Album Review: Haken - Vector

In the progressive metal world, the biggest name to pop up in the last few years is Haken. From albums that have generated critical acclaim, to being brought on tour by old stalwarts, they have established themselves as the brightest star in the rising sky. I don't quite understand where all the hype has come from. Around the time of "The Mountain", I considered them a decent outfit following the outlines of Dream Theater. There was nothing wrong with them, but nothing special about them either. Their last album is where things went a bit off the rails, with the heavy 80s influences overtaking everything, and rendering the music too backwards looking to be powerful.

"Vector" sees Haken moving back in a more metal direction. This is them playing heavier than the last time we heard them, which is preferable to their 80s fascination. (Side note: I don't understand the purveying appeal of the 80s - is the world really clamoring for terrible synthesizers?) But being progressive metal, there are plenty of moments where the music takes left turns out of nowhere. "The Good Doctor" has several of these, and the music shifts from soft to loud multiple times, and the instrumental segment features a seconds-long skittering of guitar and keyboard notes that comes from nowhere, and leads to nowhere else. That is what passes for 'progressive'.

A bigger issue is that the record claims to, whether fully realized or not, telling a story. That infuriates me, as there is a seven-minute instrumental on the album. I am not a fan of instrumentals most of the time anyway, but I have never heard a defense for including one on a conceptual record. The entire point of such a record is to put forward a narrative, and I have no idea how an instrumental is supposed to help in doing that.

The other songs carry on the trademark Haken sound. The guitars play in polyrhythms, with many of the riffs relying on math to explain the point behind them. Whether we're talking about the guitars or the vocals, there isn't much about the album that immediately jumps out as memorable. Ross Jennings has a suitable voice, but his melodies are drawn out and toothless. I don't know if it's a function of trying to fit his voice atop music that might not be compatible with normally accessible melodies, but he often drones as though he is just another instrument, and not the most vital cog in getting the story across.

There are hints of what could be. There is a melodic break in the twelve-minute "Veil" that is exactly what I would want to hear them doing, but it lasts a few seconds, and gets swallowed on either end by rather turgid developments. The band would clearly rather develop a pattern of guitar notes than give us a melody we can keep in our heads. That's a shame.

This is the part of the review where I would normally try to say that Haken is good at what they do, even if it isn't intended for me. I say 'normally', because I will not be doing that right now. I don't know what it is Haken is trying to do with this record. They have given us a concept record that spends a lot of time wordless, a metal album that pulls back the reigns quite often, and a concise record that breaks the music down into bite-size pieces of flavorless mush.

The easy complaint about progressive music is that it's indulgent without ever having a point. Listening to "Vector", it's not hard to see why people would think that. This record doesn't seem to know what it wants to do, and without an aim, there is no target to hit. I can't figure out why the record was made like this, which means I can't say why I would want to dive in repeatedly and listen to it. Great progressive metal is a blend of new ideas, technical mastery, and great songwriting. The last of those has always been missing from Haken, and it still is here.