Fellow Burbank resident, Derek Sherinian joins Jens Johansson as one of two great solo metal keyboardists on my top 100. "Metal keyboardists?" you ask. "Is that a real thing?" Listen below, friend, and you will hear that it is very real indeed. I first encountered Derek's playing as the keyboardist for Dream Theater, which he was for one and a half studio albums in the mid-nineties, the half being one of my two favorite of their releases. Prior to his stint in Dream Theater, he had attended Berklee College of Music and served as keyboardist for Alice Cooper. After Dream Theater, he essentially became a solo and session artist, performing with a veritable who's who of brilliant musicians over the last 15-20 years.
Derek's first solo effort became a multi album collaboration called Planet X, and featured virtuosi Tony MacAlpine on guitar and Virgil Donati on drums. Their music strikes me as jazz metal fusion... like Chick Corea meets Metallica. They're a terrific listen in their own right and highly recommended. His next six albums feature an amazing array of guitarists: Steve Lukather, Zakk Wylde, Ynwie Malmsteen, Al Di Meola, Allan Holdsworth, Steve Stevens, John Sykes, John Petrucci, Brad Gillis, Slash, Rusty Cooley, Tony MacAlpine, Doug Aldrich and Joe Bonamassa. They also boast a rhythm section mainly consisting of Tony Franklin on bass and Simon Phillips on drums.
Derek's entire body of work (at least the third or so of it with which I'm familiar) is impressive and well worth multiple listens. He favors distorted sounds, aggressive technique, a lot of pitch bending and generally phrases a lot like a shredding guitarist but on keys. I'm including "Axis of Evil" from the 2003 release Black Utopia because I find the concept (and execution) of dueling guitars done by Zakk Wylde and Yngwie Malmsteen completely irresistible. Derek pitches in with some soloing too, and you can get a bit of a taste of his unique and enjoyable style.
No comments:
Post a Comment