MYTHOLOGY

2004, Derek Sherinian is here to offer another solo album to the fans of his personal productions.''Mythology'' was released on the InsideOut and Avalon labels in Europe/USA and Japan respectively, line-up/list of participants remains pretty much the same as on the previous album, still Sherinian had sent an invitation to Jazz-Fusion legend Allan Holdsworth to offer his guitar work on a couple of pieces.

Now, another great member of the all-time Fusion Hall of Fame has entered the gates of Sherinian, so expectations were really high for this one.I am pretty dissapointed to say that the result has taken the opposite direction.Sherinian seems to have forgotten about the sense of melody and for what this album will be remembered about will be the endless and tiresome keyboard noodling, extreme technical exhibitions and loose soloing.It's pretty weird to listen to some Hard Rock-in' guitars trying to get on track with Sherinian's fists of keyboard masturbation, the execution by all instrumentalists are reckless, virtuosic and even flawless, but you've to come up also with some decent composing to satisfy your fans.This is not the case.''Mythology'' relies too much on self-indulgent performances, the balance between virtuosity, melody, technique and composition has pretty much faded in my ears and the numerous solo exhibitions are hard to follow, not to say they're not particularly memorable after repeated listenings.The rise of Metal and Hard Rock elements in the place of more Fusion-oriented lines are sounding rather annoying, there are still pieces with interesting moments, like the monumental guitar work of Steve Stevens on ''Alpha burst'', the impressive atmospheric passages on ''God of war'' Sykes' solo and Sherinian's orchestral keys creating a few enganging minutes of well-constructed music or the Latin vibes of ''El flamingo suave'', but the majority in here is about virtuosity and technique, fast solos, egoistic exhibitions and nonsense Metal/Fusion pomposity.

Not meeting my expectations.Flawless in terms of talent and execution, but very low in what you'll recall after the listening.Little to remember actually, so be sure to like furious, bombastic music if you ever lay your hands on this...2.5 stars.