Artist: Sherinian, Derek
Label: Inside Out Records
Release: 2006
Rating: 3/5
Derek Sherinian has put out his fifth studio album! Good boy, no doubt about it! An interesting record through and through. And a tough one to review. Expecting Derek as a keyboardist in the central role is pretty unrealistic, since he’s basically not a musician who’s obliged to subject himself to pretentious solo torture of the keys Besides, the guy invited players like Malmsteen and Petrucci into the studio, which means that with names like that it’s harder to elbow your way to the front and take the lead. From here on, everyone who gets sick of keyboards wanking away front and center across a record can breathe easy, but on the flip side it raises a provocative question: is Derek Sherinian really incapable of anything beyond being an extra on solo records? Wrong. Sherinian is the kind of musician who simply wants to keep the songs compact, and so he looks for the right balance between instruments on the new record. A seriously tough job with the massive ego trips of some of the guests. In short, Derek definitely doesn’t lack guts.
Czar Of Steel, which opens the record, is a typical prog metal tune. Guess which drummer took it upon himself to break up the rhythms here. None other than the brilliant Simon Phillips (Toto), while the bulk of the melodies are carried by Derek and his buddy from the Dream Theater days, John Petrucci, on guitar. It’s a song where Derek dominates on keyboards like never again on the rest of the record. A few short crossfire bursts of soloing will remind you of the good old days of Derek with Dream Theater. “Blood Of The Snake” is practically an instrumental album. It would probably be a fully instrumental album, if Zakk Wylde hadn’t turned up with his comical werewolf howling at the moon on Man With No Name, which Derek put to good use. Here Zakk’s howling strongly recalls his boss Ozzy, but with an accent closer to Axl Rose, while he serves up modern, dirty, rasping riff shredding that’s nicely pushed back in the mix, so the instruments keep a brotherly equality in the soundscape. A track with an exceptional atmospheric middle section – built on just a few simple tricks, but with an imposing effect. Next comes a comical follow-up with Phantom Shuffle, a progressive, jazzy-leaning number! The main melody is carried by Brandon Fields’ alto sax. Franklin and Phillips simply prove their mastery, and that’s exactly why Phantom Schuffle is such a rhythmically supple, smooth tune, with Sherinian’s keyboards carrying most of the sonic weight. Speaking of smoothness, we’re now getting close to the record’s first ballad, Been Here Before. Brad Gillis on guitar, with a few touches of rock and R & B thrown in. The guys firmly return to a jazz-inspired ballad vibe on On The Moon, where Sherinian takes up the classical piano, with a witty repetitive psychedelic synth pattern underneath that actually brings some kind of life on the Moon to life. Fields’ alto sax is back again here, adding even more depth of softness and sophistication. Another plus is that you can never get tired of this tune, and it wouldn’t have hurt if the guys had stretched it out with solos to twice the minutes it takes up on “Blood Of The Snake”. The Monsoon is one of the explosive boiling points of the album, soaked in Yngwie’s “eighties shredding” and Zakk’s poisonous, thundering “licks”. It’s incredible how quickly you can spot both players here, even before they launch into their solos. Of course a solo barrage from both masters follows, with Sherinian noticeably squeezing in his schizoid piano jabs too. A sudden jump in dynamics that smacks you right between the eyes. The explosive peaks of the album are also the title track and Viking Massacre with Malmsteen on guitar.
Viking Massacre is a proper closing point for the album, even though there’s one more track after it. It’s obvious that Sherinian and Malmsteen have some excellent working chemistry, and this tune especially stands out for its extraordinary determination and punchy aggression, combined with a fluid melodicism that shamelessly grabs you by the ears. Viking Massacre sounds the most typically Malmsteen-like, which proves that Sherinian knows Malmsteen and his musical quirks very well, because the texture of the track is tailor-made for Yngwie! What nicely breaks up the cold warrior character of the track, brought in by the Scandinavian, is the temperamental “cowbell” of the drums and a warm Hammond sound from the good old American R & B school of Grand Funk Railroad hedonism. In short, a perfect blend of the Swedish and American approaches to rock. The album also includes a closing farewell goof, In The Summer Time (orig. Jerry Mungo), where Derek, Billy Idol and Slash had a private party in the studio.
“Blood Of The Snake” is Sherinian’s most mature album of his solo career. It’ll satisfy all the fans of solo shredding, as well as those of you who are looking first and foremost for melody. The album is graced with genre and atmospheric dynamics and a high degree of unpredictability. Sherinian has finally managed to find the right expressive balance among all the ingredients, with which he effectively tamed the ego trips of his big-name guests. Especially surprising are the extremely likable parts where the musicians’ feel for softness stands out, which will fascinate above all listeners who are allergic to the instant-packaged Dream Theater style. In short, a great album that never lets you down, without a trace of the frustration that would come from Dream Theater syndrome. Sherinian has obviously left that behind long ago. “Blood Of The Snake” is a new evolutionary step forward for the keyboardist, who in his recognizable compositional voice is far from having said his last word.
Lineup
Derek Sherinian – keyboards
GUEST MUSICIANS:
Billy Idol – vocals (10)
Brandon Fields – alto sax
John Petrucci – guitar
Zakk Wylde – guitar, vocals (2)
Yngwie J. Malmsteen – guitar
Slash – guitar
Brad Gillis – guitar
Tony Franklin – bass guitar
Simon Phillips – drums
Brian Tichy – drums
Production
Derek Sherinian, Simon Phillips & Brian Tichy
Track list
1. Czar Of Steel (6:01)
2. Man With No Name (6:55)
3. Phantom Shuffle (4:21)
4. Been Here Before (4:30)
5. Blood Of The Snake (6:09)
6. On The Moon (4:34)
7. The Monsoon (6:08)
8. Prelude To Battle (2:55)
9. Viking Massacre (4:58)
10. In The Summertime (3:51)
Total runtime: 50:22
