QUANTUM

3.5 stars. When Derek Sherinian left DREAM THEATER he had two projects on the go in PLANET X and the other under his own name. I much prefer the music under his own name as he seems to let the guests have the spotlight. I'm just not big on keyboard driven Metal as PLANET X is, although of the three studio albums PLANET X released the debut at least was much heavier and just more the style of music I prefer. "Quantum" is the third studio album and I'm guessing final album by the band since it's been 11 years from when we last heard of them. The first two albums featured the trio of Sherinian, Donati and MacAlpine with some guest bass players helping out. This final record saw MacAlpine gone and Brett Garsed taking his place although we get two guitar solos from Alan Holdsworth. I like this better than "Moonbabies" the previous album where they did some mellow tunes but the debut "Universe" is my favourite and I'm very much in the minority with those feelings. By the way Donati's drum work steals the show on all three albums in my opinion.

The downfall for this album for me is the first half of the album where the keyboards dominate at times with those synth-like sounds. I'm just not into them at all but starting with "Poland"( which I hope is a nod to Chris Poland) to the end I'm pretty impressed and that's the reason it's 3.5 stars and not just 3 stars. Holdsworth solos on track 2 and 4 and both are excellent of course, in fact "Desert Girl" the second tune is right there with the songs on the second half. "Poland" is my favourite track on here but the next three songs are right there with it.

Donati again shows why he one of the premier drummers on the planet, I'm so glad to have some of his solo work. The music on this album is complex but the synth-like keyboards leave me cold much of the time, I'm just not into them but when Derek creates atmosphere with those spacey sounds or when playing the piano I'm impressed big time. So a matter of tastes all the way and I'll stick with "Universe" which I played today for a comparison because I hadn't heard it in such a long time and thought maybe my tastes had simply changed since I last spent some time with it. Most by far feel "Quantum" is PLANET X's best album, I have to disagree.