I'll pitch in my thoughts on the Six Bands Of Portnoy Separation:
-Flying Colors: Third Degree has been nearly 2 years in the making, I think, so I'm hoping they took their time to craft some well written songs, and the more the merrier. I wouldn't mind a mix of the best parts of FC and SN to give TD the best of both!
-Transatlantic: I'm probably the most excited for this as I've been pretty hopeful and vocal about wanting the band to reconvene. I think they feel like they have just one more album in them, and I think it will be better than Kaleidoscope (though personally, I really enjoyed Kaleidoscope, but it's still my fourth favorite TA album).
-The Neal Morse Band: After the upcoming live album and Morsefest 2019, it seems like this will be put on the back-burner for both Mike AND Neal (who will probably do another solo acoustic tour of some sort, or work on another singer-songwriter album, or both). Both of them will be busy with their short-lived FC Tour in the fall, and then probably TA Sessions and that eventual tour, so I feel like NMB will go on a short hiatus, giving Eric probably some more time to promote his own work. I wouldn't mind seeing Randy and/or Bill put something out, too.
-Sons Of Apollo: I only kind of enjoyed the debut album, but I'll be honest, I never gave it too much of a listen. The upcoming live album looks neat and the cover choices seem right up their alley, so I might check it out and get the BD (and if I enjoy it a lot, pick up the CD as well). Beyond that, I'm not overly excited for their second album quite yet because the first didn't grab me so much, but the second album might do better for me.
-The Winery Dogs: I didn't really get into this band all that much. This kind of 2000's hard rock just hasn't really hooked me, despite featuring one of my favorite drummers of all time. I'm not very excited to hear much more from them, but if they're all happy making that music and touring together, then good for them. As far as Portnoy/Sheehan team-ups go, I prefer SOA over TWD.
-Metal Allegiance: Definitely not my cup of tea. As much as I love progressive metal, the straight-up metal scene hasn't been my bag, so this isn't quite for me. It feels like this was MP's replacement for AMOB, as far as hard and heavy metal/rock goes, and AMOB never really appealed to me, so I never bothered to give this one a chance.
MP sure likes to keep busy, and he couldn't keep 2 or 3 bands busy enough for him to stay busy, even with three of them including Neal Morse (who probably needs breaks himself), so if he wants to keep juggling six bands to fill his time, more power to him. Honestly, it just means than his fans have more of a chance to see him on tour with a band that might appeal to their specific tastes. I'm sure there were (and still are) metal heads who went to DT concerts for the heavy stuff but groaned at the ballads, and other DT fans who loved the complicated, epic proggy stuff but didn't really connect with the straight-up metal influences. Now these MP fans can enjoy those certain styles and genres with specific bands that MP is involved with. For me, that means the NM-bands are the ones I gravitate towards because that's the kind of MP-involved music I love.
-Marc.