Richard James "Hen" Henshall (born 9 August 1984) is an English

progressive metal Progressive metal (often shortened to prog metal) is a broad fusion music genre melding heavy metal music, heavy metal and progressive rock, combining the loud "aggression" and amplified electric guitar, guitar-driven sound of the former with t ...

multi-instrumentalist. He is best known as the guitarist and keyboardist for the bands

To-Mera To-Mera are an English progressive metal band from South Oxfordshire. They were formed in 2004 and play a technical style of metal characterized by long songs, multiple time changes and jazz interludes. History Formation of the band The word ...

, Haken, Nova Collective, and Opinaut. He has released one album (''Exile'') with To-Mera, seven ('' Aquarius'', '' Visions,'' ''

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Vector Vector most often refers to: * Euclidean vector, a quantity with a magnitude and a direction * Disease vector, an agent that carries and transmits an infectious pathogen into another living organism Vector may also refer to: Mathematics a ...

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Virus A virus is a submicroscopic infectious agent that replicates only inside the living Cell (biology), cells of an organism. Viruses infect all life forms, from animals and plants to microorganisms, including bacteria and archaea. Viruses are ...

'' and

Fauna Fauna (: faunae or faunas) is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding terms for plants and fungi are ''flora'' and '' funga'', respectively. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively ...

) with Haken, and one solo album ('' The Cocoon''). He has also released EPs and singles: ''Oxygen'' (with Opinaut), ''Redemption'' (with Alma West), ''

Earthbound ''EarthBound'', originally released in Japan as is a 1994 role-playing video game, role-playing video game developed by Ape, Inc., Ape Inc. and HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System as the second e ...

'' (with To-Mera), and '' Restoration'' (with Haken). Henshall was classically trained on the piano from the age of seven. By the age of 11 to 12, he started playing the guitar on a

self-taught Autodidacticism (also autodidactism) or self-education (also self-learning, self-study and self-teaching) is the practice of education without the guidance of schoolmasters (i.e., teachers, professors, institutions). Overview Autodi ...

basis. He also had drums and clarinet classes.

To-Mera

To-Mera formed in 2005 between a few friends, Julie Kiss (vocals), Thomas MacLean (guitar), Lee Barrett (bass), Akos Pirisi (drums), Hugo Sheppard (keyboard).To-Mera biography
They released a demo, which caught the attention of

Candlelight Records Candlelight Records is a British record label based in London, founded by former Extreme Noise Terror bass guitarist Lee Barrett in 1993. The record label originally specialized in black metal, but quickly expanded to various other forms of hea ...

. The band's musical style was drastically different from conventional

; the band drew upon a plethora of influences such as

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...

. In 2006, To-Mera released ''Transcendental'' through Candlelight. The radical new style opened up slots to open for groups such as

Dream Theater Dream Theater is an American progressive metal band formed in 1985 in Boston, Massachusetts. The band comprises John Petrucci (guitar), John Myung (bass), Mike Portnoy (drums), James LaBrie (vocals) and Jordan Rudess (keyboards). Dream Theat ...

Fates Warning Fates Warning is an American progressive metal band, formed in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1982 by vocalist John Arch, guitarists Jim Matheos and Victor Arduini, bassist Joe DiBiase, and drummer Steve Zimmerman. There have been numerous lineup ch ...

, and

Emperor The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...

. In 2008, To-Mera released their next album, ''Delusions''. In 2009, they parted with Candlelight. Hugo Sheppard left after this, and they hired Henshall as replacement. They then self-released their EP ''Earthbound''.

Haken

Haken was formed by school friends Ross Jennings (vocals), Matthew Marshall (guitar), and Henshall at first in 2004. The members parted ways for a while to study at university, reuniting in 2007. The current members hired Peter Jones on keyboards and Raymond Hearne on drums. Jones left soon after, and was replaced by Diego Tejeida. Charlie Griffiths was found on guitar, and Henshall brought in To-Mera bandmate Tom Maclean on bass. Henshall has composed most of Haken's songs by himself and contributed to some of the lyrics. He composed the whole '' Aquarius'' album alone, most of '' Visions'' (except "Premonition", co-written with

keyboardist A keyboardist or keyboard player is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical instru ...

Diego Tejeida and bassist Thomas MacLean; and "Insomnia", written by all members), and most of ''

'' (except "As Death Embraces", written by Tejeida). In this album, Henshall (as well as every other instrumentalist in the band) contributed with lyrics for the first time, on the song "Cockroach King". He would be credited as a lyricist again in the band's 2014 EP '' Restoration'', for the song "Crystallised" (co-written with Hearne and Griffiths). ''

'' (2016) and ''

'' (2018) both credited all songwriting to every band member.

Opinaut

Opinaut formed in early 2011 from a group of four musicians working at the Sutton Music Centre. All four were talented multi-instrumentalists who worked in music full-time as session players and tutors. The members are: Jon Hart on vocals, John Vince on drums, Henshall on guitar, and Samuel Brooks on bass. Opinaut’s style is a merge of drum and bass rock with dreamy electro vibes and epic chord sequences. Their EP ''Oxygen'' was released in 2011 and is available online.

Discography

Solo

*(2019) '' The Cocoon'' *(2024) ''Mu Vol. I (EP)''

With
To-Mera To-Mera are an English progressive metal band from South Oxfordshire. They were formed in 2004 and play a technical style of metal characterized by long songs, multiple time changes and jazz interludes. History Formation of the band The word ...

*(2009) ''

'' (EP) *(2012) ''Exile''

With Haken

* ''Demo'' (2007) *''Enter the 5th Dimension'' (Demo) (2008) *'' Aquarius'' (2010) *'' Visions'' (2011) *''

'' (2013) *'' Restoration'' (EP) (2014) *''

'' (2016) *'' L-1VE'' (Live Album) (2018) *''

'' (2018) *''

'' (2020) *''

'' (2023) *'' Liveforms'' (Live Album) (2025)

With Nova Collective

*''The Further Side'' (2017)

With Opinaut

*(2011) ''Oxygen'' (EP)

With Rainmask

*(2018) ''Walls'' (Single) *(2018) ''Lighting Up the Sky'' (Single)

With Alma West

* (2019) ''Redemption''

With Andy Simmons

* (2020) ''Duplicated Motion'' (EP)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Henshall, Richard Progressive metal guitarists English heavy metal guitarists English heavy metal keyboardists English rock bass guitarists English male bass guitarists English heavy metal drummers English composers Living people 1984 births 21st-century English drummers 21st-century English bass guitarists 21st-century British male musicians