Review | Haken – Liveforms, An Evening With Haken

Inside Out Music

There’s an undeniable electricity that surges through the veins of a truly great live album. When you take renowned live records like Rush’s ‘All the World’s a Stage’, Genesis’ ‘Plays Live’, or the heaviness of Judas Priest’s ‘Unleashed in the East’, they became monumental as performances capturing the essence of the band’s live energy. It’s a current that doesn’t just document a night but transforms it into legend. With ‘Liveforms, An Evening with Haken’, the British progressive metal titans have distilled such a night in London’s O2 Kentish Town Forum. Capturing not just the notes and rhythms, but the very soul of their music in its most primal, unfiltered state. You feel the resonance of the magic, impressively captured on the album.

THREE HOURS OF MUSICAL ALCHEMY

From the instrumental opening ,,The Last Lullaby” and the impressive live exploration of ,,Taurus” onwards, it’s clear this is no routine live registration. Haken, seize their moment with a set that traverses their entire catalog. The show’s centrepiece is the fuel-blooded performance of ‘Fauna’, their latest and most intricate studio work. Haken offers a spectacular view of their evolution, reviving strengths of their older material with the same hunger and precision that defines their performing prowess.

The surge of energy compared to their previous recording, ‘L-1ve’, that celebrated a decade of Haken in the more intimate Amsterdam Melkweg, finds a match with the band in a venue triple the size. And yet, the connection with the audience is equally snapping. The crowd’s anticipation resonates, feeding the band’s drive and amplifying their delivery. This is Haken at their most dynamic. Rippling the surface; This is three hours of musical alchemy, where intense technical mastery meets raw emotion.

COMPLEX AND CHALLENGING ARRANGEMENTS

The charismatic Ross Jennings delivers a vocal performance that is commanding, powerful and nuanced. His soaring range effortlessly draws from the upper registers, then plunging into guttural anger-laden growls on tracks like ,,Puzzle Box” and ,,Island in the Clouds”. It anchors the band’s complex and challenging arrangements with focal energy and melody. The addition of live trumpet by Miguel Gorodi on ,,The Alphabet of Me” is genius. Underlining Haken’s willingness to colour outside the lines and inject a touch of uniqueness to their tracks. Jazzy constructions and folk influences transcend the songs.

Musically, the band is a well-oiled machine, scattering with confidence. Richard Henshall and Charlie Griffiths weave guitar melodies and licks with surgical precision, their interplay as tight as it is adventurous. They duel with impressive towering magnitude and feed off one another’s frenzy. When harmonizing, the footprint of their melodies widens and Haken’s overall discharge thickens. Conner Green’s powerful bass chords and melodies anchor the shifting time signatures, while Ray Hearne’s drumming is a masterclass in controlled chaos. Powerful and thunderous when needed, and easily shifting to polyrhythmic subtlety. The band’s chemistry is overwhelming.

SENSE OF NARRATIVE

What sets this performance apart, is its sense of narrative. Haken do not only perform their songs, but they also inhabit them. The setlist displays their versatility: from the modern, genre-overarching ,,Beneath the White Rainbow” to the retro-bliss on ,,1985” and the anthemic ,,Cockroach King”. Each track conveys their unique creative abilities while revealing their sense of influences from past and present. The repetitive nesting hooks of ,,Elephants never forget” forge an unmeasurable energy slithering through the audience, evoking anticipation, while ,,Eyes of Ebony” digs deep in the tempo shifts, with intense bass licks and jazzy drum structures underneath the tasteful sonic synths and keys. The nineteen-minute epic ,,Crystallised” closes the first half, discharging everything that makes Haken unique: their impressive virtuosity and sense of melody, and a challenging embrace of the unexpected. Twists and turns loaded, tempo shifts propelling, it is top notch.

SECOND SET

The second set touches on every era of the band’s history. ,,Earthrise” is the perfect opening to this chapter. Wonderful guitar melodies atop the powerful dynamic drums and low rolling bass, make it impact instantly. Jenning’s vocals are intrinsic, all over the range-board. Scatting, phrasing, tilting into light pop on the melodies. The song’s neo-prog elements tred light-footed amid the band’s heavier prowess. Classic tracks like ,,Drowning in the Flood” and the closing ,,Visions” serve as reminders of Haken’s development, while highlighting the benchmark style running through their music. They feel like a celebration in their ongoing evolution.

Topping it is the fluctuant live version of ,,The Strain”, a personal favorite. The intensity scatters with its lick ‘n drum shuffle pulling it forward. The complexity is subdued in the clean light vocals and chanting melody lines. It all surges energy and the intensifying drum and bass biting towards its chorus is finding accolades on the scorching guitars eluding their jagged saw-mill fierceness. Too many highlights, too much to enjoy. The tracklist is woven together on a timeline with impressive sonic renditions.

What emerges from ‘Liveforms’ is a portrait of a band at the height of its powers, unafraid to push boundaries while remaining deeply connected to its roots. The live setting exposes the organic pulse of their music, the spontaneous interplay, the shared joy between band and audience. It’s progressive metal at its most vital.

HAKEN – THE CONCLUSION

In a landscape crowded with technical prowess, Haken infuses their complex intensity with emotional weight and deep(ening) sonic resonance. ‘Liveforms, An Evening with Haken’ is not just a live album, but an affirmation of their emotive and instrumental discharge. It lands between groundbreaking and time-altering classics, pressing their legacy as performer. Aside their studio wizardry, it’s on stage that Haken’s music comes alive. The stages are their natural habitat!

For fans of the genre, and for anyone who believes in the progressing power of live music, this is essential listening. Haken doesn’t just revisit their history, they revitalize their classics. Preserving time, gearing up for new genre-defining tracks to surprise their fans.

Release date: 9 May 2025