English prog metal band Haken will unveil their seventh studio album next March.

Fauna is slated to be released on March 3rd via Inside Out Music. The nine-track album includes the previously released single “Nightingale.” To celebrate the album’s announcement, Haken dropped their new single "The Alphabet of Me",” which is out on digital services right now. An accompanying music video directed by Crystal Spotlight can be seen below.

Vocalist Ross Jennings said this about working on the album:

“The premise of the album when we started writing it was that every song would have an animal assigned to it. They all have something related to the animal kingdom that we could write about, but they also connect to the human world. Each track has layers, and some of them are more obvious than others.”

Guitarist Richard Henshall also said:

“There, we had the idea of not really a narrative-based album, but more the concept of climbing a mountain and overcoming the obstacles along the way. Then we took that and thought about how it could relate to our everyday lives. All of Fauna’s animals relate to us, personally.”

Fauna sees the return of original keyboardist Peter Jones, who exited the band in 2008. Ross said this about reuniting with Jones on the album:

“What Pete’s brought sonically to the band has played a massive role in why we do have a lot of new sounds on this record. It’s always a new dynamic when there’s a change in personnel, and this is a fresh and reviving one. It’s certainly helped proximity-wise, with Pete being in the country: Pete and Ray [Hearne, Haken’s drummer] would be at Rich’s place and they’d just start jamming. That’s really key to how the songs start.”

Pre-orders for Fauna can be made here. This will be the follow up to Haken’s 2020 studio album Virus.

Haken will embark on a European co-headlining tour with Between The Buried and Me with support from Cryptodira. Tour dates can be seen below. Tickets are on sale to the general public here.

Fauna tracklisting

1. Taurus 04:49

2. Nightingale 07:24

3. The Alphabet of Me 05:33

4. Sempiternal Beings 08:23

5. Beneath The White Rainbow 06:45

6. Island In The Clouds 05:45

7. Lovebite 03:49

8. Elephants Never Forget 11:07

9. Eyes Of Ebony 08:32

Haken tour dates

2/21 Hamburg, GER – Gruenspan

2/22 Leipzig, GER – Werk 2

2/23 Berlin, GER – Heimathafen

2/24 Warsaw, POL – Proxima

2/25 Prague, CZE – Palac Akropolis

2/26 Vienna, AUT – Simm City

2/28 Budapest, HUN – Durer Kert

3/1 Munich, GER – Freiheitshalle

3/2 Karlsruhe, GER – Stadtmitte

3/3 Aarau, SWI – Kiff Saal

3/4 Roncade-Treviso, ITA – New AGE

3/5 Milan, ITA – Alcatraz

3/6 Lyon, FRA – Ninkasi Kao

3/8 Barcelona, SPA – Razzmatazz 2

3/9 Madrid, SPA – Mon

3/10 Murcia, SPA – Garaje

3/11 Seville, SPA – Custom

3/12 Lisbon, POR – Lisboa ao Vivo

3/13 Porto, POR – Hard Club

3/15 Toulouse, FRA – Connexion Live

3/16 Nantes, FRA – Ferrailleur

3/17 Paris, FRA – Alhambra

3/19 Esch-sur-Alzette, LUX – Rockhal

3/20 Cologne, GER – Burgerhaus Stollwerck

3/21 Antwerp, BEL – Trix Club

3/22 Tilburg, NET – 013

3/23 Bristol, UK – SWX

3/24 Manchester, UK – Academy 2

3/25 Glasgow, UK – Garage

3/26 London, UK – Shepherds Bush Empire

3/28 Aarhus, DEN – Voxhall

3/29 Oslo, NOR – Rockefeller

3/30 Copenhagen, DEN – Pumpehuset Kransal

3/31 Stockholm, SWE – Fryshuset Klubben

4/2 Tampere, FIN – Olympia-Kortelli

4/3 Helsinki, FIN – Vanha Ylioppilastalo

4/5 Gothenburg, SWE – Pustervik