Tag: Haven

This is the second album from Haven and in my opinion they kept their style but corrected the problems with the first album. First of all they kept their quality vocals and continued to avoid screaming. They also didn’t commercial up the sound with keyboards as so many metal bands are tempted to do on second release. There is piano but it is well done and respectful to the style of music they were doing. I always respect a band that stays true to their style on a second album. I believe that often record companies want to “commercialize” up a second album but not here. R.E.X. Music let the guys do what they do well. You will notice that several tracks are quite long and usually a record label tries to talk bands out of doing that but not here. It really looks like they let the guys just do their thing. The one area that things were greatly improved on this album was the engineering and production. So here it is, an honest straight forward metal album that you will enjoy.

Tracklist
1 – Tenacious Volition – 1:14
2 – Divination – 4:46
3 – When You Said Goodbye – 5:30
4 – Holly – 5:15
5 – Exaltation – 1:06
6 – The Witching Hour – 7:00
7 – Seance – 5:17
8 – Spend My Life With You – 5:21
9 – Unchanging Love – 4:57
10 – Blood Of The Lamb – 4:42
11 – Once Upon A Time – 3:10

Credits
Acoustic Guitar – Ed Bruner, John Farrell, Kevin Ayers
Artwork – Jeff Spencer
Bass Guitar – Ed Bruner
Engineer – Johns Thomson, Tom Tatman
Executive-Producer – Doug Mann
Guitar – Andrew Bruner, John Farrell, Kevin Ayers
Mixed By – Tom Tatman
Piano – Ed Bruner
Producer – Kevin Ayers, Kurt Bachman
Vocals – Kevin Ayers

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright (p) – R.E.X. Music Inc.
Copyright (c) – R.E.X. Music Inc.
Glass Mastered At – DADC – DIDX-011615

This was the introductory album from New Jersey metal band Haven. Released in 1990 you might have missed it in the flood of Metal albums coming out at this time but this one did have some differences. It is more of a white metal album with no keyboards confusing the sound. You certainly won’t mistake this for the glam style metal albums of the time. This is in fact a straight up metal band that relies on great guitar riffs and solid time keeping drums. The vocals are not that high pitch screaming but instead a more middle of the range quality feel. Again this is not my style of music but I can hear the quality here. These guys definitely knew what they were doing. My only complaint is the mix, it just really could have used some more range but instead feels compressed at times. That said you should definitely give this album listen if you missed it at the time. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Tracklist
1 – On Judgement Day – 5:22
2 – Deliver Me – 4:47
3 – Murder – 4:48
4 – Below The Grave – 2:49
5 – The Calling – 5:36
6 – America – 4:38
7 – Escape – 4:34
8 – Help Me Follow – 3:23
9 – I Found Love – 5:35
10 – Your Dying Day – 5:37

Credits
Acoustic Guitar – Andrew Bruner
Artwork – Sudden Images
Backing Vocals – Kevin Ayers
Drums – Tim Benton
Electric Bass – Ed Bruner
Electric Guitar – Andrew Bruner
Electric Guitar, Rhythm Guitar – Kevin Ayers
Lead Vocals – Kevin Ayers
Photography By – Mike Ayers
Producer – Doug Mann, Paul Krueger
Songwriter – Haven

Companies, etc.
Recorded At – Morningstar Studios
Distributed By – Spectra Distribution, Inc.
Phonographic Copyright (p) – R.E.X. Music Inc.
Copyright (c) – R.E.X. Music Inc.
Glass Mastered At – DADC – DIDX-008265