Liveforms: An Evening With Haken (Live in London 2024) by Haken
Release date: May 9, 2025Label: InsideOut Music
Has it been nearly 19 years since London-based maestros Haken have been taken the next logical steps of bringing the massive of progressive metal to a standstill? Well, the answer is yes. With seven studio albums, two EPs, and one live album, you can’t get much better than that. This 3-CD/1 Blu-Ray set consists the band’s homecoming last year on September 21st at the O2 Forum Kentish Town in their home country in London as they are welcomed back with opened arms, promoting their 2023 album Fauna.
Released on the InsideOut label, Haken start out performing the Fauna album in its entirety on the first disc. Going from the brutal-awakening turned hypnotic guitar structures of ‘Taurus’ thanks to both Richard Henshall and Charlie Griffiths tackling the riffs with Jennings soft turned growling vocal arrangements that gets audiences wanting more, to the sense of loss on ‘Nightingale’ which feels like a continuation to where ‘Nocturnal Conspiracy’ had left off, and right into Ross saying to the crowd “It’s Saturday night in London, it’s time to party, am I right?!”
And it is a party at Kentish town. You feel the clapping beat, urging the band to keep the train chugging on ‘The Alphabet of Me’ with Miguel Gorodi’s trumpet coming from the woodwork’s, echoing trails of Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew-era into the fold while the raging fire increases temperature levels ‘Beneath the White Rainbow’, the live takes of the album really show the right perfection to keep you on your feet, wanting more.
When I think of ‘Elephants Never Forget’ I think of a combination a Beatle-sque structure, Flying Colors, Frank Zappa, and Danny Elfman’s arrangements, rolled into one giant hot and spicy wah-wah burrito, waiting to delve into. The odd time changes, going from one corner into another, the audience are in awe to bring the album into their hearts and knowing it’s a night, they’ll never forget.
The second disc tackles the songs the fans know and love. From the sing-along dystopian madness of a kingdom gone horribly wrong of the ‘Cockroach King’, to the roaring metallic tidal waves on ‘Nil By Mouth’, the wacky hay-wiring effect behind its ‘Puzzle Box’ in the midsection, and the synthesised merry-go-round into a complete joyride for the ‘Strainwreck’ to begin, and going back to where it all started with its heavy riffs a-la thrash motif for the battle to begin from their 2010 release of Aquarius performing ‘Drowning in the Flood.’
There’s more from where that came from. Haken have proven to themselves that they have come a long way, and to spend an amazing night in their home country is a godsend. And we hope there’s more adventures in the years to come to see what they’ll have in store for us in the mid-to-late ‘20s.
