And have another proggy update now, won't you?
#44The WhirlwindTransatlanticGenre: progressive rock2009 There’s only so much amount of happy progressive rock I can tolerate in a certain period of time. I usually prefer either more heavy or more sad, somber music, but when I’m looking for something more lighthearted (I know this album isn’t really lighthearted, but I don’t know how to put it, really), The Whirlwind is one of my usual choices. It could be because I’m a sucker for concept albums, or maybe because it perfectly flows together, I’m not sure, but this record is somehow attractive and maybe captivating. And the cover’s color probably also helps, when I look at my shelf and see a flash of bright orange color among the dull wall of grey and blue (well, mostly), I feel the urge to spin it. Maybe.
So, just in case you live in the cave in a deep forest, and I mean no offense to people who live in the caves in various deep forests, Transatlantic is yet another supergroup that consists of four musicians, namely
Neal Morse (solo, ex-Spock’s Beard, Flying Colors),
Mike Portnoy (yeah),
Roine Stolt (TFK) and
Pete Trewavas (Marillion), whose surname is damn hard to type, I think I wrote Trewaras and Trevaras few times before I realized what’s wrong. Well, speaking of Transatlantic, the band was formed in 1999 and released two albums, then disbanded in 2002, only to reunite in 2009 and put out this fantastic record.
Let’s start with expressing my opinion about the arguably most controversial thing among the fanbase, the endless debate concisely called “Is The Whirlwind One Song or Not”, where you can actually put any other long song divided in movements instead of The Whirlwind. I view it as one big song. I suppose the band themselves stated it should be considered as a single monster song, so I frankly don’t see why is it even a question, but, eh, whatever (see numerous SDOIT debates on DT side). But then again, this song has the distinct movements, differently paced, with various moods and features, some are better than others, so it makes sense to split it for the release. Speaking about movements and their moods, there are a lot of pieces quite similar to each other in their atmosphere, but there are also a few oddities fitting nicely into the whole picture, like
The Wind Blew Them All Away or
Lay Down Your Life. The first 57 minutes is mostly a giant, very well thought out buildup to the penultimate movement of this epic, where it comes to its climax in all its
eternal glory, and the last track is the aftermath full of reprises. Now that I’ve written all this, I think it’s the structure of the whole thing that makes this album so appealing to me. It’s incredibly neat.
The Whirlwind is quite complex and also the most mature Transatlantic album, in my opinion. It has all this recurring musical themes popping up here and there, while also having enough unique parts that truly stand out on their own, capturing listener’s attention, which is quite a remarkable thing. If only Kaleidoscope was a step up from this, I would be in progressive heaven.
Disclaimer: for the most satisfying experience you should listen to the whole album
Favourite movements:
The Wind Blew Them All Away,
On The Prowl,
A Man Can Feel,
Is It Really Happening?And on A Man Can Feel I always can’t help but go
A man can sense the speed of falling down
No feet on solid ground
Still time for change of heart to reap the harvest of souls