Sons of Apollo (feat. Portnoy & Sherinian)

[cramx3]

So yeah... Thal rocks on this.

That's seems to be something we all agree on 

[bill1971]

So yeah... Thal rocks on this.

That's seems to be something we all agree on 

Agreed. Ron Thal sounds very good.

[Madman Shepherd]

I won't be listening to this album for a while because I'm not buying it and I don't do spotify but I will say that Lost in Oblivion is the best of the three songs I have heard so far.  Not that it's great but it is by far the most interesting. 

[cramx3]

I won't be listening to this album for a while because I'm not buying it and I don't do spotify but I will say that Lost in Oblivion is the best of the three songs I have heard so far.  Not that it's great but it is by far the most interesting.

I think that may have been a better single, it's more musically interesting and might have hit the prog fans a bit more than the other two.

[The Walrus]

People were getting so upset over my negative review of the band on Facebook that I just removed it. There. Hopefully the sorely damaged egos of the musicians to whom my genuine criticism was directed, and the fans who were deeply offended, will heal over time...

... Sheehan's a scientologist?

[pcs90]

People were getting so upset over my negative review of the band on Facebook that I just removed it. There. Hopefully the sorely damaged egos of the musicians to whom my genuine criticism was directed, and the fans who were deeply offended, will heal over time...

If you posted it on a page managed by the band, I imagine it'd get deleted soon enough anyway.

[cramx3]

... Sheehan's a scientologist?

According to wikipedia, yes

Sheehan has been an active member of the Church of Scientology since 1971

[rumborak]

... Sheehan's a scientologist?

Yup. That personally has never bothered me TBH. Most artists are total space cadets.

[bill1971]

People were getting so upset over my negative review of the band on Facebook that I just removed it. There. Hopefully the sorely damaged egos of the musicians to whom my genuine criticism was directed, and the fans who were deeply offended, will heal over time...

If you posted it on a page managed by the band, I imagine it'd get deleted soon enough anyway.

Seriously, I am surprised it lasted that long.

[Dave_Manchester]

... Sheehan's a scientologist?

Part 1 of a fairly confrontational 'interview' with a (needlessly dickish, but still correct in my opinion) guy about his beliefs:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQZxv1kdrvY

[Elite]

People were getting so upset over my negative review of the band on Facebook that I just removed it. There. Hopefully the sorely damaged egos of the musicians to whom my genuine criticism was directed, and the fans who were deeply offended, will heal over time...

What? That's actually self-censorship. Why did you write that review, if not to be written by others?

[The Walrus]

People were getting so upset over my negative review of the band on Facebook that I just removed it. There. Hopefully the sorely damaged egos of the musicians to whom my genuine criticism was directed, and the fans who were deeply offended, will heal over time...

What? That's actually self-censorship. Why did you write that review, if not to be written by others?

'cause I got tired of people bitching about my genuine criticism about the band. I was the lone negative review getting a shitload of attention whereas the positive reviews were just there and ignored. I just figured instead of fanning the flames I'll remove it and they can continue living in a self-inflating echo chamber and I don't have to be continuously called a DT fanboy.

Also had a moment of hippie clarity. Bad juju! Bad vibes! Cleanse! Yada yada.

[Anguyen92]

Honestly, bands' official facebook page is not really the best place for "constructive" reviews especially if there's any hint of negativity or wanting something to be improved.  I understand that bands want a good aura and positivity on their official Facebook/Twitter pages, but still, let's not act like all bands are the perfect bands (and this goes for my favorite bands as well).

[Lethean]

People were getting so upset over my negative review of the band on Facebook that I just removed it. There. Hopefully the sorely damaged egos of the musicians to whom my genuine criticism was directed, and the fans who were deeply offended, will heal over time...

What? That's actually self-censorship. Why did you write that review, if not to be written by others?

'cause I got tired of people bitching about my genuine criticism about the band. I was the lone negative review getting a shitload of attention whereas the positive reviews were just there and ignored. I just figured instead of fanning the flames I'll remove it and they can continue living in a self-inflating echo chamber and I don't have to be continuously called a DT fanboy.

Also had a moment of hippie clarity. Bad juju! Bad vibes! Cleanse! Yada yada.

Was it something you already posted here?

[Herrick]

... Sheehan's a scientologist?

Part 1 of a fairly confrontational 'interview' with a (needlessly dickish, but still correct in my opinion) guy about his beliefs:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQZxv1kdrvY

I remember watching that some time ago. Sheehan was really cool & nice throughout the interview but I didn't believe him for a second when he said the stuff floating around on the Internet was not the Tr00 unedited stuff.

[Dave_Manchester]

I can certainly appreciate bands wanting their social media pages to be nothing but positivity, but it's then not the wisest idea for the band to boast on those same pages that the praise for the album is "unanimous". That becomes a redundant claim when you're deleting all remotely 'negative' reviews.


On the album, I'll paraphrase what I wrote in my review - I do think there is potential for this band if they decide to stick around. To me this debut album is mostly dreck, but when they slow down they are ok, and even hint at beauty. Despite my now thinking he's a tedious try-hard MP lapdog, Derek is actually the star of this album for me, he has a superb (and frustratingly brief) keyboard solo in God of the Sun, and all the decent parts of the instrumental track are down to him. He's as close as this outfit gets to an actual song-writer (the main problem for this project is that it does not have a John Petrucci or a Neal Morse, it only has virtuoso technicians, which is unimpressive in this age of children covering guys like Steve Vai and Buddy Rich on YouTube). Too often whenever these songs threaten to become natural music with tension and dynamics, a tiresome wankfest gets dumped in the middle of it all, like a parodic stereotype of 'prog metal'. God of the Sun is probably the best song here (Labyrinth is decent too), and as others have said, it's the one that Derek actually spent a lot of time on.

If they are successful enough to make them want to do a 2nd album, then there's enough in this album to convince me they can produce something decent. Derek is without doubt a talented player, and has some good musical ideas. MP doesn't push his boundaries anymore, but I don't mind that, he does what he does very well, and I still love him as a drummer. If nothing else, he always gets a lovely, crisp drum sound, to my ears. The singer is ok for this kind of thing. Maybe now they've got the yapping DT inferiority complex out of their system they can settle down and be themselves, and write music which breathes and sounds like it was composed rather than thrown together to tick a bunch of boxes.

Tracks I'll listen to again are God of the Sun, Coming Home, and Labyrinth. The rest is ersatz shit. My rating was 3/10.

[Destiny Of Chaos]

Omg God of the Sun is fan fn tastic. Mike delivers again!!

[The Silent Cody]

Tell me - how those Guys could put the same vocal melody in Coming Home and Alive??? If it is done in purpose, what is the point? If not by purpose but accidentaly...?If so, that is a big fail... anyway I will give this album a chance one more time, I like a few songs from it so I will try to know them better

[KevShmev]

As expected, some of the songs are already on YT, and if God of the Sun is the best song, like many are saying, I will have a hard time bothering with the rest. It's not a bad song, but it suffers badly from the copy and paste style of writing.  Shoot, even if the transition into the first vocal line was too herky-jerky.  And the singer's voice just does nothing for me whatsoever.  There was some good stuff in that song, but what a structural mess.  Honestly, if I had heard that song, with no knowledge of who the players were, I would have thought it was a band trying a lot to sound like Dream Theater...and coming off like a poor man's one at that.

[ganpondorodf]

Ersatz shit eh? Have we a Christgau padawan in our midst?

[The Walrus]

People were getting so upset over my negative review of the band on Facebook that I just removed it. There. Hopefully the sorely damaged egos of the musicians to whom my genuine criticism was directed, and the fans who were deeply offended, will heal over time...

What? That's actually self-censorship. Why did you write that review, if not to be written by others?

'cause I got tired of people bitching about my genuine criticism about the band. I was the lone negative review getting a shitload of attention whereas the positive reviews were just there and ignored. I just figured instead of fanning the flames I'll remove it and they can continue living in a self-inflating echo chamber and I don't have to be continuously called a DT fanboy.

Also had a moment of hippie clarity. Bad juju! Bad vibes! Cleanse! Yada yada.

Was it something you already posted here?

No, it was wholly original for the page, but it wasn't far off the valid criticisms presented here. Lost potential with Soto, Figaro's Whore being a baffling addition, lack of soul and genuine songwriting that wasn't hurried, instrumental sections that sound smashed together for the sake of it... Made mention of how I was super excited for it but was very disappointed in the end. But I even responded individually to some of the rebuttals telling them I hoped they enjoyed it. Still got called a DT fanboy, and had no less than 3 people I believe mention how bad The Astonishing was. Oh, well. 

I can fully understand not wanting negative reviews on their page but oddly enough the band (Derek/MP, basically) stayed out of it entirely. It was the fans in full force attack mode. The review, actually, was up there for... quite a while. Two weeks I think. People were already reviewing how amazing the album was as far as back as mid-September, so I thought I'd chuck my two cents into the mix. Lord was that a mistake.

[twosuitsluke]

Well I'm just finishing up my first (possibly last) listen. Everyone has said it already but that was 'ok'.

It was pretty much what I expected, it wasn't bad at all but I've just got way more to listen to that justs excites me in ways this never will...

[Lethean]

People were getting so upset over my negative review of the band on Facebook that I just removed it. There. Hopefully the sorely damaged egos of the musicians to whom my genuine criticism was directed, and the fans who were deeply offended, will heal over time...

What? That's actually self-censorship. Why did you write that review, if not to be written by others?

'cause I got tired of people bitching about my genuine criticism about the band. I was the lone negative review getting a shitload of attention whereas the positive reviews were just there and ignored. I just figured instead of fanning the flames I'll remove it and they can continue living in a self-inflating echo chamber and I don't have to be continuously called a DT fanboy.

Also had a moment of hippie clarity. Bad juju! Bad vibes! Cleanse! Yada yada.

Was it something you already posted here?

No, it was wholly original for the page, but it wasn't far off the valid criticisms presented here. Lost potential with Soto, Figaro's Whore being a baffling addition, lack of soul and genuine songwriting that wasn't hurried, instrumental sections that sound smashed together for the sake of it... Made mention of how I was super excited for it but was very disappointed in the end. But I even responded individually to some of the rebuttals telling them I hoped they enjoyed it. Still got called a DT fanboy, and had no less than 3 people I believe mention how bad The Astonishing was. Oh, well. 

I can fully understand not wanting negative reviews on their page but oddly enough the band (Derek/MP, basically) stayed out of it entirely. It was the fans in full force attack mode. The review, actually, was up there for... quite a while. Two weeks I think. People were already reviewing how amazing the album was as far as back as mid-September, so I thought I'd chuck my two cents into the mix. Lord was that a mistake.

I would like to have read it.  I thought about writing one to put somewhere, but I've never written a real album review, and I think I would be bad at it.  Maybe not as bad as "Prog Nick," however.... 

[Lethean]

I still haven't got time to post my full thoughts on the album yet, but am I the only one who thinks they missed a huge oportunity by not using Bumblefoot's voice? He has a nice voice (I find his singing more interesting than JSS) but it seems that most (if not all) of the backing vocals were done by MP 

No, you're definitely not the only one.  When I found out how well he could sing I thought it would have been much better to have him do all of the backing vocals on the album, and perhaps even a few lead lines for some contrast.

[TAC]

No, you're definitely not the only one.  When I found out how well I could sing I thought it would have been much better to have him do all of the backing vocals on the album, and perhaps even a few lead lines for some contrast.

Maybe you should've done the backing vocals.

[The Walrus]

Haha.  Lethean, you already know what I think about the album anyway. 

[Lethean]

No, you're definitely not the only one.  When I found out how well I could sing I thought it would have been much better to have him do all of the backing vocals on the album, and perhaps even a few lead lines for some contrast.

Maybe you should've done the backing vocals.

Fixed it, thank you.   And no, I don't believe anyone would have wanted to hear that.

[TAC]

 

[erwinrafael]

So a sitar automatically means its Home? Ok. I liked that intro, it fits the God of the Sun title. The dawn of the day in Egypt.

No,it's not just the sitar. It's the notes played and the combination of the notes. If it doesn't remind you of Home, then I don't know if it'sn willful denial or something else.

[gzarruk]

As expected, some of the songs are already on YT, and if God of the Sun is the best song, like many are saying, I will have a hard time bothering with the rest. It's not a bad song, but it suffers badly from the copy and paste style of writing.  Shoot, even if the transition into the first vocal line was too herky-jerky.  And the singer's voice just does nothing for me whatsoever.  There was some good stuff in that song, but what a structural mess.  Honestly, if I had heard that song, with no knowledge of who the players were, I would have thought it was a band trying a lot to sound like Dream Theater...and coming off like a poor man's one at that.

The whole album suffers from that. The "prog" songs are just a disjointed wank fest mixed with old school hard rock.

I still haven't got time to post my full thoughts on the album yet, but am I the only one who thinks they missed a huge oportunity by not using Bumblefoot's voice? He has a nice voice (I find his singing more interesting than JSS) but it seems that most (if not all) of the backing vocals were done by MP 

No, you're definitely not the only one.  When I found out how well he could sing I thought it would have been much better to have him do all of the backing vocals on the album, and perhaps even a few lead lines for some contrast.

I wanted some leads too. That was, probably, my biggest disappointment with the album. Well, that and JSS... he just sang on the same range... FOR THE ENTIRE ALBUM! 

[Mosh]

Copy pasting from Maidenfans:

It's not too bad actually. First song is cool, there are some moments throughout. Songwriting isn't great but there's some really entertaining instrumental stuff. I actually kinda prefer the instrumental work on here to what DT has been doing over the past 10 years or so. That includes when Portnoy was in the band so I'm not really implying that Portnoy is the missing element, in fact it kinda feels like he phoned in the arrangement side of things despite that usually being one of his strong suits. The songs are kind of a mess structurally.

Soto sounds good but his voice can be monotonous and weak. I wish this was the project Portnoy used Russell Allen on because there are definite Symphony X vibes. Also some major obvious callbacks to FII (expected).

Love Bumblefoot's playing, although I wish he was doing more outside of his guitar solos. Doesn't seem like he found his role in the band. Still, the guitar playing is very good and there are some great solos.

Sheehan takes a major backseat. I forget he's on the album most of the time, but that's a good thing tbh. I've always felt like he approaches bass too much like a lead instrument and when you've got two really capable lead instrumentalists already, there was a risk of things being overbearing. Total opposite of Bumblefoot in that Sheehan has recognized his role in the band as rhythmic/harmonic support. He takes a necessary back seat.

Portnoy is Portnoy, his playing hasn't changed much since the 00s and he's probably the only drummer whose style I can immediately recognize (I suppose that would go for Nicko too, but he never does work outside of Maiden so it's hard to say). It's cool hearing him do the super technical stuff again though. This might sound silly, but he's been involved with so many straight forward rock projects over the past few years that I've kinda forgotten that he used to play stuff like The Dance of Eternity. Even his playing in DT was starting to become really streamlined. I know he's done stuff like PSMS but that project was short lived and I don't know if I'd call most of the Neal Morse projects technically demanding.

I really like Sherinian's playing. Getting Rudess in DT was obviously the right choice, but it's a bummer Sherinian didn't get as much time in the band and joined at a bad time. Wasn't a big fan of the hubris during the album's promotional cycle, but I thought the keyboard work was refreshing compared to DT. I preferred the more traditional patches and his playing style.

Overall, it wasn't the worst thing I've heard lately but it is kinda average prog Metal. If you like that sort of thing (and miss DS and MP playing together) there's really nothing wrong with it. I think one thing to keep in mind is that this is a new band. The musical chemistry isn't quite there yet and the songs are pretty rushed. I'd like to see a followup album cause there's some potential. Of all the Portnoy side projects, this does seem to have the most legs. Like I said, there was some more interesting instrumental work; however, DT is better at having great songwriting around the instrumentals to give them more impact. The Sons of Apollo stuff just sounds kind of contrived and pasted in there. Still, a lot of it can be fun to listen to.

BTW the drama around this release has been ridiculous and seems even sillier for an album that is, at best, only pretty good. I feel like there's a lesson in here about the internet and music, but I'm not sure what it is.

[erwinrafael]

This has bettet instrumentals than DT for the last ten years? Even over BAI? Or ANB?

[pcs90]

This has bettet instrumentals than DT for the last ten years? Even over BAI? Or ANB?

Yeah, I don't get that at all...BAI and ANB are far more interesting instrumentally than the ones on this album. And if we are going for a more technical one I prefer Outcry to the ones on PS any day.

[Mosh]

Not better than everything, there have definitely been some highlights from DT. It's close but for me it really comes down to nitpicky things like types of chords used (it seems like SoA are taking a more jazz fusion approach which I prefer to DT's more classical style) and keyboard patches. Some of the odd time stuff was also exciting and more Planet X than Dream Theater, especially in the bookending epics.

One thing I also like is how spacious a lot of the solos are. Guitar solos don't have rhythm guitar tracks underneath and Derek is sticking to airy patches and long chords. Sometimes the stuff underneath JP's solos can be a little too busy for me. They were on the right track in that area with DT12 but the instrumentals on there were intentionally pretty brief and they didn't really go further with it on the next album (apart from A New Beginning).

[erwinrafael]

Ok, got it. I think Bumblefoot brings a lot of that fusion feel. My gripe about that it almost becomes predictable that they would slow down than Ron Thal enters with his solo. As if they can not incorporate his playing to thr wanky stuff.

The odd time stuff, I don't know if I just changed tastes but it doesn't do much for me anymore. I like it when it fits structurally and melodically to the rest of the song. In this album though, anlotnof the odd meters are like the chaotic ending of the Metropolis Pt. 1 instrumental.