's Scenes from a Memory. Some motifs are also quite similar, such as the chorus in Shapeshifter's strong similarity to the chorus of Beyond This Life. On that note, this album feels especially inspired by Beyond This Life, the most eclectic track on Scenes from a Memory, featuring the quirky and dissonant so-called "Zappa part".
Moreover, SfaM was the first album to feature keyboardist Jordan Rudess, who has a notably more eclectic style of playing than the more subdued previous keyboardists Kevin Moore and Derek Sherinian, as shown especially in the track The Dance of Eternity's ragtime keyboard break. It's evident Haken took after it while pushing it further than Jordan and Dream Theater as a whole did. In the track Insomnia, around 3 minutes in, there's a chiptune break in the middle of the prog-metal action, and the 22-minute closer Visions has a goblet drum break, giving it a Middle Eastern/West African flair.
Enough with the comparisons, because this album really does stand on its own. The sound, while definitely eclectic, is foundationally heavy prog/prog metal through and through, with distorted power chords, time signature changes, NWOBHM-ish harmonized guitars, changing dynamics from clean guitar to complex, aggressive prog rhythms, long instrumental solos and awesome, mind-melting keyboard playing.
Especially notable is the remarkable versatility of multi-instrumentalist Richard Henshall, having written the entirety of this album (except the opening track Premonition) and being both the guitarist and keyboardist. While the previous album Aquarius was written on the keyboard, this album was written on guitar, and it shows; Henshall perfectly takes advantage of the kinds of writing suited to both instruments, the guitars functioning as a heavy, thrashy counterpoint to the technical keyboard work.
The guitar work takes center stage, with heavy power chords and harmonies in constantly changing time signatures, while the synths provide a quirkier and more fun feel to the music. Much of the surrealism and eclecticism comes from the keyboard work, which is easily the most varied part of this album. It moves from a Hammond organ to funny-sounding patches (that work perfectly!) and back. I find it difficult to imagine the same person wrote both the guitar parts and keyboard parts for this reason, and I have no qualms in saying Henshall's a musical genius.
Moreover, there's an atmospheric quality offered by the string quartet, two additional vocalists and a horn player on this album. The mix of heavy prog and real classical instrumentation rather than keyboard strings reminds me both of Octavarium (2005) by Dream Theater as well as Salisbury (1971) by Uriah Heep, though definitely not at their scale of hiring an entire orchestra. I suppose it makes it easier to play live, which is a plus.
The vocals are similarly magnificent, with Ross Jennings's soaring, smooth vocals. It's quite difficult to explain how he sounds in writing, but he reminds me of Steve Walsh of Kansas and Geoff Tate of Queensrÿche. His voice has an almost instrument-like timbre, it's both piercing and powerful but soft and smooth. Not the best explanation, I'm sorry, but I'd say: give this album a try and hear for yourself.
All in all, this is easily one of my 10/10s, a prog masterpiece in every sense of the word. This is an album that has seriously rocked my world, and I'm disappointed I hadn't given it a chance before. By the way, if this album seems like something you'd like, I implore you support their craft by buying Visions on Bandcamp, it's only €8/$10!
Final rating: 10/10