From Potsdam, Germany, come five-piece Haven trying to breathe new life into a genre that’s closely connected to the final decade of the last century – alternative metal. How does that sound and how are they doing it? Let’s find out. In any case, if you like the Deftones and are likewise fond of various well-known post-metal bands, this might be something for you.
Vessel, the band’s second EP, starts out rather dramatically. A short passage of ambient sounds, establishing an unease-laden, cold, desolate atmosphere, is disturbed by massive, reverberating riffs, soon joined by percussion. This certainly gets the listener’s attention. After a short while, clean, rather quiet vocals set in, adding a bit of softness to the harsh sounds. So far, so good! But quickly the soundscape shifts, the vocals become shrieky, and the music takes on the hardcorey, noisy character of alternative metal that anyone who lived through the 1990s would recognize in their sleep.
Throughout its 14-minute runtime, Miasma, the EP’s first and longest track, frequently changes course and character. This is most apparent in the vocal performance, which goes from clean to shrieky and growly, and then back again. The band’s influences, besides alternative metal and post-metal, are clearly noise and ambient. After Miasma follows Samsara in similar style, but featuring a bit more melody alongside the heavy riffage. Finally, Within, the last track, is a different piece of music with numerous overlapping ambient sounds and clean vocals.
The band lists “self-reflection, consequence of action, the structure of ego, the weight of personal experience, and questions concerning the significance of human life” as themes that formed the music. The angst can well we heard, but what I find missing, especially in Miasma, is a sonic red thread. Without it, the music is a bit all over the place and nowhere in particular.
(6.5/10 Slavica)
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