In the modern world of cultural fast food, you hardly hear of musical acts spending much time fine tuning the elements of their musical work. But Hadean from Cologne, Germany chose the option to deliberately sculpt every minute detail of their opus “Origins” across more than a decade. And they’ve turned up with nothing short of extraordinary.

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After their 2010 debut “Parasite,” the band spent over a decade crafting “Origins,” and the result is a six-track, hour-long journey that combines progressive metal with classical orchestration in ways that feel both ancient and futuristic at the same time. Origins by Hadean is a concept album that traces a loose narrative about humanity’s beginnings, its rise, and the potential downfall of its own civilization, framed as a personal and philosophical journey about our place on Earth and in the cosmos.

A cosmos of forgotten dreams

The album opens with “Ruins of Time,” and right away I’m getting serious Haken vibes, especially from their early work. But Hadean isn’t content to stay in that lane. What makes this band special is how they weave together these massive cosmic themes with intimate human moments. Nicolao dos Santos drew inspiration from Werner Herzog‘s “Cave of Forgotten Dreams” and Carl Sagan‘s “Cosmos,” and you can hear that sense of wonder throughout every track.

I remember watching it in 3D in a small cinema with old red seats, and the first scenes from inside the cave transported me straight into the past

“I remember watching it in 3D in a small cinema with old red seats, and the first scenes from inside the cave transported me straight into the past” dos Santos recalls about Herzog’s documentary. “I felt connected to the beginning of our species, the beginning of art. I wanted to create something as transcendent as well.” That ambition runs through every moment of this album, from the opening notes to the final fade.

The band name itself comes from Hades, the Greek god of the underworld, which adds another layer to their exploration of origins and endings. It’s a fitting choice for a project that deals so heavily with beginnings, evolution, and entropy.

A Half hour centrepiece

Now let’s talk about the centrepiece. The title track “Origins” runs for 30 minutes and takes up half the album. Thirty minutes. Not something to attempt unless you’re absolutely technical masters, and Hadean pulls it off. The track unfolds in five chapters, blending a full symphony orchestra, choir, and tribal percussion with crushing metal riffs.

Dos Santos explains his compositional approach: “Early on, I wanted to contrast the orchestral majesty, which for me is linked to the vastness of space, with non-European percussion: something grounded and human, like a pulse. That’s why the heartbeat became a motif in the artwork.” You can hear this contrast throughout the piece, that balance between the cosmic and the intimate, the universal and the personal.

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The way they reorchestrate themes throughout the piece, bringing back melodies in different keys and contexts, shows a compositional maturity that comes from dos Santos’ years studying music and art. “In Chapter V, we revisit quite a few in different keys and instrumentations,” he notes. “There are some lyrics of the beginning that get resolved at the end, and there is a subtle connection to the opening song ‘Ruins of Time.'” It’s the kind of attention to detail that rewards multiple listens.

What really strikes me is how the album came together. “We never played the songs together before recording,” dos Santos admits. “Only ‘Starborn’ and ‘Like Tears in Rain’ had been performed live, and part of ‘Ruins of Time’ at a rehearsal right after the Parasite release. For everything else, the guys trusted me to shape the arrangements.” That level of trust between bandmates is rare, and you can hear it in the final product. There’s a coherence here that goes beyond technical proficiency.

Production and recording

The production on “Origins” deserves serious praise. Mixed by Michael Haas and mastered by the legendary Jens Bogren (who’s worked with basically every modern prog metal band you can name, from Opeth to Between the Buried and Me to Haken), the album maintains clarity even when the arrangements get dense. The orchestra never drowns out the metal, and the metal never overpowers the delicate classical passages. Everything sits exactly where it needs to be.

The recording process itself was extensive and chaotic. Drummer Matthias Bielecke recorded his parts in his own studio, elevating dos Santos’ basic drum sketches to another level. They tracked orchestral percussion in a huge gymnasium hall. Each classical musician was recorded individually, mixing friends from university with hired professionals. The guitars were re-amped twice to fit the evolving sonic landscape. “Would I do things differently now? Of course,” dos Santos reflects. “But every step, even the chaotic ones, was worth it.”

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“One of the most interesting moments was realising that one of the first things I ever composed ‘wanted’ to be part of Origins, like missing pieces of a puzzle, lyrics and music,” dos Santos shares. “As if it waited two decades to find the right surroundings.” That kind of creative patience and trust in the process is what separates good albums from great ones.

Tracks like “Starborn” explore Carl Sagan’s famous quote “We are made of star-stuff,” turning it into a meditation on mortality and cosmic connection. “Quantum” works on multiple levels, appearing as a space-themed track on the surface while functioning as a tragic love song underneath. “Like Tears in Rain” explores entropy and endings with genuine emotional weight. Each song contributes to the larger narrative while standing on its own merits.

Chiseling every detail

The COVID years, despite slowing production considerably, turned out to be a blessing in disguise. “It gave us distance to spot missing elements and revisit the complex mixes,” dos Santos explains. “I even rewrote some lyrics to fit better with the evolving arrangements and concept.” That willingness to keep refining, to keep pushing toward the best possible version of each idea, is what makes “Origins” such a complete statement.

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Hadean’s sound evolved dramatically during the gap between albums. Dos Santos spent five years studying art and then music, learning to write for orchestra and choir, exploring South American classical guitar, and absorbing influences far beyond metal. “After 5 years of art studies, at the end of the Parasite production, I also begun studying music,” he says. “All the music theory, music and art history, choir singing, classical guitar lessons, exposure to different composers and artists completely changed my understanding of what music and art could be. Without that education, Origins simply wouldn’t exist.”

A voyage spanning human history and beyond

The album was released on April 24, 2025, the 35th anniversary of the Hubble Space Telescope launch. Hadean was even granted permission to use NASA and Hubble images for the artwork, a fitting tribute given the cosmic scope of the music. When you look at those stunning space images while listening to these songs, everything clicks into place. The music, the concept, the visuals, all working together to create something bigger than the sum of its parts.

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What impresses me most about “Origins” is how it balances accessibility with complexity. Yes, there’s a 30-minute title track. Yes, there are orchestras and choirs and intricate compositional canvasses. But none of it feels like showing off. Every element serves the songs, serves the narrative, serves that sense of wonder and connection that dos Santos set out to capture when he watched Herzog’s documentary in that small cinema with the old red seats.

After 15 years of development, lineup changes, and pandemic delays, Hadean has created something that justifies every minute of the wait. “Origins” is ambitious progressive metal done right, the kind of album that rewards repeated listens and reveals new layers each time. This is cosmic storytelling with substance, a journey worth taking again and again.

Read the full interview with Nicolao dos Santos of Hadean, here.

1. The record is really ambitious in its musicality and narrative scope, a journey spanning human history and cosmology. How did you approach weaving such an expansive narrative into a coherent musical work?

My love for concept albums tends to lead me down this road; after Parasite I promised myself I wouldn’t do another conceptual piece, but here we are, haha. A lot revolved around the song “Origins”, which was always intended as the centre piece ofthe whole album: It was a lot of consistent work, I was writing every day for a while, shifting ideas around, and although a lot happens subconsciously, I had a vision of what I wanted.Once there was a pool of core themes, I saw patterns, organised them and mapped out the dynamic of the title track in 5 parts. Early on, I wanted to contrast the orchestral majesty, which for me is linked to the vastness of space with non-European percussion: something grounded and human, like a pulse. That’s why the heartbeat became a motif in the artwork and during the mixing we added a sonic representation in one of the transitions, which happened to coincide with the lyrics rather nicely.

“Origins” as the album title opened the door to so many directions with an overarching narrative: human evolution, history, space travel, but also the duality of beginnings and endings, which ties into the more entropic lyrics of “Like Tears in Rain” and “Starborn,”.The latter was also inspired by Sagan’s famous quote “We are made of star-stuff”, which shines a light on the inevitable demise depicted in that tune. “Quantum” on a surface level is about the space- theme, underneath, it is a tragic love song. This multilayered approach is a lot of fun to work on, and it bridges the macro and micro perspective, and I think adding the human perspective helps to make some of the arcane ideas relatable.

In the title track “Origins” I also re- orchestrated musical themes, chord progressions and lyrics throughout the piece, especially in Chapter V, we revisit quite a few in different keys and instrumentations. There are some lyrics of the beginning that get resolved at the end, and there is a subtle connection to the opening song “Ruins of Time”. Since we were allowed to use NASA and Hubble pictures for the artwork, as a homage, Origins was released on the 35^th anniversary of the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope on 24^th April 2025.

One of the most interesting moments was realising that one of the first things I ever composed“wanted” to be part of Origins, like missing pieces of a puzzle – lyrics and music! As if it waited two decades to find the right surroundings! So, you see, some of it was planned, some of it was pure chance. But all these things helped to connect the different ideas on a musical, lyrical and graphical level.

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2. You mention Werner Herzog’s “Cave of Forgotten Dreams” and Carl Sagan’s ‘Cosmos’ as key inspirations. What specific moments or ideas from them triggered the conception of the album?

The “Cave of Forgotten Dreams” documentary was the initial spark for the album. I remember watching it in 3D in a small cinema with old red seats, and the first scenes from inside the cave transported me straight into the past. Ernst Reijseger’s music, his cello, those eerie choir arrangements, the lonely piano: everything was hauntingly beautiful, and I felt connected to the beginning of our species, the beginning of art. I wanted to create something as transcendent as well. Also, the implications of human artists presence that long ago, it was awe inspiring and I marvelled how far we have come… yet also wondered where we could go with our potential? Well, to the stars. “Cosmos”, both Sagan’s original and the 2014 continuation, deepened my passion for the history and frontier of science and the way it intersects with art. That mixture played a big role in shaping Origins.

3. Fifteen years passed between your last album Parasite and Origins that’s a significant gap. How did your approach to songwriting and your vision evolve during that time?
Parasite was released in late 2010. We had a few line- up changes along the way and worked on the album for 10 years, because of the complexity andscope of the production. Anyway, that is a great question…

I suppose my approach became more informed and knowledgeable over time, while looking at the bigger picture. After 5 years of art studies, at the end of the Parasite production, I also begun studying music, which led to the string quartet piece “The Prophecy (Of Our Perdition)”. For the new album, all the music theory, music/ art history, choir singing, classical guitar lessons, exposure to different composers/ artists… completely changed my understanding of what music and art could be. Without that education, Origins simply wouldn’t exist. I wouldn’t have had the tools to write for orchestra and choir, let alone produce it! I got a lot of help from great people, let’s not forget – and I am very grateful! I didn’t want to slap an orchestra keyboard sound on a finished song; I wanted both worlds to be equal from the beginning. During those years I barely listened to heavy metal, because there were so many new things to discover. South American classical guitar, especially Yamandu Costa’s 7-string playing, influenced me enough that I had a guitar built and Icarried the Brazilian tuning (C, E, A, D, g, b, e) over to the electric guitar for large parts of the title track.

I thought far more about sound, recording, and mixing while I was writing, which wasn’t the case back in the day. It´s a process I reckon… And the new compositions have a different approach again; I found myself just playing, recording ideas and getting into the “zone” again, but I feel I can work faster. Maybe it is a mixture of spontaneity and knowledge now that I have internalised many things I was learning over the years. After I left the university, I started to take vocal lessons with Onita Boone and guitar lessons with Chris Broderick, both great mentors who helped at the tail end of the production in different ways. And I’ll continue to learn new things and grow as a musician and artist.

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4. The record moves from intimate passages to dense, orchestral progmetal without losing impact or clarity. Can you walk through the production chain from preproduction to Jens Bogren’s mastering work, and explain what tweaks you made along the way?

With pleasure, though it won’t be a short answer, apologies! I began composing everything in a notation software, developing themes, organising riffs and chord progressions. That allowed me to focus purely on the sound of my ideas without worrying about playing limitations, and I could move things around, revisit older versions, pull back ideas I had dismissed earlier. Once I felt confident about each piece, I created the first demos using an orchestra library, virtual drums and bass, and tracked basic guitars. Because I intended the metal band and the orchestra to have equal weight from the very beginning, this stage was crucial for maintaining coherence and balance, for example to see if a melody would be buried by other instruments, and which instruments would fit togetherfor the desired effect. With these pre- production demos I turned to lyrics and vocal ideas. Interestingly, we never played the songs together before recording, only “Starborn,” and“Like Tears in Rain,” had been performed live, and part of “Ruins of Time” at a rehearsalright after the Parasite release. For everything else, the guys trusted me to shape the arrangements.

Our drummer at the time, Matthias Bielecke, set up his kit in his studio. He took my basic drum sketches and elevated them to a whole new level, and we recorded his orchestral percussion in a huge gymnasium hall. After that we moved on to the classical instruments. We recorded each player individually, friends from my university, some hired musicians, and others from my previous uni. Then came the rhythm guitars, and our then-bass player Lars laid down his parts. The guitars were re-amped twice: once at the start of the mixing phase, and again after receiving the first orchestra mixes, when we realised the tones needed to be adjusted to fit the new sonic landscape.

A lot of overdubs were tracked in various sessions, acoustic and classical guitars, the tribal percussion. Roman Beilharz played an important role; he was my audio professor at the Institute of Music at the University of Kassel during that time. We recorded classical soprano Anna Nesyba (also a teacher at the same university), and my new 7-string classical guitar in his studio, too. Matt played almost all the steel-string and 12-string guitars, while Yannik added some overdubs on acoustic and electric. Both contributed backing vocals as well.

After Lars left the band, Andreas, my bandmate from Steorrah, joined on bass and naturally added some growls. Somewhere along this chaotic and fun process, my dear friend Janina Schweitzer, then an opera student at the Folkwang Conservatory, Essen Germany, helped refine some of the choir harmonies and assembled a choir for the recording session. When she later rehearsed with us for live shows, she improvised beautiful soprano lines that we immediately knew she had to record. By now she graduated with 2 masters and is already winning competitions left, right and centre, so it is a privilege to have her on board.

We mixed the band parts at the Big Easy Studio, owned by our singer Michael, which gave us the time to obsess over details. Though the COVID years slowed everything downconsiderably, it was a blessing in hindsight: it gave us distance to spot missing elements and revisit the complex mixes, and I even rewrote some lyrics to fit better with the evolving arrangements and concept. In parallel, Roman mixed the orchestra, piano, percussions and choir elements with the Vienna MIR, a 3- D room simulation. There was a lot of back-and-forth communication between both studios, constant adjusting of levels to get everything to sit together without losing clarity. Mario joined on drums during this phase and through his suggestion we set a deadline and a release date. Each member submitted a “final mix” – wish list, and while those tweaks were handled, we discussed mastering engineers. Jens Bogren was at the top of the list. He’s a legend in this field, and given the bands he’s worked with, he was an ideal match for such a dense, orchestral metal album. Luckily, he accepted the job. He worked incredibly fast, and the result speaks for itself. Would I do things differently now? Of course. But every step, even the chaotic ones, was worth it.

5. For the gear heads, what does your current live rig look like in terms of guitars, amps/modelers, and how closely does it mirror what you use in the studio?

In the studio I used my Mayones Regius 7, Yannik used his Schecter Jeff Loomis 7 and a Schecter C1 Blackjack ATX. Acoustics were: my classical 7-string (built by luthier Christian Stoll), an Ibanez 12 string and a steel thing that Matt brought to the studio, I don’t remember which one that was. The amps were the ENGL Powerball and ENGL Savage Special Edition; the cabinet was a huge ENGL 4×12 XXL.

Live we keep things lighter. I use the Helix Floor, Yannik plays through the Quad Cortex, and Andy uses a Helix Stomp XL for bass. We keep some additional guitars around for alternate tunings and backup, Jackson, LTD, Ibanez, and we occasionally bring a Rozini classical 7-string (which I bought in Rio de Janeiro) for the title track “Origins”. To get closer to the studio sound and to get something that works live, every now and then, we record rehearsals and fine-tune the patches from there.

6. What are some of your non rock and metal musical influences, other than classical music, of course?

When I was younger, I listened to some hip hop, a lot of Celtic music, and bands like The Prodigy and Portishead, still one of my favourites. On a rainy day, I like some jazz and movie scores. More recently I’ve tried to explore Brazilian music because I grew up in Germany and missed that part of my heritage: Samba, Bossa Nova, MPB, Forró and Choro. Through capoeira, the afro- Brazilian martial arts, which I started to practise in 2017, I got into the music used in that tradition as well, including the instruments.

I also became fond of 60s and 70s music: psychedelic, soul and prog like Gentle Giant and King Crimson. Maybe surprisingly I love Erykah Badu’s “Baduism”. Film composers such as Alan Silvestri, Joel Goldsmith (Stargate: Atlantis), Murray Gold (Doctor Who), Howard Shore (The Lord of the Rings) and the theme of Farscape definitely influenced the symphonic and sci-fi elements on the album.

7. How do you balance wearing your influences on your sleeve while carving out Hadean’sown identity? Where do you let those influences show and where are you intentionally push against them?

Hadean’s sound came from the five of us writing the final songs of Parasite together in the rehearsal room. Since then, I’ve just tried to write what feels right, and influences from the others are crucial. When I write, I often think, “This is something Michael likes to sing to,” or I adapt to Yannik’s style or try to be inspired by his last song idea to make a coherent, yet interesting continuation. Our sound blends metal, classical music, and progressive elements without drifting into shred territory. I don’t try to push against influences, if they’re part of my musical DNA, how can I deny them? However; some ideas simply belong to other projects, I have developed a good sense what fits to which of my bands.

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