April 29, 2003 - Black Utopia

A week after my last release and two years since "Inertia", Derek Sherinian released his third album "Black Utopia" on April 29, 2003. Derek is still playing the same style of instrumental progressive metal, and there are several returning musicians along with a few new ones! Simon Phillips is still on drums, Tony Franklin does all the bass on this album instead of just half like last album and Steve Lukather and Zakk Wylde both do guitar on three songs each. Two more famous guitarists feature on a couple songs each, Yngwie Malmsteen and Al Di Meola! That's a lot of star power! Let's check it out!

The album begins with the 51 second song "The Fury" and Sherinian plays some epic backing keyboards, but it's Malmsteen who is in the spotlight with some pretty sweet shredding guitar! This is just an intro into "The Sons Of Anu" which has both Malmsteen and Di Meola on guitar! I'm not sure who is playing what parts, but there is a FUCK TON of amazing guitar on this song! Sherinian plays some nice Shredding keyboards at times, but it's the guitar that is the lead instrument most of the time, and who could blame Derek for letting the guitars shine when you have two amazing guests helping you out! The first minute and a half is almost non-stop super fast stuff going on, then the mood slows down and shifts as Sherinian plays some epic, dreamy keyboards while the Shredding guitar continues overtop. Both Malmsteen and Di Meola are soloing concurrently, and somehow they make all of this craziness sound very smooth, and very very cool! Words could not possibly do justice to all the amazing music in this jam-packed seven minute epic! I think it's my favourite Derek Sherinian song ever! It's relentlessly awesome! Track 3 is "Nightmare Cinema" and Phillips starts us off with a solid drum beat before Wylde enters with a nice chugging guitar riff to lead the way. It hits nice and hard and you can instantly tell it's our good friend Zakk on guitar as this riff could definitely pass on a BLS album. Sherinian then takes over with some slow, creepy piano that sounds haunting and cool and Wylde adds some in-and-out chugging guitars for a heavy backdrop. After a couple alow rounds Zakk takes off with a cool new riff that perfectly sets the stage for solo time and he and Sherinian each play a short solo, and they both unsurprisingly sound pretty cool! They finish strong with a heavy final riff and this one, while obviously not mind-blowing like the last song, was also quite good! The next track is "Stony Days" and Lukather kicks us off with a light guitar riff with some trippy effects on it, Sherinian echoes with the same light riff played on keyboards and then Lukather adds another layer of space-y guitars that adds to this stoner vibe, complete with the sound of a bong rip in the background! Franklin's bass is also very space-y and cool and everything sounds pretty trippy until they settle into a slow main riff with Lukather playing some pretty epic slow guitar. When Sherinian takes the lead his keyboards sound pretty epic as well and they are absolutely nailing the vibes as I'm happily, slowly headbanging along. Lukather actually shreds it pretty nicely at times as well, and Sherinian plays a long keyboard solo towards the end of the song that is really quite phenomenal! Way to spice things up guys! Track 5 is "Starcycle" and it's actually a Jeff Beck cover! Sherinian kicks it off with some trippy and cool keyboards, then Sherinian drives the song with a fast and pretty sweet low keyboard riff! He builds off that with some epic lead keyboards and this moves into a full-blown solo of pretty awesome stuff! Lukather is on guitar again and he gets a chance to solo himself and he's a pretty good guitarist! He and Sherinian trade solos at the end of the song and every song has been pretty damn good so far, even the intro! Up next is "Axis Of Evil" with Zakk Wylde on guitar again and he drives things with a very Zakk, nice chugging guitar riff. Sherinian adds some loud and epic keyboards to the mix and things sound pretty cool. Things sound pretty heavy, which I approve of for sure, and Franklin's bass, while drowned out, sounds pretty cool in the background. Solo time offers some great shredding stuff by both Wylde and Sherinian, then they slow things down as Derek takes over with a cool piano riff, and then some epic synths overtop. More solos arrive overtop all of this and Words don't do proper justice to all the great stuff played on guitar and keyboards. They end things with a nice final "verse" and this six minute song was jam-packed with tons of awesomeness! Track 7 is the short track "Gypsy Moth" and Sherinian keeps the pace with some cool piano while Di Meola plays some pretty cool Spanish guitar overtop. They play off each other very nicely and it's a pretty cool little interlude between more progressive songs. The next track is a light one called "Sweet Lament" and Sherinian plays some droning keyboards in the background while Lukather leads the way with some guitar that is somehow very sappy, yet also kind of epic. They slowly jam their way through and while Lukather's guitar solo is pretty good, this is easily one of the weaker songs on the album, it's just a little fluffy for me. The final song on the album is the near nine minute title track "Black Utopia" and Sherinian starts it off with some light but pretty epic piano. Slowly drums, bass and light guitar join the mix, until suddenly things slam into a heavy new riff with Wylde playing some pretty sweet guitar. Sherinian adds some epic keyboards to match and it's some classic Wylde guitar that chugs hard and also hits some awesome high notes. Things sound like Black Label Society, but with awesome keyboards in the mix and I fucking dig it! After several minutes they quiet things down a bit as Franklin's bass gets to shine a little and this sets the stage for solo time as Zakk delivers a pretty wicked guitar solo! There's a cool Segue where they simultaneously fade out the main riff and fade in a new one and this new space-y riff drafts on until the end of the song in a bit of an anticlimactic finish. There's a little over a minute of silence, then we hear a big bong rip being taken to close out the album; nice way to finish things off lol!

That's the end of "Black Utopia" and I thought it was a pretty wicked album! "The Sons Of Anu" is a masterclass and easily my favourite song but there was lots of great progressive metal on this album! I think it easily surpasses his first two albums and I look forward to seeing where Derek Sherinian (and friends) go from here!