I’m a huge admirer of Derek Sherinian, and the first time he appeared on my radar was when he joined Dream Theater (DT) after the departure of Kevin Moore. Falling Into Infinity is still one of my favourite DT albums. Of course, he is back with Mike Portnoy now in Sons Of Apollo, which sees a return of both of them to a more progressive metal vibe. I love instrumental albums and Derek’s solo and Planet X projects are always killer, as he gets some serious players to get his vision down.
On this album he is joined on guitar by Steve Lukather, Steve Stevens, Tony MacAlpine, Doug Aldrich, and Joe Bonamassa; also an awesome rhythm section of Simon Phillips on drums, and Jimmy Johnson and Tony Franklin on bass. The first two tracks, Five Elements and Mercury 7, occupy jazz fusion territory often seeing Derek dip into some killer jazz soloing. Mercury 7 really gets the tempo driving. Mullholland is a very groovy west coast piece featuring the amazing Steve Lukather, such a cool vibe on this track. Euphoria, again, has Mr Lukather on guitar with the groove and tempo really slowed down into a cool spacey slow funk, and Steve really gives it the beans. Ghost Runner closes out Side 1 with Steve Stevens trading speedy licks with Derek all through this four to the floor beast. Stunning side of music.
Side 2 kicks off with El Camino Diablo. Doug Aldrich is on guitar on this track and it has a groove very similar to Edgar Winter’s Frankenstein; a very cool track. Jo Bo is up next with I Heard That; it has a Jeff Beck Wired vibe and groove. Steve Lukather returns with Seven Sins, and what seems like 3 different grooves at the same time, it also has a great middle section. The album closes out with the title track and Steve Stevens putting down some killer licks over a slow beat and groove. I love albums like this and Derek has made quite a few killer albums in his career and long may he do so.
10/10 from The Grooveman.
