Mythology, Sherinian's fourth self titled record, is just as killer as his other cd's. Once again, Sherinian surrounds himself with some awesome guest musicians who will blow you away with some of their stuff.
The first song is played by Zakk Wylde and Allan Holdsworth, who do a magnificent job. Like previous records, Sherinian tends to hang back a bit with his keyboard playing, and lets his guests shine. This tends to disappoint a bit, since Sherinian is quite the virtuoso. (I would put him right below Jordan Rudess of Dream Theater, which is way, way up there) Because of this, this restricts the rating I will give it, but don't let that stop you from buying this album. This album is incredibly progressive, and an amazing listen.
Guitar Work in this album is incredible. The guitar players in this album are Zakk Wylde, Allan Holdsworth, Steve Stevens, John Sykes, Steve Lukather, and Brian Tichy, who put a lot of time and effort. There is not a single song that lacks in musicianship, or riffage and soloing for that matter. Very good material came from these guys.
The Drumming was done by Simon Phillips and Brian Tichy. These guys did an incredible job on these tracks, and an even more incredible job staying out of the way of the guitar playing. Both of these drummers have great chops, but the work in Derek Sherinian tends to focus on guitar and keyboards most (discluding his work with Planet X; Donati was a beast) Overall, they had good solid beats that blended well with the songs.
Bass The bass, along with the drums, doesn't stick out too much, but is still noticeable. The bass players for this album include Tony Franklin, Marco Mendoza, and Rufus Philpot. In most of the songs, the bass sound level is either way down, or incredibly distorted, putting the focus on the guitars, which is a shame with the talent of Franklin and Mendoza.
The
Violin by Jerry Goodman in Day of the Dead and One Way or the Other. In Day of the Dead, he is just a background sound, and you can't hear much. But One Way or the Other, he plays amazingly, transferring the same rhythm/solo between Sherinian and him. I thought it was awesome that Sherinian got Goodman on this record.
Overall: With the guest musicians on this cd, I'm surprised nothing clashed together, but then again, you look at bands like Dream Theater, and they do fine as far as clashing with virtuosity goes. There are intense songs on this album, and there are beautiful songs on this album, but in the end, it's the same feeling you get from most Derek Sherinian albums. Every album Sherinian has ever been on is gold, and this one is no different. This album is good to relax to, or if you are in need of a musical orgasm.
Standout track different than everything else would obviously be El Flamingo Suave. A complete flamenco style piece featuring Steve Stevens playing a nylon string guitar. Seemed a bit strange why Sherinian put this song on the cd, but it's more than ok with me. The drumming by Simon Phillips was outstanding on this song, as well as all the other musicians. This is one of those songs where the bass is more noticeable, even though it is distorted a good bit so that it doesn't block out Stevens on the acoustic.
My favorite Tracks
Day of the Dead is the typical Sherinian song; fast and orgasmic.
God of War: same as above
El Flamingo Suave: stated above
One Way or the Other: Violin=superb, the whole song is superb
A View From the Sky A very beautiful song written by Steve Stevens. Probably my favorite, right next to Day of the Dead.
A very good listen for all the progressive fans out there. If you enjoy Dream Theater, Planet X, or Liquid Tension Experiment, then this is definately something you can enjoy. You can tell the artists had a really fun time on this album, and it's hard to say whether this album was improvised a whole lot or whether the album was thought out, long and hard, because everything blends so well.
Final Rating:
4.5/5
Thanks for taking the time to read this review. Hope you enjoy the album.
-Mekkalayakay
