After nearly 20 years, Mike Portnoy has closed his official forum. A message from the drum legend follows:

“Well, the time has finally come... I have been contemplating this for a while now and feel it's time to finally move on.

“In this age of interactive social media outlets, there are plenty of other platforms for us to all gather info and have discussions and I will always be around watching and participating there (Facebook & Twitter).

“The Forum will remain read-only and all threads will remain archived (including my Prog Blog and all of my Hero Of The Day posts from the late 90's and early 00’s). I will continue to post tour dates and release dates as they come in as well as keeping the tourography up to date.”

Sons Of Apollo, the new supergroup featuring Portnoy as well as past/present members of Mr. Big, Guns N’ Roses, and Journey, will release their debut album, Psychotic Symphony, on October 20th via InsideOutMusic/Sony Music. Pre-order the album here, and watch a music video for “Coming Home” below. The song is now available on all digital outlets.

"’Coming Home’ immediately felt like the Sons Of Apollo 'grand entrance' as soon as we wrote the song,” says Mike Portnoy. “Almost like a fighter entering the ring. I knew this had to be the first video and first time people see us playing together. The video was shot at Ocean Studios in Burbank, CA, where we wrote and recorded the album. So you're essentially seeing the exact place and environment that Sons Of Apollo was born.

"I assume most people's expectations of the band from its lineup is for SOA to be a self-indulgent 'wank-fest' (and granted, there are three 10-minute prog epics on the album!), but ‘Coming Home’ is an example that we are just as much a rock band cut from the cloth of classic bands like Van Halen as well."

Reuniting to form Sons Of Apollo, former Dream Theater members Mike Portnoy and Derek Sherinian have joined forces with Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal (ex-Guns N’ Roses), Billy Sheehan (The Winery Dogs, Mr. Big, David Lee Roth) and Jeff Scott Soto (ex-Journey, ex-Yngwie Malmsteen's Rising Force).

Psychotic Symphony was produced by the dynamic production duo of Portnoy and Sherinian, also affectionately known as “The Del Fuvio Brothers,” which is the nickname given to them over 20 years ago during their time together in Dream Theater.

Sons Of Apollo got together very organically, as Portnoy explains: “Derek and I reunited shortly after I left Dream Theater in 2010 and we put together an all-instrumental touring band with he and I, Billy Sheehan, and Tony MacAlpine. That was my first time working with Derek since the ‘90s when he was in Dream Theater and it was just great to be working with him again. Ever since that tour, which was really just a one-off live thing, he has been nudging me to start a real, original, full-time band. The timing just had never been right, because I had too many other things on my plate. Long story short, the time was finally right to take the bait and put together a band.”

“Mike and I work at a relentless pace in the studio,” continues Sherinian. “The music is modern, but we have an old school soul. What is unique about Sons Of Apollo is that we have true rock n’ roll swagger along with the virtuosity - a lethal combination!”

But what to call the next great supergroup? “Derek was mainly the one behind the name,” says Portnoy. “I have a list that I keep on my phone of about a hundred different band names, which I constantly have to refer to every time I have a new band every year (laughs). So, I pulled up the list and Apollo was one of the names on the list. It was a word that both of us really liked. We started fiddling with different variations of the word. One of the original band names we were working with was Apollo Creed, the character from the ‘Rocky’ movies, but after lots of different discussions on different variations, Derek suggested Sons Of Apollo and it seemed to stick. Apollo is the God of Music so with that in mind it seemed like a fitting name.”

Mike Portnoy, Derek Sherinian and Billy Sheehan previously toured together in 2012 and 2013 as PSMS (along with guitarist Tony MacAlpine), playing all instrumental versions from each of their previously recorded music. Sons Of Apollo is the next logical progression by adding a vocalist and creating all-original material. The band incorporates the progressive style and individual technical prowess that Portnoy & Sherinian shared together in Dream Theater combined with the swagger and groove of Van Halen, Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin.

“I have known Mike and Derek for a long time, so when they came to me with Sons Of Apollo, I jumped on this straight away,” says Thomas Waber, Label Manager/A&R International of InsideOutMusic. “However, the album they ended up recording exceeded my already high expectations by a long mile! We couldn’t be happier about it!”

Tracklisting:

“God Of The Sun”
“Coming Home”
“Signs Of The Time”
“Labyrinth”
“Alive”
“Lost In Oblivion”
“Figaro's Whore”
“Divine Addiction”
“Opus Maximus”

Introduction Part 1:

Introduction Part 2:

“Signs Of The Time”:

Teaser:

Sons Of Apollo will hit the road in 2018 for their first worldwide tour.

“This is a real band,” Portnoy declares. “This is going to pick up for me and Billy where The Winery Dogs left off, in terms of this being the next logical full-time thing for us. I’m not saying The Winery Dogs have broken up, because we haven’t, we’re just on a break. Sons Of Apollo is absolutely going to be a full-time band and we plan on touring all over the world all throughout 2018 and, honestly, it is the priority for all five of us.”

Sherinian agrees, “We will go on a worldwide crusade in 2018 to bring Sons Of Apollo to as many people as possible. Apollo was the God of Music, and we are his mighty offspring!”