Sons of Apollo (feat. Portnoy & Sherinian)

[nobloodyname]

Personally I am as baffled by 10/10 as by 1/10.

A perfect score would mean that it is a masterpiece. A flawless album.... and I fail to se how anyone can think of this as a masterpiece. I'm happy for those who like it though.

It's all subjective, of course. Based on what you've written about The Astonishing, for example, I suspect you'd give it 10/10. I suspect, in response to that, some might say, "I fail to see how anyone can think of [The Astonishing] as a masterpiece".

Me, I gave it 7/10 although 6.5 might be more appropriate. Too great a decline in the latter third of the album.

[SwedishGoose]

You are right... it's all subjective. However I feel like no one can deny that the care that has gone into the songwriting in the Astonishing shows and that the jammed and stitched together "songwriting" on Psycotic Symphony shows as well.

I definitely understand how you can prefer the direction of Psycotic Symphony over Astonishing  though.

And yeah I would probably have voted 10 for Astonishing  (9,5).....

[Madman Shepherd]

Ok so I wasn't planning on listening to anymore but came across the song Alive. My wife asked what I was listening to and I told her it was a new Mike Portnoy project. She said, "Oh. Sounds like Nickelback."

Sooooooo.....

[rumborak]

Labyrinth starts out decent but man, it drops off a 1000ft cliff from there and drags the shattered carcass of the song across the desert floor for another 5 minutes.

[Cool Chris]

Hey at least they’re throwing some different promotional material out there.
https://youtu.be/F5dLYIRLiXw

Ah, The Evergreen State College, educating the leaders of tomorrow, in feeling good about themselves, making sure we have "safe spaces," and receiving smiley faces instead of letter grades.

[KevShmev]

Ok so I wasn't planning on listening to anymore but came across the song Alive. My wife asked what I was listening to and I told her it was a new Mike Portnoy project. She said, "Oh. Sounds like Nickelback."

Sooooooo.....

Ironically, I just listened to that song (yay for YT putting more songs up for me to listen to for free!), and I can sorta see it.  That song could have worked with, wait for it, James LaBrie as the singer, but with the guy they have, not at all.  That song needed a singer who can deliver a great melody, but Soto singing it in the same gritty voice that he used for all of the other songs by them I have thus far sucked out any melody that song might have had. That is a recurring theme I am noticing with these songs: lack of melodies to grab on to.  Some of the riffs are really good (the main one in Lost in Oblivion is really cool), and Sherinian has some nice moments, but the lack of melody is striking.

[cramx3]

Gave it a 6-7 in my review yesterday, I've had a few more listens since then.  I voted 7 here.  It's really not as bad as some make it out to be, but it's not a memorable album for me.  Some awesome Bumblefoot spots that I really like, I'd say that's the best part of the album.  It's good metal and instrumentally fine, but nothing catchy and nothing memorable that makes me want to keep coming back to it.  If it weren't for the awesome music, I'd give it a 4, but they did get something right IMO.  If they spend time touring and working on new material, giving it air to breathe, there's potential for a good follow up.  We'll see.

[Phoenix87x]

Meh

And I was looking forward to this one too. Oh well

[Mladen]

Labyrinth starts out decent but man, it drops off a 1000ft cliff from there and drags the shattered carcass of the song across the desert floor for another 5 minutes.

That song starts off very strong but loses me in the second half as well.

[DT2003]

After one listen I definitely think there’s some cool stuff on this album, but time will tell how it will hold up over time. Don’t know that it’s an album I will keep coming back to, but at the same time I really don’t get how there’s so much hate for it.

[Elite]

The ‘hate’ comes from the agressive promotional campaign, mainly because of Derek and Mike. On top of that it’s them claiming that they will ‘take back the throne of progressive metal’ and ‘redifining the genre’ and all that silly stuff. Then people listen to it and concluding that it’s merely generic progressive metal (an oxymoron, but whatever) and does nothing new whatsoever. It doesn’t live up to the self-imposed hype and feels like a dull, hastily written and altogether uninspired record.

[erwinrafael]

Ok so I wasn't planning on listening to anymore but came across the song Alive. My wife asked what I was listening to and I told her it was a new Mike Portnoy project. She said, "Oh. Sounds like Nickelback."

Sooooooo.....

So what's wrong? I think it's the best vocal performance in the record and it has grown on me a lot I think it will be on regular rotation. If they did more songs like this, which is disciplined and not trying hard to be prog, the album would be mich better.

As for Soto singing in the same range for the whole album, I would put the onus on that on the songwriters.

[Fritzinger]

I don't quite get that reactions here are THAT negative. Sure, MP overhyped it as per usual (Similitude was supposed to be the greatest album of his career too remember?) and Derek was being a total dick about pretty much everything everyone said ever (hope I don't get banned for this, but I just can't find any other way to phrase it), but the album is not bad at all in my opinion!

Sure, it's not the revolution they built it up to be, but it's juicy, all-American, body-builder fun-Progmetal with legs apart, and a lot of garlic, sauce and butter.
The album has a perfect sound, the best MP drum sound I have heard since FII (which btw is the best sounding DT record ever imo). If you do a little math, it has 3 prog songs that are more or less 10 mins long which already takes more than half of the album. Lost In Oblivion has a lot of proggy parts and so has Sings Of The Times. Figaros Whore (stupid name, I agree) is just an intro and I wish they would have just included it into Divine Addiction. Alive is a pop-rock ballad - but whats bad about a Creed-Nickelback ballad (Ron has played with Scott Stapp btw)? If you don't want that, go listen to Nova Collective.

I do, however, agree on the behavior of MP and especially DS online, I never thought DS was a guy like that. I always liked what he did on FII (cool jazzy approach f.e. in Lines In The Sand), but now I somehow can understand why the guys let him go. And I can't be the only one. How can Derek not see it coming, that he is just making a fool out of himself? Besides, the whole DelFuvio bulls**t sounds like DS and MP are two high school teens who think they are the coolest dudes around. They haven't done anything together since 1997 (except for maybe the PSMS stuff which for me is barely worth mentioning), they are NOT brothers, they are NOT best friends - they USED to play in the same band twenty years ago, until one kicked the other one out and now came crawling back after he got kicked out himself. And now they call them selves The DelFuvio Brothers? C'mon guys.

Besides all this childish stuff these two have been saying, I really like the music and I am trying to ignore all the aforementioned. And until now, it works. I think the album rocks, it's very cool and I think they will put on a hell of a show.

But please, Derek, shut up about Jordan and the guys. They have accomplished more than you, Jordan is the better keyboarder, get over it.

[Kwyjibo]

Ok so I wasn't planning on listening to anymore but came across the song Alive. My wife asked what I was listening to and I told her it was a new Mike Portnoy project. She said, "Oh. Sounds like Nickelback."

Sooooooo.....

There's a review on a german prog board (linked some pages ago) that compares the whole thing to Nickelback, but the writer confesses that he likes Nickelback and gives a rating of 13/15 for SoA.

[Fritzinger]

Ok so I wasn't planning on listening to anymore but came across the song Alive. My wife asked what I was listening to and I told her it was a new Mike Portnoy project. She said, "Oh. Sounds like Nickelback."

Sooooooo.....

There's a review on a german prog board (linked some pages ago) that compares the whole thing to Nickelback, but the writer confesses that he likes Nickelback and gives a rating of 13/15 for SoA.

I love reading that guys' reviews. His name is Nik Brückner. He says:

[...] sind die Sons of Apollo stärker auf der Seite kraftigen, verschwitzen, breitbeinigen, heterosexuellen Männerrocks. Zwar gibt es hier auch Staccatopassagen und polymetrische Parts, das Ganze ist aber weitaus saftiger, amerikanischer, kraftvoller, rockt klassischer und ist mit ordentlich Zwiebeln und BBQ-Sauce. Geil!

This translates more or less to: "the Sons Of Apollo are more on the side of strong, sweaty, legs-apart, heterosexual man-rock. There are staccato passages and polymeric parts here as well, but the whole thing is way more juicy, American, stronger, it's more in the direction of classic rock and is made with a lot of onions and BBQ-sauce. Awesome!"

I actually loved the "American-barbeque-food" comparison and used it in the other thread as well, now you reminded me where I got that thought from I think what Nik says is describing the album pretty well.

[Podaar]

Since I only bought part of the album (individual songs) and only enjoy them, not love them, I gave the album a 6 rating.

[BelichickFan]

I don't quite get that reactions here are THAT negative. Sure, MP overhyped it as per usual (Similitude was supposed to be the greatest album of his career too remember?) and Derek was being a total dick about pretty much everything everyone said ever (hope I don't get banned for this, but I just can't find any other way to phrase it), but the album is not bad at all in my opinion!

I kind of like it through (and including) Labyrinth.  I don't love it but I like it.  After that, though, I legitimately don't like it.  Not because of internet behavior, not because of DT vs. MP/DS, I just don't like it.

[Lowdz]

9

I love JSS’ voice anyway. I love the songs, though the two they released ahead of the album are probably my least favourites.
I love MP’s drumming. And it sounds great.
Bumble is a beast.
Derek’s keyboards are nice and familiar - I like that they sound like keyboards, something JR often doesn’t.
I love the Blackmore-sequel Eastern riffs and melodies.

I love shredding.

Dislikes?
I don’t particularly like low sounding guitars but hey, these days it’s prettymuch a given.
Derek and Mikes behaviour during the run up.

[Tick]

I've not listened yet but from what I'm reading I'm not in a big hurry to.

[Sycsa]

Well, I took the album for a few spins.

The pros:
- Derek's keyboard sounds are a rare treat. Hearing a classic Hammond & Leslie, plus real analog synths in a modern sounding metal album has been a longtime desire of mine, and the album delivers on this front. Still, it could be better, Derek distorts that organ way too much, to the point where it almost sounds "fake" (as in digital). But I'll take what I can get. 
- Some good melodies and neat moments here and there, everyone gets their chance to shine. I squeezed out some fun from every single track, except for Opus Maximus, which is a total throwaway. 

The cons:
- Without going into detail, this is basically a poor man's post-2007 Symphony X with a hard rock edge.
- I think I have MP-fatigue. The drumming is so familiar that it's a problem for me at this point. I actually realized this not while listening to PS, but when I popped in So Far Gone by The Neal Morse Band (which is a far better song than anything on PS - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rL5u8nCI8FY). MP almost ruins it with the same-y, overdone drum fills. Having an entire album filled with the same old bag of tricks is tiresome.

Some observations:
- Figaro's Whore spawned from Deep Purple's Hey Joe - https://youtu.be/DPbEXzQPYAc?t=7s. Why? I have no idea.
- Labyrinth has the ELP Fanfare for the Common Man synth at 2:30, which was a nice touch.
- Divine Addiction structurally is the exact carbon copy of Perfect Strangers, from the organ intro right to the exotic/operatic outro. Still my favorite song on the album.
- At first, God of the Sun's main riff almost sounds like it's in odd-time, but it's actually in 4/4. One of those rare riffs that can pull this off. Still comes off as a bit generic.

That's it. Maybe it will grow on me in the future, but at this point, I don't feel like revisiting it too much. No real depth, it was a rushed, phoned-in, rough-and-ready effort, and it shows. My 16-yeard-old self, who only listened to Deep Purple and ELP, would have probably loved it, but it falls short for my current self.

[Dave_Manchester]

Gave it a 3. A few decent moments but overall I think any collection of competent musicians could have thrown this together.

Interesting mini-discussion above about what could ever constitute a 1/10 album. I'm trying to think of an album I'd give a 1 to, but can't come up with anything. Even the worst stuff I've ever heard had something likeable about it.

[Metro]

5/10. I posted my review in the main thread. It has potential. It could have been a lot better if they had taken their time rather than rushing to throw this album together in 10 days. It also could benefit from an outside producer and an actual songwriter in the band.
God of the Sun and Signs of the Time are the only tracks I can see myself revisiting later on. Coming Home is still garbage. Figaro's Whore is pointless. Everything else is forgettable.

[Schurftkut]

5/10 for me.

For them to be a true worthy progmetal band, they'd need to utilise JSS much better, actually work on all the arrangements and add/remove stuff that makes more sense for the songs to flow nicely.

[Renzo]

A 1/10 rating for me would mean that not only the record leaves me cold but that it actually causes me pain when listening to it, not even St. Anger is that bad.

Even though I've only heard four of the songs so far, I can't see it being a 1/10.

1/10 is saved for the truly awful, like Queensryche albums from the 00s and Kiss records.

Or for Green Day's "Uno!" my god.. It's creeping how bad it was. IMHO

[The Walrus]

Massive disappointment and - just my opinion - the album where Mike has 'jumped the shark' so to speak. 3/10.

[Crow]

a 0/10 or 1/10 is total useless garbage like merzbow imo. or by-the-numbers pop rap. something completely devoid of artistic merit.
i also gave the new leprous a 5/10 (which really is only "average" on the overall scale of things but definitely not a good score)
this one i dunno if listening more would make me like it more but i have zero interest in listening to it again

[The Silent Cody]

OK, I can see similarity with Home in God Of The Sun, but in Labirynth there is a total rip off from Haken's 1985, that piano melody...

[The Walrus]

Not knowing a whole lot of Haken, I just checked that out. Jesus, the 1985 comparison is spot on. That's so blatant.

God of the Sun reminds me a lot of Home and a bit of Lines In The Sand too. I showed it to a friend of mine who doesn't listen to Dream Theater much but Home is his favorite song, and he was shocked at how similar they sounded.

[Fritzinger]

Not knowing a whole lot of Haken, I just checked that out. Jesus, the 1985 comparison is spot on. That's so blatant.

God of the Sun reminds me a lot of Home and a bit of Lines In The Sand too. I showed it to a friend of mine who doesn't listen to Dream Theater much but Home is his favorite song, and he was shocked at how similar they sounded.

I hope you get into Haken this way, they're absolutely awesome
I noticed that too, I wonder if MP did. He's a big Haken fan.

[The Walrus]

Not knowing a whole lot of Haken, I just checked that out. Jesus, the 1985 comparison is spot on. That's so blatant.

God of the Sun reminds me a lot of Home and a bit of Lines In The Sand too. I showed it to a friend of mine who doesn't listen to Dream Theater much but Home is his favorite song, and he was shocked at how similar they sounded.

I hope you get into Haken this way, they're absolutely awesome
I noticed that too, I wonder if MP did. He's a big Haken fan.

I actually do have The Mountain. I think it's a wonderful album, although the vocals grate on me a little. But musically yeah it is fantastic. I just haven't heard the others. Too much music to catch up on. Soon.

[Mosh]

I'm feeling a 6 right now. Not amazing but not bad, some good moments throughout.

[jakepriest]

The first song is very good.
All the rest is more or less bad except for Signs of Time which is okayish.

4/10

[Mark Levinson Jr.]

For someone new to the Progressive Metal genre, I can't think of a worse introduction.
For someone under the age of 30, I can't imagine them thinking these guys were cool, in any way.

As someone who likes also likes Prog Rock (Tull, Crimson, Yes), the whole "Van Halen swagger" thing is lost on me. Embarrassing.
Musically, it's nostalgic. The opposite of progressive.

Personally, The DT guys seem bitter, juvenile, and stuck in the past. I'll struggle my whole life to have a fraction of their money and influence. They seem to be squandering the respect they've earned. I don't understand them.

2/10

[Fritzinger]

Not knowing a whole lot of Haken, I just checked that out. Jesus, the 1985 comparison is spot on. That's so blatant.

God of the Sun reminds me a lot of Home and a bit of Lines In The Sand too. I showed it to a friend of mine who doesn't listen to Dream Theater much but Home is his favorite song, and he was shocked at how similar they sounded.

I hope you get into Haken this way, they're absolutely awesome
I noticed that too, I wonder if MP did. He's a big Haken fan.

I actually do have The Mountain. I think it's a wonderful album, although the vocals grate on me a little. But musically yeah it is fantastic. I just haven't heard the others. Too much music to catch up on. Soon.

The Mountain is a fantastic album imo and my personal album 2013. Affinity takes the throne of the best Haken album for me though. Visions is less freaky and raw, has a little more Neo-Prog influences if you ask me. Aquarius is one of the greatest debut albums I have ever stumbled upon. Compared to Affinity and The Mountain it seems a bit immature but only those albums make it look like that. Standing on its own it's just outstanding.
Needless to say, Haken has become one of my favorite bands ever and in case DT call it quits in the next 10 years, I can't see anyone fill their footsteps except for those guys. NOT EVEN Portnoys new project 

[Zook]

I haven't listened to the whole album, but after watching the video for Lost in Oblivion (which is a really good song) I still think this band would be better with Russell Allen on vocals. Not that Soto is bad, but Russell has the charm and charisma that would take SoA to the next level. They'd be Symphony X lite, but I'd certainly enjoy them more.