Richard Henshall
The Cocoon

The guitarist, keyboardist, founder, and composer of Haken tries his hand as a solo artist. I can't quite say how much we needed an individual demonstration to ascertain his talent; Richard Henshall is the main mind and primary composer in Haken, his creativity already shines there at full power, and it's no coincidence that Haken has become one of the most significant bands in the prog scene of the past decade. But once you experience this demonstration, you realize Richard Henshall actually has more to offer. When making a solo album, it's often done to freely showcase what one can't always express with their band, where your taste must necessarily meet that of the other members.

To do this, he enlists “friendly” personalities, even leaning on his own bandmates—think that the official bassist is none other than Conner Green, while the singer Ross Jennings features on a track. Friendly personalities also from the band Bent Knee, which has supported recent Haken tours. The official drummer is Matt Lynch from Cynic, among other guests the most illustrious is Dream Theater's keyboardist Jordan Rudess, with a touch of Italy from guitarist Marco Sfogli.

Just like in Haken, here too, the presence of the metal component is not homogeneous, with tracks that can easily be defined as progressive metal and others better labeled as progressive rock. In the first category, we include tracks like “Cocoon” and “Twisted Shadows,” while others like “Silken Chains” and “Lunar Room” fit more into the second label. However, when the metal component surfaces, it does so with a bang, an eight-string heavily pumped, with sharp thrusts derived from djent. But there's more, particularly a noticeable jazz/fusion component; it seems that it's the fusion element that makes the difference, this seems to be the aspect the musician intended to highlight, an influence already present in Haken (think of tracks like “The Point of No Return” and “Falling Back to Earth”) but here it's explored further to the point that we could comfortably include jazz/rock among the album's genres, I do not exclude that fusion lovers might find the album interesting. Dreamy crescendos typical of post-rock also emerge, evident in “Limbo” and “Afterglow,” shorter tracks less focused on technique but potentially more capable of emotionally involving the listener. “Lunar Room” even features a rap section that takes anyone by surprise on the first listen; I open a parenthesis to point out that rap inserts are not very common in prog; I recall few cases, the famous rapping of Daniel Gildenlöw of Pain of Salvation (like the one in “Spitfall”) or that in “Roll the Bones” by Rush, then we can mention that in “Artificial Paradise” by Sylvan, that in “Empathy” by Pendragon, more forcefully we can recognize one also in “Honor Thy Father” by Dream Theater, as well as the particularly executed one in growl in “Serenity Painted Death” by Opeth.

Even the technical and virtuosic aspect seems heightened compared to the main band's productions, with constant dynamism making the tracks lively and never dull. In the end, it seems the main aim of this solo work is precisely to delve deeper, in every sense, to take certain aspects of his own band and push them to the extreme, with absolutely high-level results. This is the key to “The Cocoon,” an album perhaps not essential but offering 7 tracks truly rich in inspiration, making it one of the best releases of 2019, needless to say, we hope for a follow-up, perhaps exploring other aspects.