I don’t really know why I didn’t listen to Haken sooner. In perfect honesty, ‘Affinity‘ was the first album I had ever heard by the progressive sextet, but one listen to this album and I was eternally hooked.

Haken are brilliant, but after being enlightened to their entire discography, I can still say that ‘Affinity‘ is one incredible album, and probably their best. Each track is a progressive masterpiece, but perhaps what entices me more than others is the way the band adopted a 1980’s theme into their music, be it a track with Bladerunner-inspired sci-fi sounds or a reminiscence in glam rock riffing. It’s very well thought out and very well executed.

It’s perhaps my favourite progressive metal album of 2016, and has not left the record player while I’ve been slowly trying to forgive myself for not listening to the band sooner. There’s always room for more prog on the album of the year shortlist, and ‘Affinity‘ certainly deserves to be there.