SMPT:E

In the realm of progressive rock, supergroups come into the fray quite often. Many musicians love to get together and have a good time. It is a tradition in any genre really, hip hop groups like Wu-Tang Clan and Run The Jewels are fairly notable examples, same with punk music with groups like Fake Names and Me First And The Gimme Gimmes. Back to Prog rock though, supergroups happen all the time it seems. Emerson, Lake, and Palmer are the most popular examples, with Greg Lake from King Crimson being at the forefront of the band. Another example is Asia, with Steve Howe from Yes, Geoffrey Downes from The Buggles, John Wetton from King Crimson and UK, and Carl Palmer from ELP. However, there is no supergroup out there that has shaped the face of modern progressive rock music more so than Transatlantic.

Formed in 1999, this multinational group was built up by Neal Morse of Spock's Bears (Keyboard, Vocals), and Mike Portnoy of Dream Theater (Drums). They originally wanted Jim Matheos of Fates Warning to be a guitarist for the band, but due to the inability to participate, they got the next best thing, which was Roine Stolt of The Flower Kings (Guitar, Vocals). To complete the lineup, they called in Pete Trewavas of Marillion and Edison's Children (Bass). With this lineup of artists from bands that are extremely well received in the progressive rock community due to their great playing styles, it comes as no surprise that this group would garner a great deal of fame. This unique mix of retro progressive rock, Neo-Prog, and progressive metal and you'll get the brilliant work that is Transatlantic. I have been checking them out a bit recently and so far they have become, slowly but surely, one of my favorite acts in progressive rock. I only listened to two of their albums so far, and I wanted to review one or the other, and I didn't know which one to review, however, I landed on SMPTe ultimately since I think it is interesting to see the origins of a band that has become one of the biggest in terms of progressive rock more so than some of their most legendary works in my mind.

The album begins with the huge 30-minute epic of All Of The Above. The title doesn't lie, this does have pretty much the entire scope of the influences that shaped retro progressive rock. You get that complexity of Yes, those symphonic of Genesis, and the fun stylization of ELP, wrapped up into one big song. With the lineup of musicians we have here, we get some great instrumentation. The star of the show here must be Roine Stolt. His guitar skills are fantastic and goes so well with Neal's singing and Mike's drumming. Speaking of Mike's drumming, I fully believe it just soars to new heights here. It was great in Dream Theater, but here we have him truly embracing those proggy and fun feelings, which helps him a lot in the long run. These two helped shape this epic into a great one for me. However, while I think this is a great epic, I think it has some things that fall short of brilliance. For one, the song has a bit of weird way of ending. It has a big crescendo, a big finale at 26 minutes, and then after 28 minutes it fizzles out, and then we have 3 minutes left of ambient guitars, which I think feels very weird for an ending. I think if they put those ambient guitars on one of the quieter parts then the ending would become a lot better in my mind, while still keeping in tune with the long 31-minute time frame. However that's my only complaint because every aspect of this song, from the playing to the singing, is still virtually the cream of the crop in terms of progressive rock music, so any complaints I can give are gonna be very small in terms of the grand scale this song gives.

Switching away from the big grand epics, we get We All Need Some Light. This is that acoustic soft rock ballad Neal Morse loves to pull out in his albums, especially in his solo career, so I wasn't too surprised to hear it on here. In my mind, this song is very alright. It gets the job done for being that soft-spoken ballad that you might come across, but that is it. The song may be good, but I think all it serves is to get the job done, fill in some space. Compared to any other of Neal's many soft rock songs (from what I have heard) this is the weakest. It does not try to do anything cool or different, it is just another one of those songs they can play at a concert so people can pull out their lighters and sway them from side to side. It is practically just there.

Things do turn around though with Mystery Train. It has that wacky and silly type of progressive rock that sprouts up with more psychedelic influences, especially that of the 60s or 70s, but here with the more symphonic progressive rock type of music found here it comes off a lot different than what you'd expect. This is where they embrace the weirder side of progressive rock, but I feel like it is sort of in that weird middle ground of being completely silly, and still being grounded as a whole, which I think defeats the purpose of the sort of that surreal side. It feels like an experiment, where you can tell they are making great music, it feels like where they are making said great music is one where the members are in different mindsets in the song's direction. It's weird, and in some ways a good fashion, but in others, it is a rather poor way of conveying this type of music.

Getting back to the epics, we have My New World. This is where Roine Stolt comes into really shine a bit more of that Flower Kings sound. We get that jovial, and trippy form of progressive rock here that is helmed by Stolt's lustrous singing here. For a 16-minute epic, it hits all the right spots for me. A great mix of that rock sound, mixed in with a little bit of atmosphere and topped off with a great closure. With it being 16 minutes long, it doesn't overstay its welcome and instead allows the music to evolve in a great fashion. The musicianship here is on point as ever, and everything just fits seamlessly into place. I do not have any gripes on this song. This is their best original song here, and it's very easy to hear why.

Now notice how I said "original" in the last paragraph. Well, that's because My New World is not the best song on the full album, it's close, but it's not the best. That title has to go to the cover of Procol Harum's 1968 epic, In Held 'Twas in I. If you wanted to see a cover song that is better than the original, look no further than here. For the sake of this review I checked out the original epic, and I did fairly enjoy it. I thought it got a good amount of things right as an early progressive rock epic, but some parts felt weaker than others. Here, in the entire whole of the song, no part feels weaker or stronger. Every part of this suite has consistent greatness to it as it meshes together into one big whole. It even modernizes the song in such a way that the original doesn't get lost, but the additions and newer viewing scope help it stand tall more than ever. For a cover, this is a treat to behold, and quite frankly better than what the original had done. If you want a great cover song, look here.

As a whole, this album is amazing, if we only look at the epics. The two shorter tracks loosen this album up a bit for me, and they feel weak as in or out of the listening of this album. The epics however are great, as you'd expect from musicians that are some of the best in progressive music. I think this album is interesting because after this they seem to focus more on stretches of music, especially on The Whirlwind. With this, it's clear that this album as a whole is an experiment to see what route they want to go in, whether it be towards long and amazing epics, or towards the shorter song route, and ultimately, for the better, they went for the longer songs. I think this album is a great example of the differences in the facets that make progressive rock as it is. I say check it if you want some great retro progressive rock, however, I do suggest starting with The Whirlwind first since that album is much, much better than this one, but if you have the time then do check in on it.