Sons of Apollo's 2nd Album 'MMXX' Review: High-voltage masterpiece of rapid drum fills and intricate melodies
Progressive metal group Sons Of Apollo released their titanic new album 'MMXX' on January 17. The full-length LP appropriately translates from its Roman numeral title to "2020" for this year and features its same elite supergroup members from the debut album. Mike Portnoy (drums/vocals), Derek Sherinian (keyboards), Jeff Scott Soto (vocals), Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal (guitar/vocals) and Billy Sheehan (bass) have prepared their beefed-up set of instruments and vocals to expand to new heights and depths with this second studio album.
Sons of Apollo have certainly enhanced their music sphere since their formation in 2017, with the debut album 'Psychotic Symphony', which gathered much adoration from fans and heavy metal enthusiasts. The highly talented and respected group has united as a powerful formidable force with their broad, no-holds-barred and high-voltage progressive rock and roll that challenges its listeners to appreciate it sheers levels of skill applied to each song. Each song is not just trophy after trophy of musical prowess but they also grip their listeners to relish in their melodic themes.
Mike Portnoy said of 'MMXX', “Stylistically, we have followed the same path as the debut. 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." Portnoy went on to add, "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.”
The eight-track LP sets a power-packed explosive entity of hardcore progressive rock loose that is as orchestrally-spirited and energizing as prog rock can get. Seatbelts on before listening, as you may get knocked back by the power of 'MMXX' and the immense skill it incorporates bar-after-bar.
The opening track 'Goodbye Divinity' serves as a beautiful intro to the album with Derek Sherinian guiding the song's listeners with a keyboard score that resonates with the grandeur of heavy metal. Its colors resound as the extensive intro gradually elevates its energy towards MMXX's powerful music that follows.
The second track 'Wither to Black' is rapid-fire and empowering. We are gripped by our shirts with a display of guitar shreds, power riffs and drum rolls at 32BPS at almost every third or fourth bar.
The third track 'Asphyxiation' continues on the enthralling energy of the previous song and gets more supercharged with each second. The lead vocals entice, "My deceit is your desire. I'm your sensation. Your new temptation. 'Cause I'm your asphyxiation" and we are immediately captured by heavy metal that breaks any boundaries that may be holding it back. Each band member pulls insane rock-out grooves, fills and riffs, and it is multi-dimensional melodic prog metal bliss; a sheer nod to all fans of the genre. The ending needs a special mention as it halves, then doubles up, and back and forth, with tempos; an explosive end to the first three songs.
The first three tracks climb to the fourth, slower track, 'Desolate July', beautifully. The song starts off more melodic and slower in the vocals, but bursts out in power once again with heavier guitar and drumming and we are impressed, through the use of varied energies of music. The entire album portrays an artistic story.
Drummer Portnoy says, “The final song is 'New World Today', which is 16 minutes long. 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.”
'MMXX' features vocals that challenge one's self and music that grips when feeling defeated, throwing the listener into a personal gladiator arena of fighting one's own demons. If music could be described in movie genres, 'MMXX' is an "action" album, with scores that inspire music lovers to pick up an instrument and learn, vocals that urge self-evaluation, and melodies that are next-level with each bar.