Tom MacLean is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

progressive metal Progressive metal (sometimes shortened to prog metal) is a broad :Fusion music genres, fusion music genre melding heavy metal music, heavy metal and progressive rock, combining the loud "aggression" and amplified electric guitar, guitar-driven s ...

multi-instrumentalist. He is best known as the guitarist of

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 ' ...

and as the former bassist of Haken. MacLean was taught the classical guitar at the age of 10 and changed to electric at 14. It was not until he was 25 that he started to play the bass in order to join Haken. Since leaving Haken, MacLean has been a member of the progressive metal band Psion.

To-Mera

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

Candlelight Records Candlelight Records is a British record label based in England and founded by former Extreme Noise Terror bassist Lee Barrett, though it has had a division in the United States since January 2001. Candlelight Records specialises in black metal ...

. 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; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

. In 2006, Candlelight released Transcendental. In 2008, To-Mera released their next album,

Delusions A delusion is a false fixed belief that is not amenable to change in light of conflicting evidence. As a pathology, it is distinct from a belief based on false or incomplete information, confabulation, dogma, illusion, hallucination, or some o ...

, in 2008. In 2009, they parted with Candlelight. Hugo Sheppard left after this, and they recruited

Richard Henshall Richard James "Hen" Henshall is a British progressive metal multi-instrumentalist. He is best known for being the guitarist and keyboardist for the bands To-Mera, Haken (band), Haken, Nova Collective, and Opinaut. He has released one album ('' ...

for the post. They then self released the

Earthbound ''EarthBound'', released in Japan as is a role-playing video game developed by Creatures (company), Ape Inc. and HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The second entry in the Mother (video game s ...

EP. Their next full length, "Exile", was released in September of 2012.

Haken

Haken was formed by school friends Ross Jennings, Matthew Marshall, and

at first in 2004. The members parted ways for a while to study at university, reuniting in 2007. The current members found Peter Jones on keyboards and Raymond Hearne on

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

. Jones left soon after, and was replaced by Diego Tejeida. Charlie Griffiths was hired as their guitarist, and Henshall brought in To-Mera bandmate Maclean on bass. They released two demos in 2007 and 2008, which received excellent reviews. Their music caught the attention of Sensory Records, and the first album,

Aquarius Aquarius may refer to: Astrology * Aquarius (astrology), an astrological sign * Age of Aquarius, a time period in the cycle of astrological ages Astronomy * Aquarius (constellation) * Aquarius in Chinese astronomy Arts and entertainme ...

, was released in 2010. MacLean left Haken in 2013 and was replaced by Conner Green.

Psion

In May 2015, Tom MacLean co-founded Psion, a

band that includes drummer Jasper Barendregt, guitarist Nikolas Wolf, and lead vocalist Bryan Ramage. Psion released their self-titled debut EP on 1 September 2017 and made it available for streaming on

Bandcamp Bandcamp is an American online audio distribution platform founded in 2007 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with headquarters in Oakland, California, US. On March 2, 2022, Bandcamp ...

Twelve Tone Studio

At the end of 2019, Tom MacLean launched his mixing and mastering service, Twelve Tone Studio, for rock, metal, and alternative artists.

Discography

With To-Mera

*(2005) Demo *(2006) '' Transcendental'' *(2008) ''

'' *(2009) ''

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

With Haken

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

'' *(2011) ''

Visions Vision, Visions, or The Vision may refer to: Perception Optical perception * Visual perception, the sense of sight * Visual system, the physical mechanism of eyesight * Computer vision, a field dealing with how computers can be made to gain un ...

'' *(2013) ''

The Mountain The Mountain (french: La Montagne) was a political group during the French Revolution. Its members, called the Montagnards (), sat on the highest benches in the National Convention. They were the most radical group and opposed the Girondins. Th ...

With Psion

*(2017) ''Psion'' (EP)

With Athemon

*(2021) ''Athemon''

With Brutta

*(2022) ''Brutta''

With Horasan

*(2022) ''Horasan'' (EP)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maclean, Tom Progressive metal guitarists British heavy metal guitarists Living people Year of birth missing (living people)