GUILD OF OTHERS, begun by Tom Wallace and Steve Potts, is a collection of musicians from various bands and backgrounds making progressive metal music. As songs between the two began taking shape, questions of whom else to bring into the fold arose. Considering the style of music the two were creating, the keyboardist most desired was easy. Derek Sherinian was top of the list. Upon hearing the demos, Derek's response was perfect. He described the music as, "Aggressive and adventurous. Without being too proggy." There are a host of other musicians as part of this project; too many to list. The album contains eight tracks.

"Other Side" leads us off. A heavy keyboard presence opens the song and those who are familiar with Derek will immediately recognize the style. Unfortunately, the rest of the musicians are strong, but the melodies are not quite there, and the riffing is pretty elementary. "Balance" opens with some lighter tones as well as some keys and audible bass, but when the riff rolls in it is trite once again. It has a catchy little chorus, fueled by rounded harmonic vocals. Not a bad little song, if they could get away from the guitar blueprint. "Always There" begins with heavier tones in the guitars and bass. From there, the tones turn tender, and Hammond's vocals ooze with longing. Derek lays down trippy keyboard solo, but he clearly outmatches the other musicians on the album.

"Memento" begins with soft piano notes and what sounds like a flute. Hammond clearly has the vocal abilities, but they are somewhat wasted within the poor songwriting. This is painful at times. But the piano parts are again very well done. It's an awkward tale of two twins who are as opposite as they can be. "New World Disorder" begins with yet another recycled riff and similar pacing as the previous two tracks. Franklin's bass notes are nice to hear and Hammond's vocals are again very nice, but the song suffers from that spark that might elevate it forward. "Elysium" begins with more dissonant tones as well as the first real dose of Progressive elements in the time shifts. But the song soon falls back to more delicate melodies without that big punch I was waiting for.

"Veil of Insanity" was the only single I could find on the album. Again, the riffing is pretty poor and expected; they are not going to sneak any surprised on the listener. The guitar solo is pretty ripping but sounds out of place with the rest of the music. "Spirit Host" closes the album. Opening with slow, soft clean guitars and some keys, it transitions to a hardened slow riff that is no better than many of the other riffs on the album. This was in fact a painfully long song.

Once again, the general theory holds true...a supergroup that is assembled meets the obligatory line-up of excellent musicians, but the songwriting falters and is not nearly up to par. The songs are based on riffs that are elementary and not at all adventurous for me. If the team here focused more on the songwriting, the album would be much better. As it stands, it is mediocre at best.