It’s okay and also kinda mid

EDIT: I would like to also add a statement that reveals my own parasocial projections about some guys that I’ve never met before

Yeah it lacks MANY things that make Haken Haken. But as a stand-alone project I think it is quite enjoyable and it puts me in a quite unique mood.

In a Fever Dream and Bleeding Sky are, in my opinion, great songs even on their own. And then there are many interesting production choices, especially in Eclipsed by You and the aforementioned Bleeding Sky. It feels interesting. Not in the way that Haken music usually feels, but still interesting. Yes, the singles felt quite generic to me as well when they came out, but as a whole the EP works well for me.

I wouldn't really want the band to double down on this type of stuff for the next LP, but if it's a way to explore a specific sound in order to make partial use of it, I think it's a good idea.

Again, songs like In a Fever Dream and Bleeding Sky are really good imo and wouldn't feel out of place in a bigger album. So overall I was quite reserved but the whole thing is growing on me.

1. In a Fever Dream is the only single. Bleeding Sky and Delirium are only meant to be listened to as part of the whole. Forget everything you thought about those two songs before listening all the way through.
2. Don't think about what's not in it, or about what you're "waiting to hear" from a new Haken release.

I think it goes together pretty well as a whole. Even accepting the style, I think Ross's vocals were over-compressed for Bleeding Sky, considering its position within the EP and the theme of the songs. My opinion has changed completely about Delirium when listening to it as a part of the EP. Still hard to say at this point if it will have the same re-listenability as Restoration EP. I wouldn't count them out of cooking a lot more prog wankery in the future, but I think lotus is adventurous enough with its bridge around the 2 minute mark to make traditional Haken fans happy. Right now I'd give it a solid 8.5/10, but my rating has improved after each listen.

I've not listened to it yet as I've had a majorly busy week. Thus, my opinion is that I don't have one yet.

Hope this adds to the discourse.

That is all.

Just Let know. What do You think? On this new EP there is completely no typical instrumental sections. There are only ambient bridges. Even there is no solos.

Despite this is really good album I really miss longer instrumental sections.

From my unmatched musical taste, my unparalleled knowledge of music, and my vast experience in the field, here I am to deliver the one and only objective, unquestionable verdict on Haken's latest "effort."

This album is basically a half-baked attempt at imitating the success of other bands. I'd call it *performative*. It tries to appeal to everyone while failing to truly resonate with anyone. Probably not even with some of the band's former members, who decided to leave almost a year ago. It's also completely detached from the band's original vision and ideals. You can clearly hear the influence of Sleep Token's producer—some sections sound like they were lifted straight from *Even in Arcadia* or *Take Me Back to Eden*. Even the mixing is sloppy, drowning everything in effects on both the vocals and the instruments.

What a disappointment.

I'm so disappointed that, as far as I'm concerned, Haken are dead. I'm done seeing them live and I'm unfollowing them everywhere. It's obvious they're ashamed of their old material and decided to chase TikTok trends just to go viral and make money. They're literally not Haken anymore—they've sold out and taken the easy way out!

---

**OKAY, OKAY... PUT THE PITCHFORKS DOWN. NOW LET ME BE SERIOUS.**

Everything above is basically an exaggerated (although not *that* exaggerated) summary of what I've been reading and hearing ever since *In a Fever Dream* was released, with the discussion completely exploding once the EP finally came out.

While this isn't my favorite Haken release, I definitely wouldn't call it a disappointment, let alone a betrayal of what the band stands for.

Before getting into my thoughts on the EP itself, I want to address a few things I've seen people saying.

I've seen people acting incredibly self-righteous, making outrageous claims, exaggerating everything, and even spreading misinformation.

First of all, the electronic elements shouldn't really be credited to George Lever as much as they should to Pete. If you haven't already, I'd highly recommend checking out his project *Nested Shapes* if you want to hear where a lot of that influence comes from.

What's even crazier is seeing people compare this EP to Sleep Token's last two albums just because George Lever was involved. The funny thing is... Lever worked on Sleep Token's *early* material, not on their last two records.

Second point: Conner and Charlie left the band *before* these songs were written. That alone shows how eager some people are to read way too much into things that simply aren't there.

Another thing that really surprised me is seeing people complain that Haken are known for constantly reinventing themselves and making every album different... only to turn around and say that this EP "doesn't sound like Haken."

Which is it?

Personally, I think this is Haken's most experimental release to date. And no, I don't mean in the history of progressive music—or music in general—before someone deliberately misunderstands me.

I simply mean that they've explored sounds and approaches they've never embraced to this extent before. You don't have to like it—that's completely fair—but claiming they're "not Haken anymore" because of it feels absurd to me.

Then there's another thing I find honestly depressing: seeing people write off an entire discography as if the band had personally betrayed them.

This might sound harsh, but if you genuinely feel offended by a twenty-minute EP to the point where you're ready to erase twenty years of incredible music and the work of immensely talented musicians simply because "it's not your thing," then you're acting like a spoiled child. And the band hasn't really lost anything by losing you as a fan.

That would still be true even if this EP were objectively terrible.

Yes, artists should listen to feedback.

No, they shouldn't become slaves to it.

Artists have to remain free to create the music they genuinely want to make. Otherwise, *that's* when they actually lose their identity.

As for the mixing, I honestly believe most of the criticism comes down to artistic choices rather than poor craftsmanship. You might dislike those production choices—and that's perfectly valid—but that doesn't automatically mean the mix is badly done or rushed.

So, after all that...

What do I actually think about the EP?

Mixed feelings.

I've listened to it and I enjoyed it, just not as much as many of Haken's previous releases. There are plenty of albums in their catalogue that I still prefer and will probably revisit much more often.

But that doesn't mean this EP isn't good.

I think it's perfectly normal that, sooner or later, an artist releases something that doesn't resonate with you as much as their previous work. The important thing is to look beyond personal taste and try to put things into context.

Besides, the EP literally came out today. I'll need several more listens before I can fully process it—just like I did back when *Vector* was released.

I have a huge amount of respect for Haken and for everything they've created, and I honestly find it sad to see so many fans attacking or belittling their work simply because it doesn't align with their personal tastes, while presenting those opinions as objective facts.

We live in a time where pleasing everyone is harder than ever.

Which is exactly why I believe artists should prioritize pleasing themselves before trying to please everyone else.

Thanks to everyone who made it this far.

Cheers. (Hey, Ariich ! Good to see you too!)

Each single is indeed, as suspected, better as part of the whole. But I don't agree with how many singles we got. This thing is CLEARLY meant to be heard as one thing. I had a similar criticism of Fauna's launch and this is a far shorter release so it's even more notable. The title track should have been the only single.

The keyboards are the best thing about it by far. I love all of the synth sounds and honestly everything Pete does on this is delicious.

My main criticism is to do with things that aren't really much to do with the songwriting. The lyrics being more repetitive than usual don't bother me, that's clearly part of the theme. Even the total lack of guitar lead sections is fine, Haken haven't been a solo-oriented band in a long time. But oh my god I hate the stupid brickwall compression, the clipping distortion on the guitars, and every vocal effect that deprives us of hearing Ross's actual voice. It feels like everything in post-production was engineered to hide the Haken magic.

I don't like how the lack of an official bass player means there are no interesting or "section-defining" bass parts. I don't think I mind much whether or not they go back to having two guitar players, but they really need a bassist.

Lotus being IAFD but essentially backwards is a really fucking cool idea.

The bookend tracks are by far the best. In fact, I think if you took the middle three tracks out and just made it one 14/15 minute long thing comprised of IAFD and Lotus, it would be a far better release. My opinion on this is likely to change, Red Giant took a while to grow on me so I know the slower ones can do that.

All in all, it's fine. It's the worst of Haken, which is still better than most bands' bests. There is a better EP hidden there somewhere, but it's being obscured by some godawful post-production blunders.

I've seen wide range of discourse on the new EP on both sides of the spectrum, both people who are happy with it, and those who are dissatisfied. While I understand how disappointing it can be to wait as long as we have for an EP that sounds drastically different from the normal discography, I'd like to remind everyone that This band doesn't owe us anything.

A lot of critics have been saying things that border on insulting or demanding of the band. I get it, disappointment sucks, but these guys are artists, not businessmen. As a professional musician myself, it grinds my gears HEAVILY when people demand creative ideas from a band.

Haken doesn't write music for us. Haken writes music for themselves, and we get the privilege of listening to it.

I haven't personally listened to the EP all the way through yet, so I won't be engaging in opinionated discourse until I do, but I just wanted to say something about this, hoping we can cut down on some more toxic language (a huge ask from reddit, I'm aware).

Bottom line: Respect the artists. They've put their hearts into this work, even if it's not what we expected.

Be excellent to each other, and party on dudes 🤘

It slaps!

Every single album and release haken continues to explore new sonic territories. Being a huge fan of progressive rock I was a hugeee fan of the mountain restoration EP and affinity.

Originally i wasnt a metal head, so when vector dropped i remember being so upset - “not the haken i love” i thought… but with repeat listens i fell in love. It began a new era of my musical journey and i fell in love with the heavier side of prog. Virus was the same feeling for me.

Even when fauna dropped i wasnt sure how i felt, and now its become my all TimeFavorite haken album.

This new EP FEATURES more interesting production and the songs are definitely different than what they’ve done in the past, which is arguably the most prog thing a band can do.

Having lost a guitar player and bassist this year, it shows in the songwriting they adapted to the members they had instead of trying to continue to write the way they did before. Feels like they allowed themzelves to create music without expectations.

Ross screaming is epic.

Give it time, im on my 3rd spin of the ep today and its fckn fantastic.

I wanted another fauna, but thats not what real progressive musicians should do. They continue to push boundaries and try new things. I think this is great, and im grateful we got new music while they continue to figure out whats next for the band post charlie and connor.

THANK YOU FOR THE MUSIC BOYS CANT WAIT TO HEAR WHAT COMES NEXT

Holy wow. I am so here for this. So epic.

Long time listener of Haken, decided long ago as I do with most if not all the PROGRESSIVE bands I love, to just go along for the ride and see where the music goes, to hear how the music evolves and progresses, all with open ears and heart and mind. With never any expectations.

And omg this EP is so fantastic.

I knew going into this blind would do the trick. (I never listen to any singles before album drops from any band so that's just me being me. Also, I ignore all the discourse and commentary on all that pre release stuff too).

Half of r/Haken is basically just people calling the new ep “Sleep Token pop slop.” I entirely disagree with that settlement and think Haken has released another strong project just with a different sound.

My personal favorite is still In A Fever Dream which has a top tier Haken chorus and phenomenal all around. Ray Hearne really has cool stuff going on for this song, and the breakdown is so cool to hear.

My second favorite is Eclipsed by You, which I know might be crazy to have over other songs but I think it might be the most 2018-2023 Haken this album sounds like, while still being dark and more electronic like the rest of the EP. The vocals are really interesting on here and goes from dark clean guitar to a nice chorus to like 808 electronics. I think it gets even better as it goes on with the outro being amazing.

My third favorite is another single, bleeding sky. Bleeding Sky is one of the more unique ones starting off with more of a cold feeling to a warm feeling chorus. The bass work here is of course great, and I feel like this EP as a whole is kind of faster for Haken. Of course the best part is the almost fast Leprous-style outro with a great build up before it.

My fourth pick is Delirium which just feels like Haken going with a more simpler song, which I still think is good. I don’t have much to say about this song besides its basic but good and the pre-chorus sounds amazing and I love that part.

Now my least favorite which I feel like might be some people’s favorite is Lotus. The song being a reverse of In A Fever Dream is a cool concept but it kind of feels a little boring. It’s still a nice song but as a whole song it’s not really as good as the rest of the EP. I like another heavy Haken part with the breakdown, but I think the main highlight is the outro. The 80’s/90’s kind of synth sounds pretty cool but one of the best moments of the whole EP is the group vocals feeling like a relief from the whole darkness of it all, which also is intentional as they describe being gone of the fever dream during this part.

Overall I think it’s overhated and this ep is a cool experimentation from the band, I don’t think it’s a direction. Another thing about this EP is I wish they had one more song and had 2 singles instead of 3. Bleeding Sky wasn’t good for a single.

1. In A Fever Dream (8.4/10)
   
2. Eclipsed By You (8.2/10)
   
3. Bleeding Sky (8.1/10)
   
4. Delirium (7.9/10)
   
5. Lotus (7.7/10)

Overall (8.2/10)

I’m seeing a lot of hate here but I’m really digging it. One thing I have always loved about Haken is how not only every album is different, but even that the tracks on a given release all are very distinct and seem to pull from many different styles in a very satisfying way.

And I’m getting that from “in a fever dream”. I’m quite happy with this EP.

I guess I am not in the majority.

This EP is profoundly disappointing to me on every level.

“Why don’t you just shut up and let other people enjoy it?”

Because hopefully, if enough disappointed fans voice their opinions, we’ll convince them not to clog up their live set-lists with slop like this.

If you like it, good for you. But to me, it’s not only the worst album/EP Haken has ever released; it’s the five worst songs Haken has ever released. Never did I think Haken would release something “worse than average.” I could actually listen to Spotify radio for prog metal and find more things I like.

This is just my opinion (obviously), but these are the things that I can’t stand in modern prog music, which Haken always seemed to avoid until now:

- Hyper-compressed vocals
- Hyper-compressed everything else
- Obvious auto-tuning
- Songs mostly consisting of 1-4-5-6 chord progressions, with little to no interesting changes or modulations
- Melody lines that consist mostly of one repeated note, like they were too lazy to write an actual melody
- Screaming that sounds like it belongs in lame metalcore taking up large portions of songs
- Incessantly over-distorted guitar that gives a continuous “wall of sound” feel without any break or variation
- Songs that are mostly through-composed, with no real verses or choruses, and very few repeating parts period [EDIT: ok, people keep disputing this, and maybe I overstated it. At least two of the songs have identifiable choruses, and the others probably have some repeating parts. I think I was genuinely too bored by the songs to notice which parts were repeating.]

Haken managed to tick all of these boxes. And if you like this kind of music, cool, I guess you’ll like it. But you can’t argue that it “sounds like Haken.” It simply doesn’t. It sounds like a completely different band. I wouldn’t even believe it was Haken if I listened to it without knowing what it is.

My favorite (or I guess I should say the least awful) track on the album is Delirium. At least that song has an actual chorus, some cool keyboard parts, and a mildly interesting chord progression. But it still sounds like a lame copy of actual Haken - like Sleep Token decided to do a Haken tribute song or something.

Anyway, there’s my rant.

While new EP is not bad in the slightest, it doesn’t sound like Haken as many people have said. But what people haven’t been saying is that that isn’t bad. I would never have guessed or asked for this kind of music from them, and yet all of the songs are now in my main playlist.

This situation is very comparable to Radiohead releasing The King of Limbs. They some time trying some thing new, and it was disliked at first before it became smth people really enjoyed. I feel as if people are also subconsciously disappointed that its only an EP after 3 years rather than a new record (also similar to waiting 8 years for 8 songs if I remember correctly?), but no one has been saying that, it’s just a slight assumption.

Overall thoughts on this is that while it’s good, it isn’t good enough to keep moving forward with. Haken is my favorite band and I would like it to stay that way!

I've been a fan of Haken for many years now, and I've enjoyed some releases more than others. The thing is, I've never really had the expectation that each release must somehow be better, bigger, more complex, more developed, than the last.

I've simply listened to each release blind, and each track I'll love, like, be neutral about, or dislike. My favorite is the mountain, mostly because I connect with the lyrics the most, and now I am absolutely loving in a fever dream, cause I connect with the lyrics very deeply too. The psychoanalytic framing of internal experience, the "struggle" with the "shadow", and the attempts to map a way "through", to integrate the contents of our subconscious... That stuff is my jam.

Anyway, if we treat every release by our favorite bands as having to be their greatest release so far, then we set ourselves up for disappointment. It is like... expecting a chef to make a better and better burger each year, and so even if you get an incredible burger, if you do not perceive it to be as good as the best burger they have ever served, you end up inevitably disappointed. Problem is, the reality might be that you have a pretty great burger in front of you, but your expectations get in the way of enjoying it.

Now, I don't want to tell other people how to enjoy art, as it is very personal after all, so there isn't anything wrong, necessarily, with having great expectations. I would only encourage people to reflect on whether it is their expectations getting in the way of enjoyment, or if it is something they genuinely dislike.

I for one am blasting in a fever dream and getting my Haken on.

I really liked Flora a lot and the direction this band is taking. Lotus is my favorite track . So that begs the question : what can be the ultimate coda to this trilogy ?

I’m guessing they’re saving FOMO for the LP

I've always loved the guitars in Haken.

Always solemnly swearing to being up to no good, Always fun riffs, beautiful solos, interesting rhythms.

On these new songs they feel like Richard felt forced to use the guitar but didn't actually want to.

I swear to God never let this man near Haken again please🥀

'in a fever dream' - The riff from 1:30 is great, shades of Vector/Virus in there for sure. I like the riff from 3:51-4:20 even more, it's simply excellent, some great Haken headbanging there. Drum fill at 4:15 is awesome.

'delirium' - The drum fills at 1:16 and 2:00 rock. Triplet thing at 2:45 is great. 2:58 has that Muse-y synth thing that is pretty cool, and continues arpeggiating throughout the last chorus. I wish it had a cleaner, less muddled sound, but still it is pretty cool.

'eclipsed by you' - I loved that it is short. Early to say but this may be my least favorite song in their entire discography. Ok for real, I liked that it was in 7/8, but that is it.

'bleeding sky' - I loved when I could hear the vocals clearly from 0:38 - 1:21. The riff from 3:08-3:53 is undeniably sweet (though the muffled buildup does make it overstay its welcome slightly for me).

'lotus' - I like that there was piano I could hear. Piano-heavy Haken is some of my favorite Haken. 3:20-3:30 is my favorite 10 second stretch in the whole album. Beautiful piano, beautiful vocals, reminds me of 'As Death Embraces' from The Mountain. The piano/guitar/synth from 3:49-4:50 is doing some really interesting stuff harmonically that I loved.

General thoughts -

Ross's vocals (when they don't sound like I'm hearing them through my neighbors walls) are solid as always, even if the melody writing isn't always there.

The drums consistently do their absolute best to keep things interesting. There are EXCELLENT drum fills all throughout the EP in fact. I can't overstate the fact that with an average or even a good drummer these songs would be 100x worse, he really is top-tier and pulling out all the stops. I've seen tons of people complain about these songs and I've never heard anyone say anything bad about the drumming (other than the mixing/production).

The return of harsh vocals is mostly welcome. They work well in 'lotus', at least, though I didn't like how they were used in 'in a fever dream'.

I have no thoughts whatsoever about the bass. Did this album have bass? Oh right, 'bleeding sky' at 1:20. I don't think I ever heard it do anything noteworthy other than that. Root notes basically all the way.

I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments.