So I hate to draw parallels but this situation very eerily reminds me of Timo Tolkki's Symfonia back in 2011. For those who don't know, this supergroup (Symfonia) was supposed to blow the goddamn roof off the power metal house. This was hyped to be unlike anything else, and I and plenty of other people were soiling themselves over the lineup: 2 ex-Stratovarius members (Timo Tolkki and Jari Kainulainen), Mikko Harkin on keys, Andre Matos singing, and Uli Kusch drumming. Unbelievable lineup, amazing chops, and a well respected songwriter in Tolkki. How could this be bad? They hyped the living daylights out of this thing, Tolkki talking about a contract for 4 albums and world tour, band interviews, extremely polished hype videos with flashy hi def graphics, reviews praising the unbelievable power metal pyrotechnics on the album...
... and it completely fell flat. One album. A very small tour. Everyone got tired of playing small crowds, they barely sold copies (I don't have numbers, but I was told it was not a pleasant amount despite all the hype and relatively big names attached to it). Worst of all - the music was nothing more than a Stratovarius clone. You could've replaced Andre with Timo and it would've been a B-rate Stratovarius album. And, on top of that giant shit sundae, apparently there was tension in the band because of the behavior of two of the members. Huh.
I fear the same for Sons of Apollo, but it's only made worse by Derek and Mike not only pushing people away from buying the album or going to gigs, but literally making them lose longtime fans like myself. Now, lots of people don't give a shit. That's totally fine and I hope they enjoy the music, and I honestly hope it isn't disappointing for them. But for people like me and others to whom this stuff kinda matters (for whatever reasons), it's sorely disappointing