I had totally missed Haken until very recently. I remember having an opportunity to see them live in 2019 but I was busy with something else and didn’t want to squeeze another gig in my diary.

Haken are sounding quite a lot like Between the Buried And Me but without the growl vocals and their songs are shorter. It’s a mix and match of different styles but stays pretty well in the progressive metal territory. If you’d put Dream Theater, Karnivool and Between the Buried And Me in a mixer, you would possibly get the base ingredients of Haken out.

Some of the toppings they add are influences from electronic music and computer games, especially in the middle of the song Puzzle Box. It’s a musical perfection like so many others in this genre. Progressive metal just like it should be.

I’m listening to this album over and over again and that’s why it deserves a spot on this list.