''Vector'' is the fifth studio album by British
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
Periphery or peripheral may refer to:
Music
*Periphery (band), American progressive metal band
* ''Periphery'' (album), released in 2010 by Periphery
* "Periphery", a song from Fiona Apple's album '' The Idler Wheel...''
Gaming and entertainm ...
bassist and producer Adam "Nolly" Getgood.
The album's first single, "The Good Doctor", was released on 31 August 2018 along with its official music video. The album's second single, "Puzzle Box", was released on 28 September 2018 for digital download, following the daily publication of six scrambled parts from it in the spirit of the song's theme. The original version of "Puzzle Box" is created when the scrambled parts are put into the correct order. A third single, "A Cell Divides", was released digitally on 19 October, along with its video clip.
The artwork was created by long-time collaborators Blacklake,
which features a
Rorschach test ink-blot design. The album is loosely connected to their following album ''
Virus
A virus is a submicroscopic infectious agent that replicates only inside the living cells of an organism. Viruses infect all life forms, from animals and plants to microorganisms, including bacteria and archaea.
Since Dmitri Ivanovsky's 1 ...
,'' released on 24 July 2020.
Background
About the album, vocalist
Ross Jennings
Ross James Jennings (13 November 1944 – 25 March 2016) was a New Zealand actor, becoming one of New Zealand's most experienced television producers and directors, whose credits included ''The Mad Dog Gang'', '' Close to Home'', Moynihan, Insi ...
commented:
Guitarist Charlie Griffiths added:
Concept
Regarding the album's concept, Griffiths said:
When asked about the concept, keyboardist Diego Tejeida stated that the field of
psychology
Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...
was involved, as well as influences from
psychoanalysis
PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: + . is a set of theories and therapeutic techniques"What is psychoanalysis? Of course, one is supposed to answer that it is many things — a theory, a research method, a therapy, a body of knowledge. In what might b ...
,
Freudian theories, the
Milgram experiments,
Pavlovian conditioning
Classical conditioning (also known as Pavlovian or respondent conditioning) is a behavioral procedure in which a biologically potent stimulus (e.g. food) is paired with a previously neutral stimulus (e.g. a triangle). It also refers to the learni ...
, and
operant conditioning experiments.
Critical reception
Concluding the review for
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
, Thom Jurek wrote that "Haken's willingness to take chances keeps older fans in the fold because here, they've balanced a far more aggressive direction with more nuanced elements from each phase of their recorded development. Vector is at once a brave new chapter and a logical -- if surprising -- continuation of Haken's always expansive M.O."
Nick Andreas from ''Sonic Perspectives'' gave ''Vector'' 9.3 out of 10 and said: "The only major strike against ''Vector'', if it really is one, is that we only get forty-five minutes of music. But that's all good in my book, as the band seemed to go with quality over quantity in delivering a brilliant album that might be their best sounding yet. It shows off some fresh new styles, and sees the instrumentation again finding new sounds and rhythmic approaches, all of course centered around the group's always-solid songwriting."
Track listing
The deluxe edition of the album includes instrumental versions of all songs. The digital deluxe edition is missing the instrumental songs "Clear" and "Nil by Mouth". Also while the outro "Verbal Summator" is missing at the end of "A Cell Divides" on the digital version of the album, it is included in the instrumental version of the song.
Personnel
Haken
*
Ross Jennings
Ross James Jennings (13 November 1944 – 25 March 2016) was a New Zealand actor, becoming one of New Zealand's most experienced television producers and directors, whose credits included ''The Mad Dog Gang'', '' Close to Home'', Moynihan, Insi ...
– vocals
*
Richard Henshall
Richard James "Hen" Henshall is a British progressive metal multi-instrumentalist. He is best known for being the guitarist and keyboardist for the bands To-Mera, Haken, Nova Collective, and Opinaut. He has released one album (''Exile'') wit ...
– guitars
* Charlie Griffiths – guitars
* Diego Tejeida – keyboards, sound design
* Conner Green – bass
* Raymond Hearne – drums
Additional personnel
* Miguel Gorodi – trumpets ("The Good Doctor"), flugelhorn ("Host")
* Pete Jones – additional drum programming ("Puzzle Box")
* Pete Rinaldi – additional guitars ("Veil" and "Host")
Production and design
* Haken –
production
Production may refer to:
Economics and business
* Production (economics)
* Production, the act of manufacturing goods
* Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services)
* Production as a stati ...
* Anthony Leung – drum engineering
* Adam "Nolly" Getgood – drum engineering,
mixing, drum recording
* Diego Tejeida – vocal production and engineering
* Chris McKenzie – vocal assistant engineer
* Sebastian Sendon – mix assistant
* Ermin Hamidovic – mastering
* Blacklake – artwork, design
* Corey Meyers – logo
Charts
References
{{Authority control
2018 albums
Haken (band) albums
Inside Out Music albums