Metal Anarchy

Sons Of Apollo (ex-Guns N’ Roses, ex-Dream Theater, etc.) have announced that their new album “MMXX” will be released on January 17. The effort’s first single, “Goodbye Divinity,” will launch on November 15, alongside pre-orders.

“MMXX” Track Listing:

01. “Goodbye Divinity”
02. “Wither To Black”
03. “Asphyxiation”
04. “Desolate July”
05. “King Of Delusion”
06. “Fall To Ascend”
07. “Resurrection Day”
08. “New World Today”

Drummer Mike Portnoy commented:

“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. 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.”

Keyboardist Derek Sherinian added:

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

Portnoy continued:

“The three of us [Portnoy, Sherinian, and guitarist Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal] were at my home studio in Pennsylvania, 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.”

Sherinian added:

“Because we all have our home studios, it meant everyone could record there as and when they had opportunity. 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.”

“While Jeff [Soto] 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.”

Portnoy also talked about the closing track “New World Today:

“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.”

Sherinian continued:

“We wanted to do something epic here, as we did with ‘Opus Maximus’ last time around. 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.”

Portnoy also explained the album title and cover art:

“This will be released in mid-January 2020. That means it will be one of the first releases in what is a new decade. So I came up with the idea of calling it ‘2020’, except having it written in the Latin form of ‘MMXX’.”

“For the first record, we had a mythological feel. This time around though, there’s a much more futuristic style to what we’ve got. It has a very 21st century appeal. And the band crest is more polished, cleaned up and a lot more modern than last time, when it had an old-fashioned look.”

Sherinian also added the following about the album’s sound:

“Each member of this band has their own signature sound on their instrument. And when you put all of this together what you get is a wonderful five-headed beast. It makes this a sonically special band, which is definitely what comes across on ‘MMXX’. You can hear odd time signatures and amazingly crazy performances here. Overall, we’ve been satisfyingly more adventurous this time than we were before, and I know people are sure to love what we’ve done.”

Tour Dates:

01/24 Pomona, CA – Glass House
01/25 Los Angeles, CA – The Roxy
01/26 San Francisco, CA – The Fillmore
01/28 Salt Lake City, UT – The State Room
01/29 Denver, CO – The Oriental Theater
01/31 St. Charles, IL – Arcada Theater
02/01 Battle Creek, MI – The Music Factory
02/02 Toronto, ON – Mod Club
02/03 Montreal, QC – Corona Theater
02/05 Boston, MA – Paradise Rock Club
02/06 New York, NY – Gramercy Theater
02/07 Jim Thorpe, PA – Penn’s Peak
02/08 Englewood, NJ – Bergen Performing Arts Center
02/29 Germany – TBA
03/02 Drammen, Norway – Union Scene
03/03 Gothenburg, Sweden – Traedgarn
03/05 Kyiv, Ukraine – N.A.U Theatre
03/07 Moscow, Russia – RED
03/08 St Petersburg, Russia – Aurora
03/10 Pratteln, Switzerland – Z7
03/11 Milan, Italy – Live Club
03/13 Bilbao, Spain – Santana 27
03/14 Barcelona, Spain – Razzmatazz 2
03/15 Madrid, Spain – La Riviera
03/17 France – TBA
03/18 France – TBA
03/19 London, UK – Islington Assembly Hall
03/20 Eindhoven, Netherlands – Prognosis Festival
03/22 Show Brno, Czech Republic – Sono
03/24 Kosice, Slovakia – Colosseum
03/25 Budapest, Hungary – Barba Negra