Aquarius (Haken album)
Encyclopedia
Main Band
- Ross Jennings - Vocals
- Richard "Hen" HenshallRichard HenshallRichard "Hen" Henshall is a British Progressive metal multi-instrumentalist. He is best known for being the guitarist and keyboardist for the bands To-Mera and Haken...
- GuitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
and Keyboards - Charlie Griffiths - Guitar
- Thomas MacLeanThomas MacLeanThomas MacLean is an English born guitarist and bassist. He is best known for being the guitarist in the progressive metal/jazz fusion band To-Mera, and also for being the bassist for the progressive metal band Haken....
- Bass GuitarBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick.... - Ray Hearne - Drums, TubaTubaThe tuba is the largest and lowest-pitched brass instrument. Sound is produced by vibrating or "buzzing" the lips into a large cupped mouthpiece. It is one of the most recent additions to the modern symphony orchestra, first appearing in the mid-19th century, when it largely replaced the...
, DjembeDjembeA djembe also known as jembe, jenbe, djbobimbe, jymbe, yembe, or jimbay, or sanbanyi in Susu; is a skin-covered drum meant played with bare hands.... - Diego Tejeida - Keyboards
Guest Musicians
- Craig Beattie - TromboneTromboneThe trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
- Alex Benwell - TrumpetTrumpetThe trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
- Pablo Inda Garcia - ClarinetClarinetThe clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
- Marged Hall - HarpHarpThe harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones and has its own sub category . All harps have a neck, resonator and strings...
- Darren Moore - Trumpet
- Jon Roskilly - Trombone
- Dave Ruff - FluteFluteThe flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
Reception
The reception of this album was generally positive across the board.- Eduardo Rivadavia of Allmusic praised it as the strongest prog album yet to come out in the 2010s.
- The website Allmetal guide deemed Aquarius as very good.
- The website Prog Archives gave the album good reviews across the board; an average of all the reviews received were nearly 5 out of 5 stars.
- The EuropeEuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an leg of the ProgPowerProgPower EuropeProgPower Europe is a progressive and power metal festival held annually in the Netherlands since 1999. The last edition, the 13th, was held at Sjiwa in Baarlo on September 30 – October 2, 2011...
tour called Haken the most exciting sound to emerge from the modern progressive movement. - The GermanGermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
webzine Powermetal gave Aquarius a good review, saying the band had conquered the London rock scene in only a few concerts, as did Just for Kicks Music, another German webzine. JFKM gave "both thumbs up" to the album, as well as giving it 12 out of 15 points - The webzine BlogCriticsBlogcriticsBlogcritics is a blog network and online magazine of news and opinion. The site—a self-proclaimed "sinister cabal of superior writers"—was founded in 2002 by Eric Olsen and Phillip Winn...
.com Music gave Aquarius a rave review, saying its a joy to listen to from start to finish, and that there is jazz, blues, metal, and everything else tossed in for good measure. - Classic Rock Magazine featured the song Eternal Rain as a free track of the day on April 15, 2010. The small review given was positive, calling it "interesting music from a young London band who combine jazz, metal and prog, delivered with excellent musicianship."
- The progressive rockProgressive rockProgressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
e-zine Sea of Tranquility's Pete Pardo praised the album, giving it 4.5 out of 5 stars, saying "Haken have arrived folks...make sure to check this one out."
External links
- The Point of No Return | The Official Site
- [ Allmusic Guide to Aquarius]
- ProgArchives Aquarius page
- The Haken Myspace page
- iTunes Aquarius page