Sons Of Apollo announce new album

By At The Barrier on 14th November 2019 • ( Leave a comment )

Some excellent news – although after doing an interview with Jeff Scott Soto earlier in the year, it comes as no surprise…expect some “amazingly creative performances.”

SONS OF APOLLO – the band featuring former Dream Theater members Mike Portnoy and Derek Sherinian, Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal (ex-Guns N’ Roses), Billy Sheehan (The Winery Dogs, Mr. Big, David Lee Roth) and Jeff Scott Soto (ex-Journey, ex-Yngwie Malmsteen’s Rising Force) – are ready to ring in the new decade with a sonic boom with their second studio album, appropriately titled, MMXX (pronounced: 20/20).

Produced by The Del Fuvio Brothers (Portnoy and Sherinian), ‘MMXX’ will be released on the 17^th January 2020 via InsideOutMusic/Sony as a standard CD package, Limited Edition 2 CD package (which includes instrumental mixes and a cappella excerpts), 2 LP + CD package, and on all digital formats.

“Stylistically, we have followed the same path as the debut,” outlines drummer Mike Portnoy. “But we feel that it has come out stronger, simply because we know one another better. PSYCHOTIC SYMPHONY was the first time the five of us had worked together, so there was bound to be an air of experimentation happening. Now, we can draw on having the experience not only of recording that album but also of touring together a lot. And now there is clearly a lot more obvious chemistry going on.”

“We did 83 shows on the last tour,” adds keyboardist Derek Sherinian. “And it was so worthwhile, because we came out of it with a stronger bond, and that is certainly reflected in what we wrote.”

The writing process began at the start of the year, as Portnoy, Sherinian and guitarist Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal got together. “The three of us were at my home studio in Pennsylvania,” explains Portnoy. “And it took about three weeks to get all the music written. That was a very smooth process. The last time, it certainly must have felt a little weird for Bumblefoot to be writing with Derek and me, because we were strangers to him. Now, we know one another better and that helped things push along.”

“Because we all have our home studios, it meant everyone could record there as and when they had the opportunity,” continues Sherinian. “We all had the luxury of being able to take our time to get all the parts done, which was a huge help in the way the album’s come out. I suppose in all, it took about eight months to record everything.”

The lyrics were written by Soto, who also came up with the melody lines with input from Sherinian. “While Jeff was left to come up with the words on his own, as the melody lines are part of the music, it made sense for me to be involved with that part,” says the keyboard player.

There are eight tracks on MMXX, with variations in length totalling 60 minutes. “The final song is New World Today, which is 16 minutes long,” says Portnoy. “This one has elements similar to Opus Maximus and Labyrinth on the previous album. It has some insane, brilliant instrumental moments, which I am sure the fans will love.”

“We wanted to do something epic here, as we did with ‘Opus Maximus’ last time around,” adds Sherinian. “You have to remember that Mike and I come from Dream Theater, where we never bothered about how long a song was. So, for us doing a 16 minute track is not a problem.”

Here’s the track listing for MMXX:

1. Goodbye Divinity (7:16)

2. Wither To Black (4:48)

3. Asphyxiation (5:09)

4. Desolate July (6:11)

5. King Of Delusion (8:49)

6. Fall To Ascend (5:07)

7. Resurrection Day (5:51)

8. New World Today (16:38)

In touring news, the band’s headlining “MMXX World Tour” will launch January 24th in Pomona, CA, USA and will take them around the world throughout the new year. They have also just announced European tour dates for March 2020, and you can find those below:

Europe 2020

Mon 2^nd March Drammen, Norway Union Scene

Tue 3rd March Gothenburg, Sweden Traedgarn

Thu 5^th March Kyiv, Ukraine N.A.U Theatre

Sat 7^th March Moscow, Russia RED

Sun 9^th March St Petersburg, Russia Aurora

Tue 10^th March Pratteln, Switzerland Z7

Wed 11^th March Milan, Italy Live Club

Fri 13^th March Bilbao, Spain Santana 27

Sat 14^th March Barcelona, Spain Razzmatazz 2

Sun 15^th March Madrid, Spain La Riviera

Thu 19^th March London, U.K. Islington Assembly Hall