Transatlantic
(Radiant Records/Metal Blade)
Back around the turn of the century, your humble scribe was known to comment, half in jest, that there were only nine guys playing prog-rock music at the time, but that together they comprised something on the order of two-dozen bands. The joke was on me, actually, and definitely on all those other rockcrit types that perpetually turned up their collective noses at any sniff of "progressive rock." In the decade since, however, acclaimed rockers like the Mars Volta, Muse, and even Radiohead have made waves by embracing a "prog" aesthetic, while bands like Porcupine Tree and Dream Theatre mainstreamed 1970s-styled prog-rock (the former) and progressive metal (the latter).
Transatlantic is one of those bands made up of guys from other bands, a prog-rock "supergroup" if you will that was founded by Dream Theater's drummer Mike Portnoy - perhaps prog's biggest cheerleader in the press - with the multi-instrumental talent Neal Morse (solo artist and Spock's Beard founder), guitarist Roine Stolt (Sweden's Flower Kings), and bassist Pete Trewavas (English prog-folk legends Marillion). Transatlantic released its debut album SMPTe in 2000, following it up with Bridge Across Forever a year later, and since that time have made their presence felt on the growing prog-rock scene with a couple of epic tours, a pair of acclaimed live albums, and a full-length DVD release for the faithful.
Transatlantic's various members would go on to other musical projects through the end of the decade, but when Morse contacted Portnoy about an exciting new composition called "The Whirlwind" that had "Transatlantic" written all over it, they called up the other guys and got the band back together one more time. Convening in Morse's Tennessee studio, the four talents collaborated and expanded upon Morse's original concept, building it into a lengthy twelve-part, almost 78-minute song-cycle that is ambitious in scope and breathtaking in its execution.
The new set, The Whirlwind (Radiant Records/Metal Blade), kicks off with a brief atmospheric intro - a jumble of voices, pastoral music, crashing waves - before swelling into an instrumental tsunami of whirling synths, exploding drumbeats, and cutting guitar. The nine-minute-plus title track sounds like Return To Forever meets King Crimson, with angular, almost jazzy fretwork, slashing keyboard runs, heavy melodic basslines, and some of the most blustery, badass drumming that will ever punch your eardrums into submission. As the lyrical storyline unfolds across the songs, the soundtrack never falters. The four band members share vocals and back up one another's voices, and the chemistry between these virtuoso instrumentalists matches their passion, resulting in a seamless integration of sound and harmony.
Throughout the wild musical ride that is The Whirlwind, the engaged listener will pick up strains of Beatlesque melodies, Genesis-styled folk-rock, King Crimson's avant-experimentation, the soaring harmonics of Yes, and much, much more. The synthesizer work-out at the beginning of the machine-gun paced "On The Prowl" sounds like nothing so much as a Rick Wakeman/Keith Emerson swordfight, but when the song lapses into vocal mode, enchanting harmonies are bolstered by Stolt's raging six-string, and fluid keyboard/synth textures. The song changes musical directions so frequently and at such breakneck speed that you'd have to place your head on a swivel to catch it all in one sitting.
Portnoy's madman drumming leads into "A Man Can Feel," the gloomy, atmospheric intro sounding like something from Peter Gabriel's worst nightmares before metamorphosing into a glorious example of neo-prog excess, with rampant keyboard runs, thundering rhythms, lightning-fast time signature changes, and bursts of Stolt's razor-sharp guitarplay. "Lay Down Your Life" staggers out of the gate with a plodding, discordant menace as syncopated drumbeats, screeching classical stringplay, and chainsaw riffs create an alien soundscape that is quickly wrestled to the ground by the band's joyfully reckless harmonies and a roller-coaster ride of instrumental mayhem.
As is the style these days, The Whirlwind is available in a number of various configurations, and the prog-rock true believer will want to pony up the extra shekels for the two-disc version which includes a bonus CD of songs from the session that didn't make the first disc, or something to that effect. An extra-special, three-disc edition includes a DVD with "behind the scenes" footage that, while interesting upon initial viewing, is probably only really attractive to the sort of obsessive that alphabetizes and catalogs their music (ahem...).
As for the eight bonus tracks on the deluxe edition of The Whirlwind, they're of just as high a quality as anything on the twelve-track regular album, they just didn't fit into the grandiose fabric of those performances. The songs here on disc two showcase the more pop-oriented side of the band, featuring four originals and four inspired covers that highlight both individual member's songwriting chops, but also the band's overall flexibility. Stolt's "Spinning" is a charming pop/rock confection with lovely fretwork, a catchy melody, and an aggressive keyboards/synthesizer segment that redefines the meaning of "shock and awe."
Morse's "For Such A Time" is a commanding ballad with gentle vocals, shining guitarwork, thoughtful lyrics and emotion, and such a carefree toppling of folk-rock conventions that it puts the efforts of a hundred simpering, beardo indie-rock troubadours to shame. As for the covers, the early Genesis song "The Return of the Giant Hogweed" is as whimsical as the original, while a shot at Procol Harum's "A Salty Dog" falls a little short of the mark - enjoyable, but ultimately negligible in improving upon the original. While a cover of America's "I Need You" may seem a stretch, the band's innate melodic sense and vocal harmonies provide just the right amount of winsome emotion to pull it off in spades.
It's the raucous Transatlantic take on Santana's "Soul Sacrifice" that really drives this over the top, though, with Portnoy's imaginative percussive work mimicking the original song, but adding stylized and powerful improvements. Stolt's guitarwork is stunning, incorporating Santana's Latin influences while taking solos into entirely new territory with slashing chords and flying one-off notes. I'm guessing that Morse and Trewavas are helping out with some bang-a-gong of their own in the percussion department, and the entire song is an energetic reminder that these guys are all true classic rock fiends at heart.
And that, gentle reader, is what cements Transatlantic's status as modern prog-rock royalty...more than the sum of each band member's talents, or the influences of their individual, groundbreaking bands, these four guys have a pitch-perfect sense of where rock music has been, which allows them together to build upon the past and take the music into exciting new directions. The Whirlwind is a masterpiece of progressive rock, but it is also a return to values such as melody, harmony, instrumental talent, and intelligent lyricism that is sadly missing from much of what dominates the charts and radio airplay these days. It's also why prog-rock continues to grow in popularity and ambition. Much as they did at the dawn of the new millennium, Transatlantic continues to lead the way....
Standout Tracks: Let's face the music, shall we? If you like this stuff, you're gonna like it all, 'cause nobody, I'm telling you, nobody does it like Transatlantic. The Reverend says so! REV. KEITH A. GORDON
