To explain Whom Gods Destroy we’ll take you through the first minute or so of the first track on “Insanium”. “In The Name Of War”. It starts with some haunting keyboard for 23 seconds. That’d be Derek Sherinian. Then after the thick, Symphony X style groove, comes the stunning voice of Dino Jelusick and this goes to another place entirely, and we aren’t even at a minute yet. Oh and the lead guitar grooves? Thats Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal: get the picture? This is a “Supergroup” (and two of them have already done this in Sons Of Apollo), and whilst that may cause some to roll their eyes, there is absolutely so much to enjoy here.
Sherinian has reprised some of his Dream Theater keys work throughout this, Jelusick first came to our attention in the wonderful Animal Drive, More recently, he’s been a backing singer in Whitesnake. I haven’t seen Dame Dave in a while, but I can absolutely confirm he needed one last time I did…..
The point is that these boys have been around, know what they are doing and the first thing you’ll notice about the record is the total and utter class on show throughout. It sounds wonderful, that’s even before you delve deeper.
“Over Again” is heavier, it’s darker and it’s a real journey into something unpleasant. This is more metal than prog, and even more metal than prog metal, if you will.
And if the feeling that this is a load of gifted musicians doing what they want, then “The Decision” has at its heart the thought that “I think I am out of step” and that confusion is all the way through the track, as if reminding themselves to do it their way.
Perhaps less heralded than some of the band, young Drummer Bruno Valverde is to the fore on “Crawl” (indeed he anchors the whole record down) and the musicianship is quite stunning, never mind just the songs.
At the Centrepoint is the ballad “Find My Way Back”, which changes pace, but there’s a class all the way through it – and it just sounds naturally huge. All of this does. It soars. There’s no stadium big enough.
We’ve already mentioned Symphony X, and “Crucifier” has you reaching for the nearest Adrenaline Mob album you can find. the common denominator, obviously on both is Russell Allen and Jelusick has a bit of that going on, even if he can handle “Fool For Your Lovin’” just as well, no doubt (although he’s only backing singer, of course….)
While there is an immediacy about most of these (this is not a “prog” album as such, although many of the songs are lengthy) then “Keeper Of The Gates” is a catchy, shorter thing that happily makes its point, and you suspect that they all rather enjoyed the instrumental “Hypernova 158” a little more than the others. There’s a real sense of joy about it, as they push each other.
The last one, the title cut is more like the rest of it (as you’d expect). Choppy, thick grooves with a stadium-shaking ambition, but a couple of minutes before the end, almost from out of nowhere comes a guitar solo. Why? Well, how about because they can. Anything goes. And its fabulous too.
The thing with albums like this is they can, maybe, be more for the people making them than the listener. Not this one. “Insanium” is everything you’d imagined it would be, but way more. Greater – even – than the sum of its parts.
Rating 8.5/10
