Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Transatlantic
Label: Inside Out Records
Release: 2009
Length: 77:54
Rating: 4/5
Transatlantic are a so-called international super-group: a former member of one of the most popular prog rock bands of the nineties, American singer and keyboardist Neal Morse (ex-Spock’s Beard), a member of the other one of the two most popular prog rock bands of the nineties, Swedish guitarist and singer Roine Stolt (The Flower Kings), a member of the most popular prog rock band of the eighties, English bassist Pete Trewavas (Marillion), and a member of the most popular prog metal band of all time, American drummer Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater). Every single member has thus done their bit to noticeably popularize prog rock long after the genre, or rather the musical movement, hit its triumphant peak (69-74).
At first glance, you could call it a dream combination of outstanding technical chops, altruism, a knack for crafting hypnotic arrangements and loads of experience, backed up by some seriously strong personalities. In fact, for a band made up of nothing but big shots, it’s even a good thing that they don’t put out a new album every year, since constant time together could easily lead to a clash of egos. After two decent albums that, despite the delighted response from almost the entire prog rock community, were nowhere near radically shaping the modern prog rock horizon, a long break followed, “blamed” on Neal’s religious intrigues and his complete shift to a solo career. Despite their regular duties with their home bands, all the members of Transatlantic stayed in constant touch, and one fine day they found themselves in Morse’s studio, where they started hammering out ideas for the long-awaited third album.
“The Whirlwind” is a concept album built around a 77-minute title composition. For tactical reasons, it’s split into twelve separate but conceptually linked parts. The writing of the individual parts of “The Whirlwind” suite was fairly evenly balanced among all the members, although the album carries the most influence from Morse’s former band Spock’s Beard, and a bit less from Stolt’s The Flower Kings. So what we’ve got here is a standard fusion of symphonic prog rock relativism with plenty of cheerful melodies and mighty vocal harmonies, drawing on the sonic legacy of legendary bands like Genesis, Yes, Gentle Giant, Camel, the Beatles, and so on. Morse once again grabbed the lion’s share of the vocals, while Stolt mostly “trundles along somewhere in the background,” usually chiming in when a more dramatic moment calls for a convincing vocal contrast.
Every musician’s unique instrumental technique gets its moment to shine across the whole album, and that goes for Trewavas’s melodic bass lines too. Predictably, Portnoy is especially busy proving his technical skills, though he doesn’t overdo it with any solo bloat and stays fairly obediently within the cohesive instrumental spirit. Neal Morse wrote most of the lyrics again, so they carry a hefty religious charge and biblical references. The whirlwind (that is, the album title) is used as a metaphor for turbulence in human lives. Stolt also contributed his share of the lyrics and made sure there’s no negativity to be found anywhere in Transatlantic’s messages.
After “Overture”, a short collage of assorted sounds in the vein of the Pink Floyd standard “Speak To Me” (a snippet of which you can also catch in the flood of noises), it’s time for the title track, heralded by a pompous symphonic arrangement. The central motif, with its multi-harmonic blend of keyboard textures and guitar passages, is very reminiscent of some of Spock’s Beard’s earlier work, which any fan of the band will pick up on. The same could be said of the opening section of “The Wind Blew Them All Away”, while “On The Prowl” is a mix of all sorts of things and, through Stolt’s guitar phrases, even has a touch of blues. Morse lets loose through most of the tracks mainly on the Hammond organ, which, along with the mellotron, remains his favorite keyboard tool. Transatlantic’s greatest strength throughout most of the pieces is the quality, melodic vocal harmonies in the hands of Morse and Stolt, like the ones on “Out Of The Night”, where mighty, almost epic chants reign. They make the album easy to win over even those who aren’t fans of the usual prog rock complexity and sprawling, pompous arrangements.
A big bonus of “The Whirlwind” compared to its two predecessors is also the fact that there’s no colossal, twenty-plus-minute ultra-complex epic on it (unless, of course, you count the whole 77-minute suite). It was usually within such gigantic epics that the star outfit’s biggest flaws showed up, with the band quickly falling apart into fragments and no longer able to hold the head and tail of the composition together. The closing 12-minute epic “Dancing With The Eternal Glory/The Whirlwind (Reprise)”, the longest piece on the album, by contrast comes off extremely well with its strong central motif and highlights their best qualities.
To be honest, though, “The Whirlwind” has no earth-shattering sonic discoveries; as expected, it keeps up the standard, prog rock-relativist recipe, only again in a somewhat compressed form, so that following the sonic tradition of the prog rock giants isn’t too obvious. Even so, you can’t accuse the Transatlantic gang of copying, though here and there they deliberately slip in a motif that’s more than an obvious tribute to the legacy of bands like Camel, Yes, Genesis, Gentle Giant, Kansas, and so on. That’s pretty much a given with the Morse-Stolt creative partnership, and in a way, through the prism of promoting the music legends of a much more romantic musical era, it’s even excusable.
With “The Whirlwind”, the international super-group predictably hasn’t set a new milestone in the endless world of progressive rock, but it has delivered its best and most mature work to date, one that will surely satisfy the appetites of most prog rock gourmets. Of course, this is primarily for all the loyal followers of Spock’s Beard and The Flower Kings and fans of the symphonic prog rock tradition. All the musicians involved remain masters of their craft. Some have even noticeably progressed in their playing since the band’s formation, as in Portnoy’s case, for example. Even though it offers nothing new, the album is varied and interesting enough from start to finish that even the most spoiled, seen-it-all prog rock fanatics won’t nod off. As long as Transatlantic are made up of such special musicians with exceptional talent and a high degree of creativity, their success story can keep on rolling, and prog rock won’t be consigned to complete obscurity.
Lineup
Neal Morse — vocals, keyboards, acoustic guitar, percussion
Roine Stolt — vocals, electric guitar, percussion, additional, mellotron, minimoog & soundscapes
Pete Trewavas — bass guitar, backing vocals, occasional VST synthesizer & orchestration
Mike Portnoy — drums, backing vocals
GUEST MUSICIANS:
Chris Carmichael – real arrangements
Marc Papeghin – French horn
Collin Leijenaar, Jessica Koomen, Henk Doest & MP – finger snaps
Production
Transatlantic
Tracklist
1. The Whirlwind
I. Overture / Whirlwind
II. The Wind Blew Them All Away
III. On the Prowl
IV. A Man Can Feel
V. Out of the Night
VI. Rose Colored Glasses
VII. Evermore
VIII. Set Us Free
IX. Lay Down Your Life
X. Pieces of Heaven
XI. Is it Really Happening?
XII. Dancing with Eternal Glory / Whirlwind (Reprise)
