For the uninitiated, Derek Sherinian is perhaps best known as a former keyboardist for Dream Theater, having played from 1995-1999 and on the studio albums A Change of Seasons and Falling Into Infinity. Prior to that, he'd played with Alice Cooper and KISS, and since then, in addition to solo releases and with Planet X, he's performed with far too many artists to enumerate. Molecular Heinosity is his sixth solo album--for some definition of solo, as they're chock-full of generally-recurring guest artists.

Molecular Heinosity fits in the same flow with the sort of love-hate relationship I've had with Derek's solo releases since I discovered them around 2003's Black Utopia. On the one hand, some of the songs are killer, with the sort of hooks that get lodged in your head even if you can't really sing along to them; on the other hand, some of them are somewhat showy pieces with relatively little feeling. It's interesting that, as a keyboardist, a lot of his songs are still very guitar-driven. (I think somebody else commented on that fact that maybe he just knows his market.)

The disc starts with "Antarctica," a piece which shows his jazz fusion influences in tone and in some passages, but has a number of jarring changes in riffs and ideas that almost kill it as a cohesive song. Then there's the filler "Ascension," a very mellow key-driven song with a clean guitar melody. "Ascension" leads directly into "Primal Eleven" with about 30 seconds of guitar sustain from the previous track before leading into the main riff which is both memorable and much better-phrased than some of the bits of "Antarctica." Maybe it's unfair to compare him to an act which came along somewhat later, but really the song reminds me of something you might've found on Zeroesque's debut.

"Wings of Insanity" and "Frozen By Fire" are somewhat heavier and full of blistering solos, although "Frozen By Fire" does start with more of a groove and a lyrical melody. Things calm down briefly for "The Lone Spaniard" before we get to the title track combination. "Molecular Intro" spends its first half building up synths before one of the many Yngwie-like shred passages on the album leads into the actual title track, another heavy groove machine full of speedy guitars and keys. The disc closes out with the only vocal track, "So Far Gone" with Zakk Wylde on vocals. It's the second-longest song on the CD at just under 7:30 and is very hypnotic with Zakk's repeated chorus.