Fauna | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Studio album by | ||||
Released | 3 March 2023 | |||
Recorded | 2022 | |||
Studio | The Crypt (London) | |||
Length | 62:11 | |||
Label | Inside Out Music | |||
Producer | Haken | |||
Haken chronology | ||||
| ||||
Singles from Fauna | ||||
|
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [1] |
Metal Injection | [2] |
Fauna is the seventh studio album by English progressive metal band Haken. It was released on 3 March 2023 through Inside Out Music. The album is the first release without keyboardist Diego Tejeida, who left the band in 2021. Founding member Peter Jones served as his replacement. The first single "Nightingale" was released on 26 April 2022, when the band had not yet started to record the whole album. [3] The second single "The Alphabet of Me" was first announced, along with the cover art and name of the album, at their website with a puzzle game. [4]
About the origin of the album, singer Ross Jennings said: [5]
When composing and presenting initial song sketches, we very much had an "anything goes" mentality, and whilst sounding atypically Haken, it was a piece that was all exciting us to explore and integrate into our song canon. Where the lyrics are concerned, I leant heavily on one of my favourite writers Philip K. Dick, for inspiration. Keeping our loose concept of spirit animals in mind, I re-read 'Do robots dream of electric sheep?' (Which would later be adapted into the 1982 film 'Blade Runner') knowing symbolically that animals played a key role in the story. This, along with revisiting both movies from the Blade Runner franchise, opened up some deeper philosophical topics about the nature of identity which have served as a backbone for the lyrical content.
The singer added: [6]
The premise of the album when we started writing it was that every song would have an animal assigned to it. They all have something related to the animal kingdom that we could write about, but they also connect to the human world. Each track has layers, and some of them are more obvious than others.
Guitarist Richard Henshall followed: [7]
It reminds me of 'The Mountain'. There, we had the idea of not really a narrative-based album, but more the concept of climbing a mountain and overcoming the obstacles along the way. Then we took that and thought about how it could relate to our everyday lives. All of Fauna's animals relate to us, personally".
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Taurus" | 4:49 |
2. | "Nightingale" | 7:24 |
3. | "The Alphabet of Me" | 5:33 |
4. | "Sempiternal Beings" | 8:23 |
5. | "Beneath the White Rainbow" | 6:45 |
6. | "Island in the Clouds" | 5:45 |
7. | "Lovebite" | 3:49 |
8. | "Elephants Never Forget" | 11:07 |
9. | "Eyes of Ebony" | 8:32 |
Total length: | 62:11 |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
10. | "The Last Lullaby" | 3:14 |
Total length: | 65:25 |
Haken
Additional musicians
Production and design
Chart (2023) | Peak position |
---|---|
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria) [9] | 24 |
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) [10] | 102 |
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia) [11] | 116 |
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) [12] | 89 |
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista) [13] | 19 |
French Albums (SNEP) [14] | 159 |
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) [15] | 13 |
Italian Albums (FIMI) [16] | 95 |
Portuguese Albums (AFP) [17] | 32 |
Scottish Albums (OCC) [18] | 15 |
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade) [19] | 12 |
UK Album Downloads (OCC) [20] | 26 |
UK Rock & Metal Albums (OCC) [21] | 2 |
Meteora is the second studio album by American rock band Linkin Park, released on March 25, 2003, through Warner Bros. Records, following Reanimation, a collaboration album which featured remixes of songs included on their 2000 debut studio album Hybrid Theory. The album was produced by the band alongside Don Gilmore. The title Meteora is taken from the Greek Orthodox monasteries originally bearing the name. Meteora has a similar sound to Hybrid Theory, as described by critics, and the album took almost a year to be recorded. It is the first Linkin Park studio album to feature bassist Dave "Phoenix" Farrell after he rejoined the band in 2000 following his temporary touring with other bands.
Issues is the fourth studio album by American nu metal band Korn. It was released on November 16, 1999, through Immortal Records. The album was promoted throughout 2000 by the band's highly successful Sick and Twisted Tour.
Defenders of the Faith is the ninth studio album by English heavy metal band Judas Priest, released on 13 January 1984 in the US and on 20 January 1984 in the UK. The album was certified platinum by the RIAA, and spawned the singles "Freewheel Burning", "Some Heads Are Gonna Roll", and "Love Bites".
No Sleep 'til Hammersmith is the first live album by English rock band Motörhead, released in June 1981 by Bronze Records. It peaked at number one on the UK Albums Chart. It was followed by the release of the single "Motorhead" on 3 July, which peaked on the UK Singles Chart at number 6.
Where We Belong is the third studio album by Irish boy band Boyzone. The album was released on 25 May 1998 by Polydor Records. Five singles were released from the album, including a cover version of "I Love the Way You Love Me". The album became a top 10 album in eleven countries. It was the group's second album to be released in the United States, where it charted at number 167 on the Billboard 200. Where We Belong is also the third and final studio album Boyzone released before the death of Stephen Gately, 11 years later.
Haken are an English progressive metal band formed in 2007 by multi-instrumentalist Richard Henshall, guitarist Matthew Marshall, and vocalist Ross Jennings. While Henshall, Marshall, and Jennings first had the idea of forming Haken in 2004, they opted to pursue their instruments and songwriting first. Upon recruiting other members three years later, they eventually released the demo Enter the 5th Dimension in 2008, signing with Sensory Records and releasing their first album Aquarius in 2010. As of 2023, they have released seven studio albums, two EPs, and two live albums.
Richard James "Hen" Henshall is an English progressive metal multi-instrumentalist. He is best known as the guitarist and keyboardist for the bands To-Mera, Haken, Nova Collective, and Opinaut. He has released one album (Exile) with To-Mera, seven with Haken, and one solo album. He has also released EPs and singles: Oxygen, Redemption, Earthbound, and Restoration. Henshall was classically trained on the piano from the age of seven. By the age of 11 to 12, he started playing the guitar on a self-taught basis. He also had drums and clarinet classes.
The Unforgiving is the fifth studio album by Dutch symphonic metal band Within Temptation, released by Roadrunner Records on 29 March 2011. It was a concept album as one part of a transmedia storytelling project, which accompanied the release of three short films and a series of six comic books. The album followed the band's pattern of incorporating new musical elements on each release, this time marking a major transition point for the band and featuring more pop and 80s influences. Lyrically, the band focused on telling a story with specific characters, also present in the films and comic books.
The Paradigm Shift is the eleventh studio album by American nu metal band Korn. Produced by Don Gilmore, it was released by multiple labels in the United Kingdom on October 7, 2013, and in the United States the next day. It is the first Korn album to feature original guitarist Brian "Head" Welch since 2003's Take a Look in the Mirror.
The Mountain is the third studio album by English progressive metal band Haken. It was released on 2 September 2013 through Inside Out Music. It is the last album to feature bassist Thomas MacLean.
Affinity is the fourth studio album by English progressive metal band Haken. It was released on 29 April 2016 by Inside Out Music. It is the group's first full-length album with the bass guitarist Conner Green following the departure of Thomas MacLean.
Torment is the twelfth studio album from American death metal band Six Feet Under, released on February 24, 2017 by Metal Blade Records. It is the first album to feature drummer Marco Pitruzzella. It is the first album since 2013's Unborn to feature bassist Jeff Hughell, whom also plays all guitars on the album.
Reaching into Infinity is the seventh studio album by British power metal band DragonForce, released on 19 May 2017. It is the band's first studio album to feature drummer Gee Anzalone and the last to feature longtime keyboardist Vadim Pruzhanov.
L-1VE is the first video album by English progressive metal band Haken. It was released on 22 June 2018. Most of the concert was filmed on 13 April 2017, at the Melkweg in Amsterdam during their 10th anniversary tour in 2017. It also includes four bonus tracks filmed at ProgPower USA 2016 at the Center Stage in Atlanta, which also includes Mike Portnoy's cameo appearance on gong, as well as all of the official videos from the Affinity album.
Vector is the fifth studio album by English progressive metal band Haken. It was released on 26 October 2018 through Inside Out Music. It is the shortest studio album by the band and the first with a duration of less than one hour. The album was produced by the band and mixed by ex-Periphery bassist and producer Adam "Nolly" Getgood.
Virus is the sixth studio album by English progressive metal band Haken. It was released on 24 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.
Ross William Jennings is an English progressive metal singer, most known for being a founding member and the lead vocalist of the bands Haken and Novena. As of 2023, he has released seven albums with Haken, one with Novena, three with Redados and one solo album.
Inspirations is the first cover album by the English heavy metal band Saxon, released on 19 March 2021 by Silver Lining Music. Consisting entirely of covers, it was recorded at Brockfield Hall and The Big Silver Barn in York and produced by Biff Byford.
"Cockroach King" is a song by English progressive metal band Haken. It is the third song from the band's third album, The Mountain. Curiously, the song received a single edit shortly after the release of the album but the song was never directly released as a single. The song is to date the band's most popular song and would later go on to form the basis of the band's fifth and sixth albums, Vector and Virus.
Immutable is the ninth studio album by Swedish extreme metal band Meshuggah. It was released on April 1, 2022, via Atomic Fire Records, making it the band's first studio album to not be released through Nuclear Blast.