Derek Sherinian – Oceana

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Although the front cover carries only his own name, Black Country Communion/ex-Dream Theater keyboard virtuoso Derek Sherinian would probably be the first to acknowledge former Judas Priest drummer Simon Phillips’ contribution to his seventh solo album. Phillips co-produced with Sherinian, co-wrote seven of the nine tracks and played drums on all of them. This is really a duo album. Known for including several special guests to provide guitar on his album, Sherinian has this time turned to friends and current/former band-mates for the guitar parts, adding a certain familularity to the music. Planet X band-mate Tony MacAlpine, regular solo album participant Steve Lukather, Black Country Communion guitarist Joe Bonamassa, and Billy Idol band-mate Steve Stevens do most of the work between them, with Whitesnake‘s Doug Aldrich appearing on one track. No Zakk Wylde this time, and no vocal tracks, which have been a highlight of the last two albums. Instead Oceana flows as a near-single piece of music which actually centres far more on the guitar histrionics than it does Sherinian’s keyboards. Indeed the whole thing plays more like a Joe Satriani record than anything else, with a pause in the middle for the Aldrich and Bonamassa tracks, which groove far more than the rest, the Bonamassa one taking on the kind of blues/jazz lilt his playing always evokes. Everything else is played by either MacAlpine, Lukather or Stevens and the three fit very well together, creating similar sounds and each turning in incredibly emotive, measured performances. Of Sherinian’s all-instrumental efforts, this is one of the best and the extra jazz fusion elements here compared to some of the more straight-ahead metal outtings have really helped to make it a more interesting listen in the absence of vocals and the more frenetic solos players like Wylde and Malmsteen previously provided.

Written by Andy Lye
More: 2011, Albums, Instrumental, Quick.Play Reviews, Derek Sherinian