TRANSATLANTIC — SMPTe (review)

TRANSATLANTIC — SMPTe album cover Album · 2000 · Metal Related Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
Warthur
Are Neal Morse and Mike Portnoy the two closest BFFs in modern prog rock? It seems likely; after all, when Morse shocked the prog world by leaving Spock's Beard after Snow, it would be Portnoy who'd become one of most his most regular collaborators, appearing on a slew of his post-Beard projects (both solo and in side groups like Flying Colors and Yellow Matter Custard).

Before all that went down, however, Morse and Portnoy put together Transatlantic - recruiting Roine Stolt of The Flower Kings after Jim Matheos of Fates Warning couldn't participate and filling out the lineup with Marillion's Pete Trewavas. With Morse still in Spock's Beard at this point and Portnoy a good decade or so away from leaving Dream Theater, the band represented a true supergroup of modern prog, and expectations were high of their first album.

That said, don't go into this setting those expectations too high, or hoping for something with significant doses of, say, the prog metal of Dream Theater or the indie rock-influenced modernised prog sound that Marillion were exploring at the era (or, for that matter, a throwback to Fish-era Marillion). The centre of gravity of the band's sound at this point in time was very much skewed towards the approach of Spock's Beard, with perhaps a healthy pinch of The Flower Kings.

A big part of this comes down to the fact that there's a strong 1960s influence underpinning some of what's going on here - the album ends on a cover of a Procol Harum epic, after all - which both Spock's Beard and The Flower Kings had also been incorporating into their music. Between that and the way Neal Morse and Stolt take point on lead vocals, and the use of vocal harmonies in particular, the parallels are rather prominent, and without the sort of jazzier or more Zappa-esque detours which the Flower Kings take, the balance of the album's sound leans somewhat in a Spock's Beard direction.

Perhaps this was to be expected - the group were still feeling things out. In the long run, Transatlantic would prove to be more than a one-off flash in the pan and develop their sound further from this early pass. The album is a solid start from the project, but they don't yet have an identity distinct from Spock's Beard, and some listeners might be thrown by that, especially anyone who was hoping for more Dream Theater or Marillion-ish moments.
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