Transatlantic

The multi-national prog-rock
supergroup Transatlantic began in 1999 when Spock’s Beard keyboard player Neal
Morse, Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy, Flower Kings guitarist Roine Stolt,
and Marillion bassist Pete Trewavas each felt the desire to have a side project
apart from their main gigs. Their debut LP, 2000’s SMPT:e laid out the
band’s approach, a combination of 70’s prog-rock and late-period Beatles and a
penchant for very long tracks including the album’s 30-minute opening track and
its 17-minute closer. 2001’s Bridge Across Forever did even better than
its predecessor on the German album charts. In 2002 the band went on hiatus as
Portnoy shifted his focus away from secular music, but they reconvened in 2009
to record their third album, The Whirlwind, which consisted of one
single 77-minute composition. They toured internationally for the album, and
they did so again after 2014’s Kaleidoscope. The latter album became
their biggest chart hit to that point, going top 10 in Germany and the
Netherlands, and also breaking onto the charts in several European countries as
well as Japan. That LP also took home Album of the Year at the third
Progressive Music Awards. It would be seven years before another new
Transatlantic album, 2021’s The Absolute Universe, appeared.