- Country: UK
- Style: Progressive metal
- Label: InsideOut Music
- Release date: 29 April 2016
Neon synths, gated drums and a song literally called “1985”: Haken dove headfirst into the ’80s on Affinity, and somehow it never turns into a gimmick. The retro sheen is just the paint job. Underneath sit some of the sharpest, heaviest and most playful songs the band have written, from the punchy, djent-flecked “Initiate” to the glitchy, stop-start madness of “The Endless Knot”, where the rhythm section seems to be arguing with a malfunctioning computer and winning.
Then there’s “The Architect”, the long-form centrepiece that throws everything in, including a sudden burst of harsh vocals, and still flows like one thought. Ross Jennings is in superb voice throughout, especially on the soaring “Earthrise”, the poppiest thing they’d done to that point, and the brooding “Red Giant”. If anything holds it back from perfection, it’s that the closing stretch can’t quite match the first half. A small complaint about one of the best prog metal records of the decade.
Best tracks:
The Architect
1985
Initiate
The Endless Knot
Earthrise
Author’s rating: 9.1/10
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