"The greatest risk is to take none". If this wise quote has often been borrowed, it seems to be the motto of the Londoners of Haken, who don't hesitate to question themselves with each new production, even if it means upsetting their audience.
You'll have understood, this album is out of the ordinary, notably because of its original thread: the animal kingdom. The project's approach may surprise you, but it remains resolutely in the register that Haken masters: math rock, or brit prog, if you really want to put a label on it. Indeed, we recognize the characteristic sound of the English from the very first notes.
Not only is everything impeccably in place musically, but Ross Jennings shows for once to what extent he imposes himself as one of the best singers of the contemporary progressive scene, taking each song to higher spheres than the others. And it's not only about his tessitura, but also about the emotion he manages to arouse on his refrains. On "Fauna", you breathe, you hold your breath, you nod, you frown, sometimes all in the same song... and Jennings often has a hand in that.
The Green/Hearne rhythm section is not to be outdone, for without a bass/drum arsenal tuned to the millimetre, the prog recipe would not work. As for the Henshall/Griffiths guitar duo, they've been working so well since the beginning of the Haken adventure that we couldn't imagine that it would be different this time. However, we can regret that the extent of their talent is too limited, the soli being delivered sparingly. Another novelty is the return of keyboardist Peter Jones, who left the band 14 years ago. Haken's first album "Aquarius" was released in 2010, so he left a band that was still totally unknown to join it in its firmament. He brings a real plus to the ensemble and you might even think he never left the band.
We've seen animal references before from Steve Vai ('Pig', 'Bad Horsie', 'The Animal', 'Taurus Bulba', not to mention his frequent guitar imitations of cats, horses, pigs and elephants), or more anecdotally with the Beatles, Lynyrd Skynyrd or the Rolling Stones, but for an entire album dedicated to the animal kingdom, we have to go back to the 19th century, to Camille Saint-Saens' 'Carnival of the Animals', but we're off the beaten track of Music Waves. This concept album is so playful that one can have fun finding references (sometimes subtle) to the animals present in Haken's Noah's Ark, even if the magnificent artwork of the cover betrays the identity of the crew. The nightingale comes to the fore quite quickly in 'Nightingale', but unfortunately the human ear does not have the frequency range to recognise the cry of the snake or the spider. So sometimes you have to pay attention. Playing the game makes the experience much more interesting than playing the songs one after the other.
It is the connection between the animal kingdom and the human world that is proposed here, like the forced migration of the wildebeest in the opening track ('Taurus'), which reminds us of the life of millions of Ukrainians in the middle of a conflict with Russia. The disappearance of the last white rhino in captivity ('Eyes of Ebony') is a poignant tribute to guitarist Richard Henshall's recently deceased father. The excellent 'Lovebite' features a black widow devouring her male after mating. Everyone can see the meaning in this. There is no misogyny, as the song that follows ('Elephants Never Forget') elegantly cuts a swath through the not-so-gentle men.
In the end, it's a successful bet, because if choosing the theme of the animal kingdom as a back was a challenging exercice, Haken treats it with the class one would expect from a band that has become undeniably influential in the world of progressive metal. Now it remains to be seen whether lions will jump through flaming hoops unless a rabbit pops out of the musicians' hats on stage.