Sons of Apollo (feat. Portnoy & Sherinian)

[bosk1]

Well, that--AND I have it on good authority that he fraternizes with poozers.

[Adami]

Well, that--AND I have it on good authority that he fraternizes with poozers.

Does he march with them?

Actually, I feel like Poozers represent the perfect combination of MP's two favorite things.

[Grappler]

8 for me.  I think it's an awesome record, it sounds great, and JSS is fantastic.  I've had his vocals for God of the Sun stuck in my head for a week now.

[cramx3]

Well, that--AND I have it on good authority that he fraternizes with poozers.

 

[bosk1]

8 for me.  I think it's an awesome record, it sounds great, and JSS is fantastic.  I've had his vocals for God of the Sun stuck in my head for a week now.

Me too.  On all of that.

[efx]

In the latest issue of Sweden Rock Magazine there is a Portnoy interview where he states (and I'll do my best in getting the translation right here): "I have cleared the air with Jordan and John. We are friends nowadays and stay in touch so things are good".

Not going to speculate beyond that but I thought it was an interesting statement considering it involved JP.

[gzarruk]

It means Jordan is aware and his response is pure class.

I do wonder if the DT guys just joke and laugh about this in private.  They are clearly taking the higher road, but when they are together I could imagine them reading the tweets and just laughing.  I know my friends and I do similar when someone we went to high school posts some stupid grade school shit on social media 

"And then he said, there's no cheese on our record!"

[bosk1]

[?]

Second, look at the distribution.  Omerta was released on Century Media.  Psychotic Symphony was released on Inside Out.  Century Media definitely has wider distribution.

IO is actually a subsidiary of CM and both are part of Sony nowadays, so the distribution is (or at least should be) the same.

[cramx3]

It means Jordan is aware and his response is pure class.

I do wonder if the DT guys just joke and laugh about this in private.  They are clearly taking the higher road, but when they are together I could imagine them reading the tweets and just laughing.  I know my friends and I do similar when someone we went to high school posts some stupid grade school shit on social media 

"And then he said, there's no cheese on our record!"

  that video is probably my favorite of any with the members of DT

[bosk1]

Second, look at the distribution.  Omerta was released on Century Media.  Psychotic Symphony was released on Inside Out.  Century Media definitely has wider distribution.

IO is actually a subsidiary of CM and both are part of Sony nowadays, so the distribution is (or at least should be) the same.

Oh, wow.  I didn't realize that about Inside Out.  Thanks for pointing it out.

But still, if I'm not mistaken, a subsidiary isn't necessarily going to have the same distribution agreements in place as the parent company.  I think it's telling that you won't find many (if any) Inside Out releases at any of the big national retailers.  But, hey, I could be wrong. 

[Enigmachine]

Not sure what rating to give it, but I think that it's pretty great. I think I adjusted my expectations to something that wasn't going to be anywhere near as prog as Dream Theater, but have enough to still be considered prog metal. I actually quite like the hard rock vibe of it and think that the band have sort of made their own niche by fusing an 80s melodic rock sound with heavy progressive metal and I think that the fusion is done quite well. I think Jeff Scott Soto is incredible on this album, coming from someone who thought that he was a bit meh in Yngwie's band. He's got a lot of power and a good melodic sense, despite maybe being a bit one-dimensional at times. I hope this isn't a one-off project, because this still has the vibe of testing the waters. I don't think the album was particularly ambitious or daring, but that's okay for a debut.

[noxon]

No need to go out of their way to call things "Disney"

Actual quotes from JP interviews during the promo phase: "Hey, it could be the next Disney movie musical "

[Ben_Jamin]

No need to go out of their way to call things "Disney"

Actual quotes from JP interviews during the promo phase: "Hey, it could be the next Disney movie musical "

Well, David Campbell did do some Disney films.

[bill1971]

No need to go out of their way to call things "Disney"

Actual quotes from JP interviews during the promo phase: "Hey, it could be the next Disney movie musical "

Disney now owns Marvel and Star Wars, so why DT? Besides it's not like Disney puts out bad music in their movies.

[noxon]

All I'm saying is you can't fault fans and Derek for bringing up the Disney comparison when it actually was used by JP himself in the VERY FIRST interview about The Astonishing. JP kinda sowed that seed.

[The Walrus]

Yeah, but everyone else took the Disney thing and used the comparison in a derogatory way - as if being Disney is inherently a bad thing. Disney's music kicks ass.

[NoseofNicko]

6. Not bad, some good moments, but most of the riffs and melodies sound like stuff I’ve heard before.

[ganpondorodf]

Yeah, but everyone else took the Disney thing and used the comparison in a derogatory way - as if being Disney is inherently a bad thing. Disney's music kicks ass.

Gaston is one of the best songs ever written and I will fight anyone who says otherwise

[Peace and Love]

Can I get a TLDR on DS's behvariour? What happened there? I tuned out after I heard the first song - not my cup of tea.

99% of the times he was tweeting about the band, he was using hashtag to antagonize and mock DT: #noipads, #nocheesyvocals, #nodroidbullshit etc etc, every post essentially 9 times out of 10 was a stab at DT, his entire hype campaign was based on the concept "We're not doing what those losers in DT are doing".

Or, if you're of a different opinion, just having some fun and poking fun at his old band and the inevitable comparisons between the two. 

He never once called them "losers" or anything like that, and he at one point acknowledged that it was all a joke and poking fun.   

Where did he do that?

Not sure, but I'm also not sure it matters.

Yeah.
1.  He didn't (as far as I've seen, anyway).  But:
2.  As you said, it doesn't really matter.

There was a tweet, I'm guessing about two weeks ago, and it might have been technically from Mike, but it referred to the joking about their former band. 

All water under the bridge when referring to the music, though, I agree.

What a fantastic argument you made there, very solid!

1. "Derek acknowledged that it was all a joke"
2. Don't post proof
3. Actually Derek didn't post the tweet, it was Mike.
4. It doesn't matter anyway.

If it doesn't matter, and you're not going to post proof, and you agree that your original claim was false anyway, and someone else posted this tweet... then why bother contradicting the original person at all?

[KevShmev]

Don't mind Stadler.  He's a good guy, but he is, by his own admission, part of "Team Mike" and will usually spin just about anything so that it reflects positively on Portnoy. It's almost a running joke at this point, and he never lets us down. 

[The Walrus]

Mike doesn't refer to them as jokes, either. He knows exactly what people are talking about, and he either calls it "Del Fuvian bravado" or "Sherinianisms." It's not hard to be honest about that, Stadler

[Dave_Manchester]

Mike doesn't refer to them as jokes, either. He knows exactly what people are talking about, and he either calls it "Del Fuvian bravado" or "Sherinianisms."

And, most recently, 'Shitstirinian'. Because stirring shit on the internet is hilarious...

...until it gets sent back to you, in which case you close down your forum, delete comments from Facebook, trash a 'rival' (in his mind) forum, and bemoan the hurtful "poisonous negativity" on the internet and plaintively ask why we all can't just get along and be civil to each other.

[Madman Shepherd]

This is interesting.  Looks like Mike went easier on Derek for leaking the early Metropolis Pt. 2 demo than he did on his own forum members for guessing Bumblefoot was the secret guitarist in Sons of Apollo. 

[SwedishGoose]

Mike doesn't refer to them as jokes, either. He knows exactly what people are talking about, and he either calls it "Del Fuvian bravado" or "Sherinianisms."

And, most recently, 'Shitstirinian'. Because stirring shit on the internet is hilarious...

...until it gets sent back to you, in which case you close down your forum, delete comments from Facebook, trash a 'rival' (in his mind) forum, and bemoan the hurtful "poisonous negativity" on the internet and plaintively ask why we all can't just get along and be civil to each other.

Nice summation Dave...

[Ben_Jamin]

Then he released the FII demoes.

[Schurftkut]

spot on 

[IDontNotDoThings]

This is interesting.  Looks like Mike went easier on Derek for leaking the early Metropolis Pt. 2 demo than he did on his own forum members for guessing Bumblefoot was the secret guitarist in Sons of Apollo. 

This is pretty damn cool. It's more in the vain of part 1, but still with pieces from the 20-minute demo. It's honestly surprising how good the quality is considering its state. The FII demos always stunned me with their quality compared to how demos usually are. 

Edit: Listening to the end section, does that riff remind anyone else of The Divine Wings Of Tragedy by SX or is it just me?

[nobloodyname]

I thought the posts apologising for derailing the thread were probably too good to be true... BOHICA, as Wey used to say

Folks, why not move the carping to the other thread and keep this one as a place for good discussion about everyone's verdict on the album?

[SwedishGoose]

Folks, why not move the carping to the other thread and keep this one as a place for good discussion about everyone's verdict on the album?

"But her emails" 😉

Dereks comments are all over the place, we are just following his lead..... I do agree though. Would be good to keep it in one thread.

[nobloodyname]

Don't get me wrong, I have no issue with discussing Derek's comments at all. It'd just be nice if we could keep this thread solely for discussion about the music and the other one for all the extraneous shit going down

[SwedishGoose]

Agree... the Sherinian poking fu at Jordan thread was made soecifically for that purpouse

[The Silent Cody]

Wow, I never heard that one ! Very cool, it has some The Dance Of Eternity, One Last Time and Metroplis pt 1 elements, and something not known for me. It's very different from what I've known from FII demos, thank You

[MirrorMask]

So it was Derek the whole time? never knew that! I did remember the Metropolist pt.2 demo leak, and I remembered as well his comment "If it's out, it's out, I'm not gonna cry over spilled milk"... which he totally forgot when someone from the studio leaked the footage of Bumblefoot. Of course he had a right to be annoyed and to ask to not spread the word for those who didn't knew, but that was another case of spilled milk.

[MirrorMask]

I have another "verdict" to give so to speak, which will sound heresy to many I guess... but I've decided to trim things a bit. There are some who would prefer instrumental versions of the songs, especially DT songs (for those of course who are into James' voice), and that to me is even more "heretic" 'cause the singing is the key of a song for me, but since I always drift off during the long solo sections of the songs, I've decided to put to use my rudimental audio editing skills and trim the songs.

It's not that the solo section are horrible, for example Signs of the Time's is quite good all things considered, but each time I listen to the album I almost forget which song it is until JSS starts to sings again at the end, so I've cut some portions here and there. I've shortened and streamlined the solo sections of God of the Sun, Signs of the Time and Labyrinth, completely removed Figaro's Whore save the last part which I think makes for a good prelude to Divine Addiction, and well, I've cut so much off Opus Maximus that I don't even want to tell about it 

So now, just like I had a "shorter version" of The Astonishing with some of the songs removed from the playlist, now I have a 50 minutes, 8 songs version of Psychotic Symphony, which is the one I'll probably listening to from now on.

I don't expect people to agree with me of course, but then again, as I said, there are people that would prefer DT songs without James' singing, and that to me is even more weird