Since leaving Dream Theater in 2010, Mike Portnoy has had a fair few projects to keep himself busy - Adrenaline Mob, Flying Colours, Winery Dogs. Where Sons of Apollo has become more than a 'side project' is in the quality of the members; Derek Sherinian (ex-Dream Theater), Billy Sheehan (Winery Dogs, Mr. Big), Jeff Scott Soto (Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Yngwie Malmsteen, Journey) and Ron 'Bumblefoot' Thal (Guns 'n' Roses).
Connotations will be drawn with Dream Theater given Sherinian and Portnoy's involvement, but where SOA truly stands apart is in Soto's aggressive vocal style. The man is a beast of a singer, and while many of the songs on Psychotic Symphony are notable for their extensive instrumental sections - as you would expect from a prog album - when Soto is rattling his pipes he exudes the kind of aggressive vigour that a singer akin to James LaBrie can never deliver for Dream Theater.While you would expect the flavour of this album to be purely prog metal - given the history of it's creator and leader, Portnoy - that's not entirely what we get. The influence of the undercard members - Sheehan and Bumblefoot - is felt with shorter songs firmly rooted in rock.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHSUT-ClRo8
Coming Home couldn't be more of a departure from the opening track. We get a Val Halen ish keyboard riff, a scream, and then a more straight forward hard rock sound with Sheehan and Bumblefoot taking more of a driving seat with the crushing riff. The story goes that Sherinian wanted to do a U.K. angle with the song, but Portnoy preferred a more epic, big rock sound. It's the perfect song to be the first single - it grabs you and never lets go.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2troOCI5AAM
Signs of the Time meets the previous two tracks at a crossroads. It's similar in length to Coming Home but takes on more musical attributes from God of the Sun. The highlight is the insanely fast and technical two minute Bumblefoot solo. All of the solos on this record sound like an imitation of Petrucci, but that can only be the highest of praise for Bumblefoot who has openly said how intimidated he initially was by the band's musical style.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EFROCoQYlc&t=3s
Labyrinth's opening is as different from the rest of the album as it's possible to get. Strings - in similar style to Eleanor Rigby - accompany a weak voice before Soto bellows and cues the ensuing kaleidoscope of progressive artistry. If there's a scale from 1-10 of 'proggyness' on this album, this would certainly sit at the high end. It twists, turns, ducks and dives so many times it's difficult to keep track of what's happening with the time signatures and who's doing what, but that pertains to just how talented these five musicians are to keep the composition so tight while flying full throttle on their respective instruments. My personal favourite part of this track is near the end when Bumblefoot's lethal arpeggios give way to vocal harmonies. It comes from nowhere and adds a little flourish to what is arguably the best track on Psychotic Symphony.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-rCa1OMa3I&t=137s
The album takes a moment of calm with Alive, an almost David Gilmour-esque track in the way it's given plenty of room to breathe and is hugely emotive. Soto more than aptly shows his chops for metal on this record, but Alive is where we get to experience his vocal dexterity. Shaped more like a ballad, there are moments of musical heaviness but Soto's contribution comes in the form of softer, emotive vocals with accompanied Portnoy and Bumblefoot harmonies. Bumblefoot shines with the solo too. Completely stripped back and free of over driven shredding, he wafts through a wash of reverb and delicate picking.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRnS1EzDVLQ
Amid the tempestuously chaotic riff, Lost In Oblivion has some moments of utter brilliance, particularly with a bass/guitar unison solo section between Sheehan and Bumblefoot. It's totally mesmerising. The contrast between the verse and chorus is interesting too, jumping between a heavy metal tone and almost pop. Soto's voice handles the change of tone brilliantly too, keeping a deep profile for the verse and rising for the chorus.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyPQjVUVq4s
Figaro's Whore is Sherinian's shining individual moment on Psychotic Symphony. To best describe this keyboard solo is to compare it to Eddie Van Halen's Eruption. Sherinian's playing style is more that of a guitarist than pianist so when it comes to solos he sounds like he's channeling players such as Randy Rhodes, Jeff Beck and EVH. The song gets it's title from a section within the track that is inspired by Mozart's piece, Marriage of Figaro - as Sherinian has put it: "There had to have been a whore in the equation somwhere, so I wanted to cover that angle of the story!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQzX4QrIT94
Divine Addiction - of which Figaro's Whore acts as a prelude - has all the hallmarks of Deep Purple; big organ sound and quintessential 1970s hard rock riff. So quintessentially 70s in fact, Sheehan thought he'd heard it somewhere before. It's a credit to Sherinian's writing that he could compose a riff and melody so close to Deep Purple's iconic sound without plagiarising it!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nh2GSZOtaJU
Psychotic Symphony ends where the album started, with 10 minutes of complex prog, except this time it's an expansive instrumental: Opus Maximus. It's pompous, pretentious, self indulgent, self aggrandising and totally ridiculous. One thing's for sure, it'll be a heinous bastard to play live!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3addS-uEkmo
In the build up to release, Sons of Apollo have been labelled a 'super-group', purely because of the names associated with it, but with this record they have shown they are worth far more than the cliched term would suggest. We shouldn't be surprised - given the lineup - that their musicianship alone sets the new standard of prog metal.
