By: Carlos Martin Schwab
For those who don’t know him, Derek Sherinian is a keyboardist from the USA who was a member of Dream Theater from 1994 to 1999. He is the founder of Planet X, with Virgil Donati on drums, and also one of the founders of Black Country Communion with Glenn Hughes, Joe Bonamassa, and Jason Bonham, and the super band Sons of Apollo (Mike Portnoy, Billy Sheehan, Jeff Scott Soto, and Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal).
Derek has toured and recorded with Alice Cooper, Billy Idol, Yngwie Malmsteen, Steve Vai, Kiss, and Joe Bonamassa. He has released 7 solo albums that have featured a variety of prominent guest musicians, including guitarists: Slash, Yngwie Malmsteen, Allan Holdsworth, Steve Lukather, Joe Bonamassa, Billy Sheehan, Zakk Wylde, and Al Di Meola.
Sherinian has distinguished himself by his versatility and his aggressive “guitaristic” approach to his keyboard style. Live with Sons Of Apollo, I have heard him play in concert solos from the recently deceased Eddie Van Halen, all with an enormous degree of detail.
In 2018, he was voted the 9th best keyboardist in history by Prog magazine and has also appeared on the cover of numerous keyboard magazines around the world, including November 2011 issue of Keyboard magazine, which declared Sherinian a “Keyboard Hero for a New Generation”.
He has also been called the “King of Keys” by Guitar World magazine, the “Caligula of Keyboards” by Alice Cooper, and “Jon Lord’s Son” by David Coverdale.
In short, a monster of the keys. After 9 years of silence in his solo career and the European tour presenting MMXX, Sons Of Apollo’s last album, canceled by the pandemic, Sherinian took advantage of the quarantine to finish and edit his last and almost instrumental work, The Phoenix.
A priori, what can be expected from this album is an eclectic gathering of songs with two points in common: Sherinian’s virtuosity, Simon Philips’ drums, and the quality of the guest guitarists: in the order of the disc, Zakk Wylde (“The Phoenix”, with Billy Sheehan in low); Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal (“Empyrean Sky”, “Temple Of Helios” and “Octopus Pedigree”); Steve Vai (“Clouds Of Ganymede”), Joe Bonamassa (“Them Changes”, with Joe also singing) and Kiko Loureiro (“Pesadelo”).
The qualification of eclectic is justified because Sherinian, far from closing himself off in progressive rock, allowed to impose to each guitarist his own stamp, and from there arise, for example, “Them Changes” a Buddy Miles classic from the ’70s that Sherinian has adapted in his own style, but respecting the funk blues original version.
In summary, it’s an album that is as enjoyable as short (less than 43 minutes) and doesn’t sound like an individual work. Each artist and instrument are as important as the main one, with a common point in the quality and the chameleon-like ability of Sherinian to mix his characteristic style with several of the best guitarists in the world through different genres.
More info: http://dereksherinian.com/
