Warthur Before Kaleidoscope we hadn't really had what you could call a "business as usual" Transatlantic album. The debut saw them not having gelled yet as a group, Bridge Across Forever found them delivering a more cohesive sound and later took on extra weight due to immediately preceding the hiatus of the band, and The Whirlwind was not just the return of Transatlantic, but also a return of Neal Morse to working as a part of band projects.

Since then, Neal seems to have found a new balance between his turning out his overtly Christian-themed solo work on the one hand and participating in bands whose music have less specifically religion themes on the other hand; after The Whirlwind he'd also crop up in Flying Colours and make guest appearances live and in the studio with Spock's Beard.

With Neal's creativity spread out like this, one might expect him to take a back seat compositionally speaking - reserving his most Transatlantic-like ideas for this, using other ideas on projects better suited to them, and giving his other bandmates room to contribute. Certainly, it's hard to judge what proportion of the music is contributed by which band member on Transatlantic releases, since they generally share the credit communally - but I certainly hear more of The Flower Kings on here than I remember on previous albums, suggesting that Roine Stolt's quirky, sometimes Zappa-influenced approach to prog had a particularly big influence this time around. (He also sings lead on Black As the Sky and certain other sections.)

It's not that the other members are absent here - far from it. Neal's combination of uplifting, soaring crescendos, lyrics which you can read a Christian meaning into if you want but don't have to, and nods to the 1960s pop scene that early prog grew out of are all here too, Portnoy and Trewavas are still pulling their weight in the rhythm section, this might be a Kaleidoscope but it isn't a revolution in the band's sound.

Since their reunion, Transatlantic haven't exactly been cranking out albums at a massive rate - part of that is probably down to everyone having day jobs with other musical projects to balance, of course, but to my ears it seems like they're also trying to make sure that each Transatlantic release is a little special. As I said at the start of this review, they hadn't put out a "business as usual" album before this one - and they don't do it this time either.

siLLy puPPy TRANSATLANTIC has become what I call “Comfort Prog” since to my ears, it's like junk food, meaning it has little nutritional value yet it tastes very good. That's exactly what we get with their 4th album KALEIDOSCOPE which is simply a reworking of all the material they began with their very first album “SMPTe.” I really like the first two albums and I have nothing against a supergroup doing retro prog as long as it isn't a carbon copy of what came before but at this stage fourteen years after that debut I would expect some serious developments in the musical evolution department. That is not what we get here. We simply get four prog stars resting on their laurels and setting the passion flame to cruise control and churning out very pleasant and well constructed epic suites that neither offend nor excite. They seem to have forgotten that “progressive” by its very definition means moving forward or advancing in steady increments. We do not get any of that here. This is just doing exactly what you've already done before only changing it around a bit and adding a nice pretty package.

The one exception for me (and many others I see) is the track “Black As The Sky” which seems to have mustered up some musical mojo to at least add one really satisfying' track to the album. Even this is hardly what I would call a major leap in any sort of development in their musical compositional approach. I give albums 3 stars for a few reasons. One reason is because an album contains a few great songs and lots of filler. Another is because the album is even but just not up to its potential possibly following or preceding a much stronger album and yet another is a perfectly good album that is simply anachronistic. If this was their debut album in 2000 it would be celebrated with the praise that their first two albums received, but these days there is so much more interesting prog to be had and this simply feels lackluster in comparison to their own past releases alone. For this release of comfort prog which is intended to give the prog masses an easily digestible package that doesn't require much effort to take in, I give a middle-of-the-road 3 stars.

arcane-beautiful The return of the international prog super group is back! And it's pretty much business as usual.

One their last album “The Whirlwind”, the band did the unthinkable and crafted a near 80 minute song with interweaving parts throughout. While this ended up as being the bands most successful release to date, I felt that the album was maybe just a tad overwhelming. Now don't get me wrong, I love mad prog epics more than the next guy...but maybe 79 minute songs are pushing it a little bit.

So...after the drama of Mike Portnoy's departure from Dream Theater had toned down, him and the rest of the guys (who avoid drama at the best of times) decided to finally bite the bullet after their big comeback in 2009 and finally release a follow up to the critically acclaimed “The Whirlwind.”

I have to say, at times this album did surprise me at times. After hearing a thousand copycat nostalgia prog bands doing re hashes of old Genesis material, it was a breath of fresh air to see Transatlantic doing something different. Now, this being their 4th release in 15 years, a similar pattern is emerging and certain generic traits are noticeable, but as entertainment showing off incredible virtuoustic talent, this pretty much hits the nail on the head. Musically the band haven't changed too much, but odd flourishes do grab my interest now and then. I also like how the shared vocal duties of the band have been more equally this time (with Neal mainly taking the reins most of the time on earlier releases). Now...Mike and Pete don't have the best voices, especially when compared with Neal and Roine, but there are moments on this album where they can suprise you.

The opening 25 minute opus “Into The Blue” is probably the album's strongest moment. Taking a more sinister feeling to their sound, it shows off a different side to the bands songwriting. The highlight on the song for me was on the section “Written In Your Heart” with guest vocalist and touring member Daniel Gildenlöw (who currently is unwell due to picking up a bacterial infection) providing some beautiful vocals.

The album's lead single “Shine” is a very nice country influenced ballad with some nice vocal harmonies throughout. The main attraction has to be Roine's ripping guitar solo in the mid section of the song.

One of the more enjoyable moments on the album is on the track “Black As The Sky.” A more upbeat rock infused song, the songs biggest highlight comes in the chorus showing of the bands use of four part harmony.

The weakest moment on the album has to be the albums title track, which clocks in at near 32 minutes. While it is still pretty enjoyable, it does drag on a bit at parts and is a rather lengthy affair. Other than that, it still does have some pretty great prog infused moments.

In conclusion, it's pretty much what you expect. I will admit that this album is better than their previous effort “The Whirlwind” it still doesn't match up to their magnum opus “Bridge Across Forever.” Still a highly enjoyable album with enough prog touches to entertain anyone into nostalgic prog and newer prog sounds.

8.2/10

adg211288 Kaleidoscope (2014) is the fourth full-length album by the multi-national symphonic progressive rock supergroup Transatlantic. It’s been some years now since the release of The Whirlwind (2009), their comeback album following an earlier 2002 spilt. I wasn’t really sure at the time if The Whirlwind would end up being a one-off reunion album or if Transatlantic would continue making albums. Since it's been a few years now I was starting to get concerned that it would be the former, but fortunately Roine Stolt (The Flower Kings), Neal Morse (ex-Spock's Beard), Mike Portnoy (ex-Dream Theater), and Pete Trewavas (Marillion) have got together once again for another album of their signature symphonic progressive rock.

Unlike The Whirlwind’s single epic length composition that lasted just shy of a seventy-eight minute duration, that was presented as a twelve part suite, Kaleidoscope returns to a format more like that of their first two albums SMPTe (2000) and Bridge Across Forever (2001); two epic length tracks (clocking in at 25:11 and 31:53 respectively), and a group of shorter ones, giving Kaleidoscope five tracks total. As with all three prior albums however there is also a two disc version available, this time with the bonus content given over entirely to covers, featuring the work of bands such as Yes, Focus and The Moody Blues. Since there are no Transatlantic originals on this one as with The Whirlwind's bonus disc it's not so essential to pick this version up, although they are a nice bunch of covers if that sort of thing interests you.

Kaleidoscope sounds exactly as expected if you've had some prior experience with Transatlantic's music. If you haven't then they play a mix of progressive rock and it's symphonic variant. You'll typically hear both styles in the band's epic length tracks while the shorter ones tend to stick to one or the other. Although you'll probably be able to find the band on any good metal database due to Mike Portnoy's presence in the group, with some even going as far to list them as progressive metal, they've only ever used some very minor metal elements in their music in the past, and there are none to be found on Kaleidoscope.

Bookending the album are the epics, Into the Blue and the title track respectively. It's these kind of tracks that has always been the most exciting part of a Transatlantic album for me, and I'm sure many others feel the same. As it is though, neither of Kaleidoscope's epics, although still showing just who the kings of progressive rock are, really stand up to the band's prior ventures into this area such as All of the Above (SMPTe), Duel with the Devil and Stranger in Your Soul (both Bridge Across Forever). Both are still excellent, especially the title track, but this time around I'm surprised to find it's the shorter songs that have made more of a lasting impression, Shine and Black as the Sky more so than Beyond the Sun, which is the typical Neal Morse sung ballad of this album.

Transatlantic are some of the best musicians in the genre, so even a lesser album from them, as Kaleidoscope ultimately has to be considered, is still an exceptional release of progressive rock. I'd call it the weakest out of their four albums to date though, so it is a major step down from the career best that was The Whirlwind. That's disappointing, given how long it's been since that album and that it's probably not wrong to guess another lengthy wait will be in store until there's a fifth Transatlantic album, but despite all this, Kaleidoscope is still a very worthwhile effort from the band.