"Signs of the Time" ..of course WLL (will listen later)
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European? PREORDER
01. God of The Sun (11:11)
02. Coming Home (04:23)
03. Signs of The Time (06:40)
04. Labyrinth (09:11)
05. Alive (05:10)
06. Lost In Oblivion (04:38)
07. Figaro's Whore (01:00)
08. Divine Addiction (04:48)
09. Opus Maximus (10:37)
8/1/17 11:58AM
So this is the new Prog Metal "Supergroup" of Mike Portnoy's and Derek Sherinian's.
I haven't listened to the teaser below for this debut album Psychotic Symphony, of theirs being released on October 20th. Should do when I get home.
I guess I'm at a wait-and-see.
The singer is Jeff Scott Soto who I know has a cult following from his solo stuff and his work with Journey and Yngwie. I thought he showed up at ProgPower USA last year if I'm not mistaken.
Bumblefoot (Ron Thal) also has a cult following and with both his solo stuff and a stint with Guns N Roses.
Derek Sherinian of course has done a lot of cool stuff since leaving Dream Theater, namely Planet X.
And Billy Sheehan, well he seems to show in most of Mike Portnoy's bands now anyway. In fact to sidetrack a bit, if Portnoy formed a band of "regulars" he plays and records with, the band wouldn't be bad itself.
Mike Portnoy - drums, vocals
Billy Sheehan - bass, vocals
Neal Morse - keys, vocals
Paul Gilbert - guitar, vocals
I guess the makeup of this band doesn't sound highly like a group of musicians who would be playing traditional progressive metal really. Really, it seems like they would be suited to be doing more GNR or G3 kind of guitar rock. Still having musicianship, but not exactly like Dream Theater or Between the Buried and Me.
Which I guess I'm only cautiously optimistic about this.
And a lot of it may come down to the vocals, not only being well-written and sang, but just enjoying his voice with this music.
Wait and see as October isn't too far away. I guess the fanboy in-me was longing for either John Arch or Daniel Gildenlow (or even Jim Matheos) to be involved. But perhaps that's for another band(s) down the road for Mike Portnoy. That and him doing something highly in the Pop/Power Pop vein with Roger Manning from Jellyfish and/or Ty Tabor. But Portnoy has like 8 bands he's already in (The Winery Dogs, Flying Colors, Transatlantic, The Neal Morse Band, PSMS, Metal Allegiance, Mike Portnoy's Shattered Fortress, and now Sons of Apollo), so either another band with Arch or Gildenlow or a Power-Pop thing could not happen until maybe next decade, but who knows.
I'll of course bump+edit this entry when more of the details come out (videos I imagine, and maybe tour dates for 2018. Although Portnoy's bands have only scarcely come to Minnesota since he left Dream Theater. The Neal Morse band show in St.Paul in a few weeks being the 1st in the Twin Cities that I recall. Twisted Sister was in Hinckley which is not quite my hometown, just State).
http://www.mikeportnoy.com/forum/m3000405.aspx
INTRODUCING...
SONS OF APOLLO
FEATURING EX-MEMBERS OF DREAM THEATER, GUNS N’ ROSES AND JOURNEY DEBUT ALBUM, ‘PSYCHOTIC SYMPHONY,’ DUE OUT OCTOBER 20 ON INSIDEOUTMUSIC/SONY MUSIC
APOLLO: The ancient Greek and Roman God of music and poetry.
SONS OF APOLLO: The new supergroup featuring members of Dream Theater, Mr. Big, Guns ‘N Roses, and Journey.
For the past few months, rumors have been circulating about a new secret project including former Dream Theater members Mike Portnoy and Derek Sherinian. Now, the time has come to make the grand and highly anticipated introduction to their new band, SONS OF APOLLO.
Reuniting to form SONS OF APOLLO, Portnoy and Sherinian have joined forces with Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal (ex-Guns N’ Roses), Billy Sheehan (The Winery Dogs, Mr. Big, David Lee Roth) and Jeff Scott Soto (ex-Journey, ex-Yngwie Malmsteen's Rising Force). Their debut album, PSYCHOTIC SYMPHONY, will be released October 20 on InsideOutMusic/Sony Music. An album teaser can be seen on InsideOutMusic’s official YouTube page here: https://youtu.be/kPN2DttzlZQ
PSYCHOTIC SYMPHONY was produced by the dynamic production duo of Portnoy and Sherinian, also affectionately known as “The Del Fuvio Brothers,” which is the nickname given to them over 20 years ago during their time together in Dream Theater.
SONS OF APOLLO got together very organically, as Portnoy explains: “Derek and I reunited shortly after I left Dream Theater in 2010 and we put together an all-instrumental touring band with he and I, Billy Sheehan, and Tony MacAlpine. That was my first time working with Derek since the ‘90s when he was in Dream Theater and it was just great to be working with him again. Ever since that tour, which was really just a one-off live thing, he has been nudging me to start a real, original, full-time band. The timing just had never been right, because I had too many other things on my plate. Long story short, the time was finally right to take the bait and put together a band.”
“Mike and I work at a relentless pace in the studio,” continues Sherinian. “The music is modern, but we have an old school soul. What is unique about SONS OF APOLLO is that we have true rock n’ roll swagger along with the virtuosity-- a lethal combination!”
But what to call the next great supergroup? “Derek was mainly the one behind the name,” says Portnoy. “I have a list that I keep on my phone of about a hundred different band names, which I constantly have to refer to every time I have a new band every year (laughs). So, I pulled up the list and Apollo was one of the names on the list. It was a word that both of us really liked. We started fiddling with different variations of the word. One of the original band names we were working with was Apollo Creed, the character from the ‘Rocky’ movies, but after lots of different discussions on different variations, Derek suggested SONS OF APOLLO and it seemed to stick. Apollo is the God of Music so with that in mind it seemed like a fitting name.”
Mike Portnoy, Derek Sherinian and Billy Sheehan previously toured together in 2012 and 2013 as PSMS (along with guitarist Tony MacAlpine), playing all instrumental versions from each of their previously recorded music. SONS OF APOLLO is the next logical progression by adding a vocalist and creating all-original material. The band incorporates the progressive style and individual technical prowess that Portnoy & Sherinian shared together in Dream Theater combined with the swagger and groove of Van Halen, Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin.
“I have known Mike and Derek for a long time, so when they came to me with Sons of Apollo, I jumped on this straight away,” says Thomas Waber, Label Manager/A&R International of InsideOutMusic. “However, the album they ended up recording exceeded my already high expectations by a long mile! We couldn’t be happier about it!”
SONS OF APOLLO will hit the road in 2018 for their first worldwide tour.
“This is a real band,” Portnoy declares. “This is going to pick up for me and Billy where The Winery Dogs left off, in terms of this being the next logical full-time thing for us. I’m not saying The Winery Dogs have broken up, because we haven’t, we’re just on a break. SONS OF APOLLO is absolutely going to be a full-time band and we plan on touring all over the world all throughout 2018 and, honestly, it is the priority for all five of us.”
Sherinian agrees, “We will go on a worldwide crusade in 2018 to bring SONS OF APOLLO to as many people as possible. Apollo was the God of Music, and we are his mighty offspring!”
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