Derek Sherinian is back with another album, and yet again the keyboard player has allowed himself to be taken over by the guitarists for what is an interesting and varied hard rock album with progressive tendencies. Joining him for this outing are John Petrucci (guitar), Zakk Wylde (guitar), Yngwie Malmsteen (guitar), Simon Phillips (drums), Tony Franklin (bass), Brad Gillis (guitar), Brian Tichy (drums) along with special guests Billy Idol (vocals) and Slash (guitar) who help out with the last number. Zakk provides vocals on “Man With No Name” as well as crunching guitar and it is sounds as if it comes from the Ozzy songbook, crunching and riffing with strong vocals and plenty of passion and rawness tempered by the keyboards. Zakk also duels with Yngwie on the title cut which starts with some nifty fingerwork from Derek before it gets going into the song properly where the theme is then taken up by the guitars. Yngwie also appears on another song and as with Derek’s previous work there is the feeling that he is happiest when working with strong guitarists. A special mention must be made of the last song on the album. Derek is currently Billy Idol’s keyboard player, and during a soundcheck Billy started singing “In The Summertime”, the rest of the band joined in and Derek knew that he had to put this on the album. I am not sure quite what Mungo Jerry would think of it but this is very close to the original, apart from Slash’s guitar line. Yet again Derek the keyboard player has put together an album, mixing instrumentals and vocal tracks, which is going to be beloved by guitar fans. Well worth hearing.
Sherinian, Derek - Blood Of The Snake (English version)
, Kev Rowland
