Darkest Light is the first track we get to hear from their upcoming EP “Restoration”, coming out October 27. Why do I say old song? Well, that song’s a modernized version of “Blind”, the first song off their 2007-2008 demo “Into the 5th Dimension”. It’s been a long time, but that demo was some of the best Haken material. Here’s a brief history lesson: before going all Dream Theater-esque on Visions, most notably, they used to blend circus music into their songs, and they used to incorporate some growls, too, most notable on “Aquarius”. On the Restoration version of “Blind”, they’ve added the sweet 8 stringers, and updated the rhythm section of the band, and it’s amazing! However, the song is much shorter : 6:48, compared to the 11:40 found on the 2007-2008 demo, almost cut in half! What happened? Well, you can say farewell to the circus music, and also the growls.

To think that I had some hope of them reappearing in Haken’s sound…