''Black Utopia'' is the third solo album by keyboard player Derek Sherinian. In addition to the returning members

Zakk Wylde Zachary Phillip Wylde (born Jeffrey Phillip Wielandt; January 14, 1967) is an American musician. He is best known as the lead guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne and as the founder, lead guitarist, lead singer, songwriter and producer of the heavy meta ...

, Simon Phillips and Steve Lukather, three new musicians joined Sherinian: bass guitarist

Billy Sheehan William Sheehan (born March 19, 1953) is an American musician. He is best known for playing the bass guitar with acts such as Talas, Steve Vai, David Lee Roth, Mr. Big, Niacin, and The Winery Dogs. He is also known for his "lead bass" playing ...

and guitarists

Yngwie Malmsteen Yngwie Johan Malmsteen ( ; born Lars Johan Yngve Lannerbäck, 30 June 1963) is a Swedish guitarist. He first became known in the 1980s for his neoclassical playing style in heavy metal, and has released 22 studio albums in a career spanning ov ...

– with whom Sherinian had toured in 2001 – and Al Di Meola. "One of the highlights of my career was flying to Miami to produce Yngwie, and the next day Al Di Meola - all for my record!" The song "Axis Of Evil", (co-written with KISS drummer

Eric Singer Eric Singer (born Eric Doyle Mensinger; May 12, 1958) is an American drummer. Associated with the hard rock band Kiss since 1991, he has also performed with artists such as Black Sabbath, Alice Cooper, Lita Ford, Badlands, Brian May and Gary ...

), has Zakk Wylde and Yngwie Malmsteen in a guitar duel. ''Black Utopia'' was the beginning of an ongoing collaboration with drummer

Brian Tichy Brian Tichy (born August 18, 1968) is an American musician, best known as having been the drummer for Whitesnake, Billy Idol, Foreigner, Sass Jordan, and Ozzy Osbourne. He was the drummer of Whitesnake from 2010 to 2013. His surname means ''si ...

, and album cover artist Mattias Noren. ''Black Utopia'' is Sherinian's best selling solo record to date. In

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, the cover of ''Black Utopia'' was altered to remove the cross in the title; Derek Sherinian commented that the cross "meant nothing" and was added for aesthetic purposes. The title of the track "Nightmare Cinema" comes from an alternate name used by

Dream Theater Dream Theater is an American progressive metal band formed in 1985 under the name Majesty by John Petrucci, John Myung and Mike Portnoy while they attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. They subsequently dropped out of the ...

during the period when Sherinian was a member of the band. Dream Theater would occasionally perform encores under that name, with each band member playing a different instrument then their primary one.

Track listing

# "The Fury" – 0:52 (Sherinian) # "The Sons of Anu" – 7:10 (Sherinian/Tichy) #* I. For the Glory of Enki #* II. Of the Ashes of Ur #* III. Return of the Nephilim # "Nightmare Cinema" – 5:25 (Sherinian/Tichy) # "Stony Days" – 6:17 (Sherinian/Franklin/Phillips) # " Starcycle" – 5:04 ( Jan Hammer;

Jeff Beck Geoffrey Arnold Beck (born 24 June 1944) is an English rock guitarist. He rose to prominence with the Yardbirds and after fronted the Jeff Beck Group and Beck, Bogert & Appice. In 1975, he switched to a mainly instrumental style, with a focus ...

cover) # "Axis of Evil" – 6:09 (Sherinian/

Singer Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

) # "Gypsy Moth" – 1:59 (Sherinian) # "Sweet Lament" – 3:14 (Sherinian) # "Black Utopia" – 8:50 (Sherinian/Tichy)

Musicians

* Derek Sherinian -

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

on tracks 1, 2 and 6 * Al Di Meola -

nylon guitar The classical guitar (also known as the nylon-string guitar or Spanish guitar) is a member of the guitar family used in classical music and other styles. An acoustic wooden string instrument with strings made of gut or nylon, it is a precursor ...

on tracks 2 and 7, lead guitar on track 2 *

- guitar on tracks 3, 6 and 9 * Steve Lukather - guitar on tracks 4, 5 and 8 *

- additional guitars on tracks 2, 3, 6 and 9 *

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

on tracks 2, 6 and 9 * Tony Franklin -

fretless A fretless guitar is a guitar with a fingerboard without frets, typically a standard instrument that has had the frets removed, though some custom-built and commercial fretless guitars are occasionally made. The classic fretless guitar was first ...

bass guitar on tracks 2-9 *

Jerry Goodman Jerry Goodman (born March 16, 1949) is an American violinist who played electric violin with The Flock and the jazz fusion ensemble Mahavishnu Orchestra. Career Jerry Goodman was born on March 16, 1949, in Chicago, Illinois. His parents were ...

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

on tracks 2, 3, 6-9 * Simon Phillips - drums on tracks 2–6, 8 and 9 * Mike Shapiro -

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

on track 7

References

{{Authority control Derek Sherinian albums 2003 albums Albums produced by Simon Phillips (drummer) Inside Out Music albums