Haken: Liveforms: An Evening With Haken

It may be damning them with faint praise, but there can be no doubt that Haken are the UK’s foremost exponents of progressive metal. The fact that there are very few bands to rival them for that crown doesn’t make that feat any less impressive - in fact, the lack of a UK prog metal scene makes the impact Haken have made both at home and abroad all the more noteworthy. Seven studio albums into their existence the band have seen fit to grace us with only their second live release - which actually shows great restraint in an age when the live album has arguably become both ubiquitous and obsolete in equal measure. This time round we have a true opus - both audial and visual (although I have only experienced the audio at this stage) - Liveforms: An Evening With Haken capturing the band at London’s O2 Forum on the 21st of September 2024 across 3 CDs and 1 Blu-ray, as they played not one but two sets to celebrate their catalogue from new to old and back again.

There have been few line-up reshuffles within the ranks over the years and even one of those ex-members who left has returned, with the sextet of Ross Jennings (vocals), Richard Henshall and Charles Griffiths (both on guitars), Peter Jones (the gone and back again keyboard player), Connor Greene (bass) and Raymond Hearne (drums) containing four original members. With one other having been a Hakenist since 2008, a year after they formed, it should be no surprise that we’re dealing with a tight unit here, and one as deft at that progressive swearword - the chorus - as they are at bulging musical workouts, impressive instrumental interplay and jaw-dropping solo spots. Add in a singer in Ross Jennings who would (and sometimes is as a solo artist) as comfortable fronting pop-tunes as he is these more complex constructions and Haken truly have it all.

Quite rightly shining a light on their most recent, and phenomenal, studio album Fauna, the opening set here is that outing played in its entirety. It was a triumph in the studio and it’s a triumph in the live setting. Bold, brave, utterly involving and yet with an ever so slight willingness to add some humour along the way (a trait this band have long had), if anything there are even more aspects spectacularly revealed. Hearing Henshall and Griffiths spark off each other as they build riffs and guitar motifs that stick long in the mind, truly is a joy to behold, with the pairing surely one of the most invigorating twin-fret duos to emerge in the last 20 years or so.

Due to physical format time constraints, “Crystallised�, which closed out the first set even though it comes from the 2014 EP Restoration and not Fauna, is moved to a new home on CD3, although it retains its original placing on the Blu-ray. It’s only joined on that final disc by the track “Visions�, but with both pieces running to over 18 minutes each, you still get just shy of 37 minutes of music from those two songs.

Before that however, comes CD2 (as you’d expect) and with Fauna given the full treatment, it’s time to flit from “Puzzle Box� to “Nil By Mouth� via “Drowning In The Flood� and one of my own personal favourites, “Cockroach King�. Throughout, the whole band are in imperious form, although I’ll admit that the keyboard/drum workout “Strainwreck�, which takes the band from “The Strain� to “Canary Yellow�, would be the ideal moment to nip to the kitchen to make a cup of tea. However, with Jones, Hearne and bassist Connor Greene an amazingly impressive unit that push and pull this set from one high-point to the next, the merest dip in quality is easy to forgive. It’s also worth mentioning that the whole shebang sounds incredible, the production and mix (the latter by Jens Bogren) as good as you’ll hear.

Since its 1970s heyday, the prestige of the live album has slipped, for me anyway, continuously over the years to be seen as something of a hold over, a time filler, or a contract obligation meeting exercise that appears after almost every single studio album. Thankfully, a release like Liveforms: An Evening With Haken, is still capable of not only bucking that trend, but of delivering a defining statement from a glorious band who have already become a byword for excellence.

Set 1: CD1
The Last Lullaby 02:12, 
Taurus 04:43, 
Nightingale 07:27, 
The Alphabet Of Me 05:42, 
Sempiternal Beings 08:27, 
Beneath The White Rainbow 06:51, 
Island In The Clouds 05:52, 
Lovebite 04:00, 
Elephants Never Forget 11:07, 
Eyes of Ebony 08:37, 
Crystallised 18:26

Set 2: CD2
Puzzle Box 08:32, 
Earthrise 04:50
, Cockroach King 08:27, 
Nil By Mouth 06:49, 
1985 09:21, 
The Strain 05:29, 
Strainwreck 04:03, 
Canary Yellow 04:24, 
Drowning In the Flood 10:00, 
Visions 18:28

*Crystallised & Visions make up CD3 of the audio version

Added: May 7th 2025
Reviewer: Steven Reid
Score:
Related Link: The Haken Store
Hits: 566
Language: english

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