Virus (Haken album)

Virus is the sixth studio album by English progressive metal band Haken. It was released on 24 July 2020 (postponed three times, first from 5 June 2020, then from 19 June 2020 and finally from 10 July 2020) through Inside Out Music. According to the band's singer, Ross Jennings, the album is loosely connected to their 2018 release Vector. As well as the latter, Virus was mixed by ex-Periphery bassist Adam "Nolly" Getgood and the artwork was created by long-time collaborators Blacklake. It is the last album featuring keyboardist Diego Tejeida, who left the band the following year.

The first single, "Prosthetic" was released on 3 April 2020, along with a music video.

Background
Haken had been secretly writing the music for Virus and all the initial ideas were created back when they were writing Vector at the end of 2017. The album title generated surprise as it was announced during the COVID-19 pandemic, but Jennings said it was just coincidental. The singer also remarked that "whilst Virus can absolutely be enjoyed as a stand-alone work, it is thematically and conceptually linked with Vector. The band comments: Prosthetic was the first song we completed during the Virus writing sessions and we always felt it would be the perfect opener for the album. It's a very guitar heavy track with its roots in 80s thrash riffing, but with the unconventional rhythmic twists and turns we often like to explore in Haken. We sadly never had a Jeff Hanneman and Robert Fripp collaboration, but this song at least draws on inspiration from them both! Lyrically the song is a bridge between our two albums Vector and Virus. The message was brilliantly brought to life by video director Vicente Cordero, who also beautifully captured the live energy of the band in a way that both enhances the song, and perfectly sets the scene for what's to come.

Drummer Ray Hearne adds: Since releasing The Mountain in 2013, one question has been asked of us time and time again, 'who is the "Cockroach King"?'. This is something we were interested in exploring more deeply too, so we essentially did that through our music; elaborating and expanding upon the intervallic, harmonic, rhythmic and lyrical themes of that song. The end result is in an arc which spans across two albums: Vector and Virus.

Guitarist Richard Henshall about the production: Using Nolly again was a no-brainer, as we wanted the two albums to be sonically connected. But having just spent a day mixing with him in his studio, it's obvious that this album will be an evolution of the Vector sound. These songs seem to allow a lot more freedom of creativity with the production, so we're excited to see where it leads.

Themes
The themes present in the album are institutional abuse, physical and mentally abusive relationships, anxiety, depression and suicidal tendencies.

Reception
The album has received generally positive reviews from music critics. According to critic Thom Jurek it successfully challenges tropes from progressive metal, and lauds the harmonic and rhythmic complexities of the tracks.

Multiple critics also note the musical similarities between the album and the works of bands like Meshuggah and Dream Theater.

Personnel
Haken Additional personnel
 * Ross Jennings – vocals
 * Richard Henshall – guitars
 * Charlie Griffiths – guitars
 * Diego Tejeida – keyboards
 * Conner Green – bass
 * Raymond Hearne – drums


 * Pete Jones – additional keyboards on "Messiah Complex", drum programming on "The Strain", production and arrangement on "Only Stars"
 * Pete Rinaldi – acoustic guitar on "Prosthetic" and "Messiah Complex"
 * Adam "Nolly" Getgood – bass solo on "Messiah Complex"

Production and design


 * Adam "Nolly" Getgood – mixing, drum engineering
 * Anthony Leung – drum engineering
 * James Stephenson – drum editing
 * Chris McKenzie – assistant vocal engineering
 * Ermin Hamidovic – mastering
 * Blacklake – art and design
 * Corey Meyers – logo
 * Jeroen Moons – web design