Style: Progressive Rock (Clean Vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Marillion, The Flower Kings, Neal Morse, Spock’s Beard, Dream Theater
Country: International (United States, United Kingdom)
Release date: 23 October 2009

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To give an album a 10/10 is a deeply personal thing that transcends the typical music criticism we do on the blog. Such an album may be flawed—perhaps even more so than many 9/10s—yet it speaks to you so completely, stylistically or nostalgically, that those flaws scarcely matter. I have twenty-eight of these Andy-suited records. One of those hallowed few is Transatlantic’s 2009 magnum opus, The Whirlwind: a seventy-eight minute progressive rock epic from one of the genre’s most celebrated supergroups. By every reasonable measure, the composition should collapse under its own ambition; instead, The Whirlwind stands out to me as one of the greatest and most cohesive works to ever come out of the progressive rock world.

The elephant in the room is that The Whirlwind is a single behemoth suite, divided into twelve named movements for convenience. It’s a lot to stomach. Progressive rock has produced no shortage of epics that mistake duration and excess for substance, yet Transatlantic sustain a remarkable sense of purpose from beginning to end. Every transition feels earned; each reprise is thoughtfully placed; and every detour ultimately contributes meaningfully to the musical and narrative journey. Paradoxically, what makes Transatlantic’s indulgence work so well is that the record operates with restraint, trusting the strength of their recurring melodies, careful pacing, and gradual buildups, rather than relying on instrumental excess or constant novelty.

Who are the musicians that can pull off this dazzling feat? Four individuals who had spent collective decades refining the genre. Vocalist and keyboardist Neal Morse (ex-Spock’s Beard) is a bona fide master of enormous, melodic hooks and theatrical songwriting; Roine Stolt (The Flower Kings) adds splashes of warmth, color, and improvisation with his guitar playing; Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater) uses his dynamic and varied drumming to keep the album moving forward, while serving as a fantastic arranger; and Pete Trewavas (Marillion) provides the rhythmic foundation that keeps the album grounded with his delectable bass grooves. The four check their egos at the door, combining their strengths to act as a unified front. 

One of the primary reasons The Whirlwind never loses its direction is the confidence with which Transatlantic revisit their musical ideas. Themes introduced during “Overture / The Whirlwind”¹ become the album’s connective tissue, resurfacing repeatedly in altered keys, tempos, and emotional contexts. The thematic development is far more satisfying than perpetual reinvention, though there is certainly no shortage of fresh ideas. Whether settling into the stately melodic writing of “Rose Colored Glasses,” stretching out into one of the album’s jam-band instrumental passages like “Is It Really Happening?” or erupting into one of Stolt’s lyrical, Gilmour/Santana-inspired guitar solos, the band never strays far from its central ideas. For instance, the solo in “Set Us Free,” leads seamlessly into the central whirlwind motif. The final ecstatic reprise of “Dancing with Eternal Glory / Whirlwind [Reprise]” feels like an inevitability by the closing of the musical story.

Given the talents involved and their distinctive styles, The Whirlwind could easily have devolved into a contest of personalities.² The quartet allows each musician’s strengths to serve the work in the way they’re best at. Portnoy’s greatest contribution may not even be behind the kit—he acted as the project’s principal arranger, weaving together the members’ demos into the final whole. Trewavas wrote the unforgettable opening melody of “Overture / Whirlwind,” while Stolt’s unmistakable harmonic language and relaxed sense of pacing permeate the album’s more pastoral passages. The classic Neal Morse trademark of harmonized melodies and epic climaxes emerges as well, giving The Whirlwind both its gravitas (the rapturous “Dancing with Eternal Glory / Whirlwind [Reprise]”) and sing-along moments like “Out of the Night.” For seventy-eight minutes, Transatlantic functions like a single composer with a massive creative vision which they execute perfectly.

Compositional chemistry means nothing without performance and execution, and all four members are virtuosos without rubbing it in your face. Trewavas is the album’s secret weapon, his growling bass tone and inexhaustible sense of groove incredibly stank face-inducing. Moreover, he rarely outlines the harmony when he can instead weave a memorable counter-melody. Portnoy delivers the most refined performance of his career, prioritizing dynamic pacing above all. His fills are still instantly recognizable, but they’re deployed with discipline here. Stolt, meanwhile, favors melody over shred, opting for expressive bends and bright, jubilant tones. Finally, Morse matches Stolt on the melodic front with his use of a kaleidoscopic array of keyboards—Hammond organ, synthesizers, piano, Mellotron. The accelerating climax of “Lay Down Your Life,” where Morse and Stolt trade increasingly uptempo lines before the band crashes into the next movement, captures the quartet operating at full force. Even vocally The Whirlwind is a communal effort; Morse usually leads, but Stolt frequently steps forward, and the rich four-part harmonies reinforce the sense that the album is a truly collective endeavor. 

Lyrically, The Whirlwind follows an extended metaphor of a violent storm in order to explore seasons of upheaval, loss, faith, and renewal. The lyrics are earnest, bordering on overly sentimental, but they provide an effective framework for the music. Furthermore, the recurring musical motifs mirror the album’s central message: however chaotic the journey becomes, there is always something familiar to return to. The emotional destination is satisfying whether one shares Morse’s overtly Christian spiritual outlook—which is significantly toned down on The Whirlwind compared to nearly every other post-born again album he has released—or experiences the work on a purely musical level.

Every piece of art carries an imperfect record, and I’m definitely reviewing this album through rose-colored glasses. An objective critique of The Whirlwind will always mention the record’s bloated runtime, the heavy-handed narrative, and the progressive rock tropes. But in art, objectivity is a fragile metric; what does a checklist of small flaws matter when the melodies are fantastic, the pacing is adventurous, and the hooks are impossible not to sing along with? Transatlantic embrace their genres myriad clichés but execute them better than anyone else ever has. For seventy-eight minutes, The Whirlwind is perfect for me.

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Recommended tracks:  it’s one song, didn’t ya read the review?
You may also like: Anderson/Stolt, Jacob Roberge, The Twenty Committee, Moon Safari, Southern Empire, Cosmic Cathedral

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Label: Metal Blade Records, Radiant Records

Transatlantic is:
– Mike Portnoy – drums, vocals
– Roine Stolt – guitars, vocals
– Neal Morse – guitars, keys, vocals
– Pete Trewavas – bass, vocals

1. One should hope an overture introduces the themes. ↩︎
2. The first two Transatlantic albums were dominated by one musician’s songwriting (that being Neal Morse, bless his heart). ↩︎