Adrenaline Mob – Omerta

All of us wondered the path of Mike Portnoy after his resignation from Dream Theater, he is a great musician and he was never disputed about his abilities in a super band such as Dream Theater. The question is what he would really do after the departure, as he always keeps contacts with very good musicians resulting in more affordable to create a new band. The new band of Mike Portnoy is called Adrenaline mob, in which he leaves the progressive rhythms and he creates something more simple and understandable for all. The band is formed by singer Russell Allen (Symphony X), guitarist Mike Orlando, Mike Portnoy on drums and John Moyer (Disturbed) on bass. Before the band released their debut full length album “Omerta”, created an EP which was simply called Adrenaline Mob (Italian pronunciation) with a great cover of “The Mob Rules” by Black Sabbath. The album was released on the 19th of March by Century Media Records and was mixed by Jay Ruston.

We are talking about eleven songs full of riffs mainly groove-oriented, with hard rock rhythms and hit- catchiness in the choruses. Allen is so impressive here as he is on the Symphony X records, he can sing any style of rock with ease. Orlando handles all the guitars with perfect balance of hard rock riffing and shredding, and Portnoy gives the band his special sound of his drum stand. Disturbed bassist John Moyer joined Adrenaline Mob shortly after this album was recorded. The next album will no doubt sound even more like Disturbed as it seems. Personally I’m not impressed by the entire album. I liked bits selectively, but I think that the song “Indifferent” is the best song of the entire album, and of course I must mention the great cover “Come Undone” from Duran Duran. The album has some good moments but nothing to bring out the band, so “Omerta” probably will not appeal to many fans of Dream Theater or Symphony X, too. We expect more things from Portnoy and his company.