On February 3rd, London-based progressive metal band Haken will release their first two albums, Aquarius and Visions, as new remastered 2CD editions as well as on vinyl for the very first time. They now reveal a stream of the remastered version of “Streams”, taken from Aquarius:

The first in a series of interviews with the band looking back on their first two albums and 10 years as a band has also now been launched. Watch guitarists Rich Henshall and Charlie Griffiths talk about Aqaurius below:

Vocalist Ross Jennings commented on the releases: "As advocates of the physical format and fellow record collectors, it seems almost criminal that our first two albums have never had a vinyl release until now, so we are thrilled to finally give these albums a fresh presentation on the format they deserve. We have taken this opportunity to polish the sound of our beloved concept albums without going back over every little detail and rewriting history. In essence we wanted to give these albums a chance to stand shoulder to shoulder in sonic quality with The Mountain and Affinity. In addition to this and due to popular demand, both releases will also be available again on CD with instrumental, or "Karaoke" versions of every track. This release marks 10 years since we formed the band and started putting together our first demos so it's a perfect time to reflect on these releases and appreciate what we've achieved so far.

“The Aquarius concept was drawn from conversations about our favourite albums and the way in which the songs flow that make those particular records work. This lead to ideas about having our album be about the flow or journey of water from mountain spring to oceans and evaporation, which in turn lead on to a deeper concept about human life and reincarnation. The themes of water helped us to create aqueous soundscapes and as the music and lyrics started coming together a narrative was formed in the shape of Mermaids & natural disasters. Aquarius will always have a special place in our hearts. It's where our journey really began.

“When writing for Visions came around, we set about the process with the same formula, although we hadn't set out to write another concept album at the time. As themes found themselves recurring in the music it only felt right to go in the narrative direction, although this time around we drew from our science fiction influences such as Minority Report and 12 Monkeys and was inspired by real recurring dreams I had been having around the time. It's always a joy to revisit these tracks in our live sets, so much so that we will be performing it in its entirety later this year at ProgPower USA, Atlanta!"

Newly remastered by the renowned Jens Bogren (Devin Townsend Project, Between the Buried & Me) both are available as 2CD Digipaks, digital album including the entire albums as instrumentals, and on vinyl, arriving as Gatefold heavyweight 2LP editions with the full album on CD included.

Buy limited colored vinyl and the 2CD digipak here.

Make sure to catch Haken live on the band's 10th anniversary tour kicking off in March, with support from The Algorithm and Next To None (except Israel).

Tour dates:

March
22 - Rescue Rooms - Nottingham, United Kingdom
23 - O2 ABC 2 - Glasgow, United Kingdom
24 - Manchester Academy 3 - Manchester, United Kingdom
25 - O2 Academy 2 Birmingham - Birmingham, United Kingdom
26 - Islington Assembly Hall - London, United Kingdom
28 - Le Splendid - Lille, France
29 - La Maroquinerie - Paris, France
30 - La Laiterie - Strasbourg, France
31 - Kiff - Aarau, Switzerland

April
1 - Keller Klub - Stuttgart, Germany
3 - Zona Roveri - Bologna, Italy
4 - Szene - Vienna, Austria
5 - Durer-Kert - Budapest, Hungary
6 - Futurum - Prague, Czech Republic
7 - Beatpol - Dresden, Germany
9 - Chez Heinz - Hannover, Germany
10 - Kesselhaus - Wiesbaden, Germany
11 - Turock - Essen, Germany
12 - Rockhal - Esch Sur Alzette, Luxembourg    
13 - Melkweg OZ - Amsterdam, Netherlands
15 - Bascula Club - Tel Aviv, Israel (Haken only)

The band will also be heading out on Cruise To The Edge from February 7th, and will be performing Visions in its entirety at Prog Power USA on September 6th.