Sons of Apollo (feat. Portnoy & Sherinian)

[Lethean]

Audio interview with JSS:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78i8c97s_W0

I found interesting to hear him talking about how he expected this to be more like PSMS and was excited to try to sing some prog, even though he wasn't sure he would be able to deliver.  Then it turned into "something else" and while he doesn't say anything negative at all, I got the feeling that maybe he'd be hoping it would be a little more progressive than it turned out to be.

I'd like to hear the vocal melodies that he was trying to come up with for the more straight forward tracks (from the written interview Schurftkut posted).  It might be that he was trying to hard to make it complex, but on the other hand, maybe it would have made Coming Home more interesting.

[Ben_Jamin]

Thats great that he was down for the challenge.

[Fritzinger]

I've been able to hold out and not listen to really anything on the SOA record except for brief snippets of the two songs that debuted first. I'm pretty excited to hear the whole thing on Friday. Anyone else been holding out?

Havent listened to a single note yet. Cant wait.

[bill1971]

I highly doubt the MP style of writing appeals to MA.

Not the biggest Opeth fan, but MA seems like the kind of guy who sits down at a keyboard or in a DAW and slaves over things for hours and hours at a time, over several weeks if not months/years. The MP style of doing an album seems to be more like "get everyone in the studio for two weeks, write and record whatever comes out as quickly as possible, send the files off to production, and never think about it again until the album is 'finished' and it's time for tour". I highly doubt MA is into that kind of thing. 

There's a good reason why every post-DT MP album has either been 1.) formulaic rock or 2.) largely composed separately by Neal Morse. Only so much you can do when you rush everything.

Yeah, I think Mikael has said he's not a jamming kind of guy, and he seems pretty reluctant about doing side projects nowadays anyway. I also remember reading that MP asked Jim Matheos to play on the first Transatlantic album, but Jim wasn't into the idea of the "let's go into the studio and start jamming until we have 70 mins of music" method, so that style of writing is definitely not for everyone.

I sometimes get the impression that MP just does some  of the bands and playing with other people as a checklist of sorts to say he did it. Hence him being proud of being in as he says 87 bands. It turns into that artist or artist playing their style and MP just playing drums over it  more than a collaboration.

[faizoff]

I don't see it that way, while one or two projects may have that line of thought to it, I think a guy like him just wants to be busy all the time and release his musical energy out in one form or the other. He might find that being in several bands playing different styles and having different levels of input in each appeals to him at some level. I think that's just how he's wired. After all the man is a musical encyclopedia when it comes to drum fills and remembering songs of almost all the music he listens to.

I'm sure the self-adulation that comes along with it is rewarding to some degree, but mostly I always feel he just enjoys doing it rather than having a checklist of 'hey I need to be in a million bands, and that's great so everyone look at me'. I think it mostly comes out of sincerity.

[gzarruk]

I don't see it that way, while one or two projects may have that line of thought to it, I think a guy like him just wants to be busy all the time and release his musical energy out in one form or the other. He might find that being in several bands playing different styles and having different levels of input in each appeals to him at some level. I think that's just how he's wired. After all the man is a musical encyclopedia when it comes to drum fills and remembering songs of almost all the music he listens to.

Yet, he decides to play the same old ones over and over again 

[faizoff]

I wasn't referring to just his music, I was talking about all the music he listens to. He practically memorizes all the drum parts to any song he's ever listened to.

[Elite]

I wasn't referring to just his music, I was talking about all the music he listens to. He practically memorizes all the drum parts to any song he's ever listened to.

How do you know this? Seems like a bold statement.

[bill1971]

I don't see it that way, while one or two projects may have that line of thought to it, I think a guy like him just wants to be busy all the time and release his musical energy out in one form or the other. He might find that being in several bands playing different styles and having different levels of input in each appeals to him at some level. I think that's just how he's wired. After all the man is a musical encyclopedia when it comes to drum fills and remembering songs of almost all the music he listens to.

I'm sure the self-adulation that comes along with it is rewarding to some degree, but mostly I always feel he just enjoys doing it rather than having a checklist of 'hey I need to be in a million bands, and that's great so everyone look at me'. I think it mostly comes out of sincerity.

You may be right, I can't read his mind. It just seems like he almost always brings up how many bands and projects he is in so to me it seems like a point of being proud of that. Not really a bad thing just seems to be his emphasis.

[The Walrus]

Wasn't there a vid last year or a couple years ago where they played drum fills or beats and Mike guessed most of them almost immediately? The man does know music to an incredible degree.

[faizoff]

I wasn't referring to just his music, I was talking about all the music he listens to. He practically memorizes all the drum parts to any song he's ever listened to.

How do you know this? Seems like a bold statement.

While right now I don't have a particular article or video clip, I think it's the cumulation of all the things I've seen that knows it's true. On one of Eddie Trunk's radio show, Eddie asked 'how do you remember all of these drum parts?' and this was back when he was in DT and MP would casually fill in for several bands like Fates Warning, Spock's Beard or Overkill, etc..

The dude is a memory machine. I don't have concrete proof of this, it's just something many of his fans acknowledge.

[rumborak]

I think that's also a bit of an Achilles heel for him. These commentaries of his always have a "yeah, this section is like Haken meets Meshuggah", "the love child of Deep Purple and Gentle Giant" etc. If this was all *after* the fact, i.e. entirely descriptive of a tune that came naturally, that wouldn't make a difference. But I think, just like the "inspiration sections" in DT, part of his directing of the music is to suggest a certain style upfront and the band then writes in that vein. As one of the reviews seems to suggest, Psychotic Symphony falls into that trap as well.

[Stadler]

I think that's also a bit of an Achilles heel for him. These commentaries of his always have a "yeah, this section is like Haken meets Meshuggah", "the love child of Deep Purple and Gentle Giant" etc. If this was all *after* the fact, i.e. entirely descriptive of a tune that came naturally, that wouldn't make a difference. But I think, just like the "inspiration sections" in DT, part of his directing of the music is to suggest a certain style upfront and the band then writes in that vein. As one of the reviews seems to suggest, Psychotic Symphony falls into that trap as well.

That's the problem, in my eyes, with "87 bands".   When you're in your prog-metal band, you have to be in prog-metal mode.  When you're in your trad prog band, you have to be trad-prog mode.   

For me, and I've said this many times in the past, the best bands, and best music, has been at the crossraods of music, when you have a jazz drummer (Bruford) with a country guitar player (Howe), a rock bassist (Squire) and a classical keyboardist (Wakeman).    Classic Yes wouldn't be classic Yes if Wakeman was playing what he thought a prog keyboardist SHOULD be playing, etc. etc. 

[Madman Shepherd]

I highly doubt the MP style of writing appeals to MA.

Not the biggest Opeth fan, but MA seems like the kind of guy who sits down at a keyboard or in a DAW and slaves over things for hours and hours at a time, over several weeks if not months/years. The MP style of doing an album seems to be more like "get everyone in the studio for two weeks, write and record whatever comes out as quickly as possible, send the files off to production, and never think about it again until the album is 'finished' and it's time for tour". I highly doubt MA is into that kind of thing. 

There's a good reason why every post-DT MP album has either been 1.) formulaic rock or 2.) largely composed separately by Neal Morse. Only so much you can do when you rush everything.

Yeah, I think Mikael has said he's not a jamming kind of guy, and he seems pretty reluctant about doing side projects nowadays anyway. I also remember reading that MP asked Jim Matheos to play on the first Transatlantic album, but Jim wasn't into the idea of the "let's go into the studio and start jamming until we have 70 mins of music" method, so that style of writing is definitely not for everyone.

I sometimes get the impression that MP just does some  of the bands and playing with other people as a checklist of sorts to say he did it. Hence him being proud of being in as he says 87 bands. It turns into that artist or artist playing their style and MP just playing drums over it  more than a collaboration.

I agree.  It made me think of an analogy (and I swear it has nothing to do with marriage). I love food and trying different restaurants.  One time I went to a restaurant that had a HUUUUUGE menu.  I mean, everything you can imagine.  It got me wondering how much care the chef was actually putting into this stuff or if he was just grabbing a recipe off the internet.  When I got my food, I have to say it was good.  I was satisfied.  And ya know what, I've never been back.  I haven't been tempted.  It didn't blow me away and if I want a specific type of food, I'll go to a restaurant that specializes in it.  If I am with a group of friends and they really want that restaurant, I guess I'll settle but I'll never go out of my way.

Soon my wife and I will celebrate our anniversary and we have reservations at a restaurant that has a one page menu.  Basically a handful of options and the food is amazing.  It's also expensive which is why we only eat there once a year but because they specialize in only a few things we know it will almost all be quality even a few choices might not be to our particular taste.  So we go out of our way that one night to drive out of town, we pay no attention to the prices, and we have a great night with quality food.  If the chef was throwing random things on the menu (now I want to create a sushi dish!  now I'm going to serve BBQ) or the chef was advertising in a tactless manner then we would pick some other place. 

[cramx3]

One time I went to a restaurant that had a HUUUUUGE menu.  I mean, everything you can imagine.  It got me wondering how much care the chef was actually putting into this stuff or if he was just grabbing a recipe off the internet.  When I got my food, I have to say it was good.  I was satisfied.  And ya know what, I've never been back.  I haven't been tempted.  It didn't blow me away and if I want a specific type of food, I'll go to a restaurant that specializes in it.  If I am with a group of friends and they really want that restaurant, I guess I'll settle but I'll never go out of my way.

Was it a Cheesecake Factory?  That menu is like a book.

[Madman Shepherd]

One time I went to a restaurant that had a HUUUUUGE menu.  I mean, everything you can imagine.  It got me wondering how much care the chef was actually putting into this stuff or if he was just grabbing a recipe off the internet.  When I got my food, I have to say it was good.  I was satisfied.  And ya know what, I've never been back.  I haven't been tempted.  It didn't blow me away and if I want a specific type of food, I'll go to a restaurant that specializes in it.  If I am with a group of friends and they really want that restaurant, I guess I'll settle but I'll never go out of my way.

Was it a Cheesecake Factory?  That menu is like a book.

Holy shit dude.  I was going to keep it intentionally vague but yes, that was it.  Decent food but no desire to go back. I'll stick with restaurants that are a passion of one or two people. 

God, I'm hungry now. 

[bosk1]

  I was thinking your post reminded me an awful lot of Cheesecake Factory as well. 

[cramx3]

I ate at one last week so it was in my recent memory 

[King Postwhore]

I remember thinking how the hell am I going to pick a cheesecake?  I want them all!

[TAC]

Cheesecake is nasty.

Unless of course we're talking:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUpeTFY8jlc

[The Walrus]

Cheesecake is nasty.

Unless of course we're talking:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUpeTFY8jlc

I make a mean cheesecake. Sour cream is the secret. In-freaking-credible.

[MirrorMask]

From nasty discussions about tweets to the history of coolness of keyboard players to cheesecakes. If Psychotic Symphony is like this thread, with something for everyone and full of variety and unpredictability, it's gonna rock the charts 

[Dave_Manchester]

I highly doubt the MP style of writing appeals to MA.

I'm late to this discussion, but I agree that the desire to collaborate is probably on MP's part rather than MA's. Akerfeldt recently said he's taking a break from music to spend time with his family and will get around to recording the next Opeth album sometime in 2019. Plus, I don't mean any disrespect to Portnoy, but he is not a composer, so I don't know what the appeal would be for MA to spend his 'down time' working with him of all people. Between Storm Corrosion and the last 6 years of Opeth releases, MA has been exploring a style of music which doesn't seem to appeal to MP (I'm basing that only on the fact that none of those albums made his 'albums of the year' lists on his forum). I think that back in 2003 or so, a collaboration could have been very interesting, but now, not so much. Still, I'll be happy to one day be proven wrong.

[TAC]

Cheesecake is nasty.

Unless of course we're talking:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUpeTFY8jlc

I make a mean cheesecake. Sour cream is the secret. In-freaking-credible.

Sour cream is nasty too.

[Orbert]

Keep it in the fridge, and be more careful about watching the sell-by date.

[Madman Shepherd]

Cheesecake is nasty.

Unless of course we're talking:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUpeTFY8jlc

I make a mean cheesecake. Sour cream is the secret. In-freaking-credible.

Sour cream is nasty too.

Well, I'm no sour cream fan but if done in moderation it can really add to a recipe.  Also it's worthless to know you make a mean cheesecake without actually making it for us. 

Maybe we could schedule a Psychotic Symphony listening party with Kattelox Katering (I named a potential company for you). Possibly invite Derek Sherinian just so we could hear him say witty things like "This is more cheesy than Jordan's last app" and leave him hanging as he goes for a high five. 

Whatta ya say guys?

[pcs90]

Sounds like a good plan to me!

[ytserush]

I've been able to hold out and not listen to really anything on the SOA record except for brief snippets of the two songs that debuted first. I'm pretty excited to hear the whole thing on Friday. Anyone else been holding out?

I guess I am, but I'm not sure it rises to the level of "holding out" for me in this case.

 I held out for Robert Plant though and I'm glad I did. Another damn fine album from him in my opinion.

[King Postwhore]

I need to get Plant's new album.

[ytserush]

I need to get Plant's new album.

I need to see his new band live, but I don't know yet how I'm going to pull that off.

[The Walrus]

Cheesecake is nasty.

Unless of course we're talking:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUpeTFY8jlc

I make a mean cheesecake. Sour cream is the secret. In-freaking-credible.

Sour cream is nasty too.

Well, I'm no sour cream fan but if done in moderation it can really add to a recipe.  Also it's worthless to know you make a mean cheesecake without actually making it for us. 

Maybe we could schedule a Psychotic Symphony listening party with Kattelox Katering (I named a potential company for you). Possibly invite Derek Sherinian just so we could hear him say witty things like "This is more cheesy than Jordan's last app" and leave him hanging as he goes for a high five. 

Whatta ya say guys?

Kattelox Katering... I think you're onto something. Cheesecake for everyone! Except Derek. Derek can have Chex Mix.

[Madman Shepherd]

Cheesecake is nasty.

Unless of course we're talking:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUpeTFY8jlc

I make a mean cheesecake. Sour cream is the secret. In-freaking-credible.

Sour cream is nasty too.

Well, I'm no sour cream fan but if done in moderation it can really add to a recipe.  Also it's worthless to know you make a mean cheesecake without actually making it for us. 

Maybe we could schedule a Psychotic Symphony listening party with Kattelox Katering (I named a potential company for you). Possibly invite Derek Sherinian just so we could hear him say witty things like "This is more cheesy than Jordan's last app" and leave him hanging as he goes for a high five. 

Whatta ya say guys?

Kattelox Katering... I think you're onto something. Cheesecake for everyone! Except Derek. Derek can have Chex Mix.

Hahahaha of course then he'll just claim he never liked cheesecake and Chex mix has more swagger 

[King Postwhore]

Chex mix crust for the cheesecake.  Derek wins again!

[KevShmev]

We know Portnoy doesn't consume alcohol anymore, but given his bitterness towards DT, Derek's drink of choice at this listening party should be a Salty Dog.

[As I Am]

Received the SOA cd today  and after 4 consecutive listens, I'm of the opinion that this is THE album of the year! I wouldn't call it prog rock, prog metal or hard rock, but I would definitely call it "Melodic Prog-Metal". From the INCREDIBLE opener "God of The Sun" throughout the album, there isn't one bad, or even mediocre  song. Strangely enough, the instrumental "Opus Maximus" is my least favorite on the cd (and I seriously question its placement at the end of the cd). It's high quality stuff, but I actually expected to be blown away which I wasn't. I think many of the jam parts of other songs are far more interesting.
Jeff Scott Soto & Bumblefoot just knock it out of the park, while MP, Derek and Billy shine as they always do. There are influences all through this cd. From Deep Purple to the melodic melody of The Winery Dogs, to the rock attack of Van Halen & Alter Bridge and of course the progressiveness of  Derek's solo albums and even Planet X. There is something for everyone of Psychotic Symphony. This is certainly not a Dream Theater clone at all (as it shouldn't be as there is already a Dream Theater giving us what we need in their style). If you can get past Derek's not so subtle shots at DT (I don't know where people get the idea that MP has knocked them at all in any of these SOA interviews), you will find a tremendous cd! 9.5/10