Transatlantic

Bridge Across Forever (Metal Blade)
by Scott Hefflon

Transatlantic is a prog rock supergroup consisting of Flower Kings guitarist Roine Stolt, Spock’s Beard multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Neal Morse, Marillion bassist Pete Trewavas, and Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy. There are only four songs, but three outta four are divided into parts or chapters or passages or some such thing. The title track is the exception, a scant five minutes of wankery there. The rest shake their lily-white ass, “Go, Cat, go!” a bit, and employ the “we can play anything, so we will” mentality. Deep Purple keyboards with complex bass riffs and dancing Satriani-like solos that just go on and on over jazz-stagger beats and all that proggy stuff. But it’s better than the drippy “songs,” when they start to emote trite lovey-ahhhs like, I dunno, Survivor or something. Funny that they can play like the dickens, but they can’t write a melody or lyric that doesn’t sound like a local cover band’s one “original.”

Oh, I hate almost all prog rock, by the way. This being a supergroup and all, maybe those who can tolerate this stuff will dig it. The bio states “With its foundations shamelessly rooted firmly in the ’70s indulgences of progressive rock, we are taken on a musical journey via elements of pop and soul with a smattering of jazz in between and a health dose of classic hard rock.”
(2828 Cochran St. PMB #302 Simi Valley, CA 93065)