Sons Of Apollo announce second album MMXX and European tour

Sons Of Apollo have announced the release of their second album, MMXX. The album (pronounced '20/20') is the follow-up to debut Psychotic Symphony, and will be released on January 17.

The album will be released as a standard CD package, as a limited edition 2 CD set – including instrumental mixes and a cappella excerpts – and as a double vinyl plus CD package, and on all digital formats.

The band, in which drummer Mike Portnoy and keyboardist Derek Sherinian are joined by Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal, Billy Sheehan and Jeff Scott Soto, have also announced a European tour for March, in addition to the already-announced run of North American dates in January. New dates below.

"Stylistically, we have followed the same path as the debut, says drummer Portnoy. "But we feel that it has come out stronger, simply because we know one another better.

"Psychotic Symphony was the first time the five of us had worked together, so there was bound to be an air of experimentation happening. Now, we can draw on having the experience not only of recording that album, but also of touring together a lot. And now there is clearly a lot more obvious chemistry going on.”

He continues: "It took about three weeks to get all the music written. That was a very smooth process. The last time, it certainly must have felt a little weird for Bumblefoot to be writing with Derek and me, because we were strangers to him. Now, we know one another better and that helped things push along."

"Because we all have our home studios, it meant everyone could record there as and when they had opportunity," adds Sherinian. "We all had the luxury of being able to take our time to get all the parts done, which was a huge help in the way the album's come out. I suppose in all, it took about eight months to record everything."”

Sons Of Apollo MMXX Tracklist

1. Goodbye Divinity
2. Wither To Black
3. Asphyxiation
4. Desolate July
5. King Of Delusion
6. Fall To Ascend
7. Resurrection Day
8. New World Today

Sons Of Apollo European Tour

Mar 02: Drammen Union Scene, Norway
Mar 03: Gothenburg Traedgarn, Sweden
Mar 05: Kyiv N.A.U Theatre, Ukraine
Mar 07: Moscow RED, Russia
Mar 09: St Petersburg Aurora, Russia
Mar 10: Pratteln Z7, Switzerland
Mar 11: Milan Live Club, Italy
Mar 13: Bilbao Santana 27, Spain
Mar 14: Barcelona Razzmatazz 2, Spain
Mar 15: Madrid La Riviera, Spain
Mar 19: London Islington Assembly Hall, U.K.
Mar 20: Eindhoven Prognosis Festival, Netherlands
Mar 22: Show Brno Sono, Czech Republic
Mar 24: Kosice Colosseum, Slovakia
Mar 25: Budapest Barba Negra, Hungary

Sons Of Apollo: MMXX — (Image credit: Sons Of Apollo)

Online Editor at Louder/Classic Rock magazine since 2014. 40 years in music industry, online for 27. Also bylines for: Metal Hammer, Prog Magazine, The Word Magazine, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Saga, Music365. Former Head of Music at Xfm Radio, A&R at Fiction Records, early blogger, ex-roadie, published author. Once appeared in a Cure video dressed as a cowboy, and thinks any situation can be improved by the introduction of cats. Favourite Serbian trumpeter: Dejan Petrović.