PSYCHOTIC SYMPHONY

It's hard for me to believe that it was way back in 2010 that the announcement was made that Mike Portnoy was no longer a part of DREAM THEATER. Of course we all know he's back now, but those years in between I sort of lost what Mike was up to. Yes, the Neal Morse stuff I was aware of, including FLYING COLORS which was a disappointment for me. But this was the one project he was in that peaked my interest. My only concern was the singer who I did not know, and concerned because it was Portnoy who suggested the singer for FLYING COLORS, which was not a good choice in my opinion. And he suggested the singer here.

Well, my concerns were wiped away fairly quickly on that opener. He has such a deep and rich voice, I can't believe he was with JOURNEY. His name is Jeff Scott Soto. We get Billy Sheehan on bass, and Portnoy's former DREAM THEATER mate Derek Sherinian on keyboards. Then add Ronald Jay Blumenthal on guitar. Some may know him by Ron Thal or Bumblefoot. An amazing talent. The DREAM THEATER boys co-produced this record and it sounds incredible. We get under an hour of music over nine tracks. And the opener and closer really set the bar high here. The only two songs over ten minutes although "Labyrinth" is close at 9 1/2 minutes.

We get a trio of string players guesting, with Derek coming up with the arrangements for those. We also get some guest ethnic sounds from Indian percussion and sitar. This album I believe has Sherinian's finger prints all over it. I'm such a fan of Derek's solo stuff where we get some barn storming music that is heavy and often straight forward sounding. Sure this isn't as complex as DREAM THEATER, but believe me it has plenty of complexity. But with the anthemic choruses, harmonies and such, this has a commercial quality about it, no doubt. I just love how heavy and catchy it is.

And sure I believe the not so high ratings on this site for this album have a lot to do with how proggy it isn't. Not a problem for me. Sherinian is not as prominent as I thought he would be but man that organ and the atmosphere he creates with the synths is all so good. Check out the short "Figaro's Whore" where it's all Derek. And the next track "Divine Addiction" where the opening organ kills. Is that title a shot at Neal Morse? Addicted? More like in love. I can relate. There is so much heavy music on here, so impressed with this one. And Ron Thal showed me some stuff on here I wasn't expecting. My appreciation for Bumblefoot only increases the more I experience his talents. You don't need that KFC bucket man, just play.

Flip a coin between the opener "God Of The Sun" and the closer "Opus Maximus" as far as my favourites go. But honestly other than those more commercial sounding moments and tracks, this is such a high end Prog Metal album. Highly recommended from where I sit. And another 2017 release I did not get to at the time. A solid 4 stars.

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