THE WHIRLWIND

What a fantastic, continuous piece of music we've got here. After a long break, I'm so happy to see Transatlantic return with so many new ideas put together in a form of a new album. Im not sure if I was surprised really, since I couldn't help but maintain my trust in this powerful combination of musicians coming from the very top of the current progressive rock scene: Spock's Beard, The Flower Kings, Dream Theater and Marillion. Stylistically, I guess this is "regular" progressive rock, so the elements arise from all over the place: grand symphonic themes intertwine with jazz absurdities, one after another, but a good amount of pop touch and heavy rock gives them a little air and catchiness, so it won't get totally exhausting at any point (remember it lasts for 77 minutes straight). Give it a chance, and you'll find tons of inspiration and deep exploration of musical terra incognita, once again.

With this album, these four musicians also have made a strong comment about things happening and things to come, about the ongoing global ecocatastrophe. Already in the cover art, you can see an obvious reference to an infamous topic: climate change, or global warming, if you will. It's good to have a powerful musical vision dealing with these common concerns amongst the flood of cold information that has been coming out in the last years. The way things are presented here is so touching and filled with beauty, sometimes in a sad way, sometimes just plain happy, that in the end of the album, things will definitely look a bit clearer to you. It'll make you reconsider your life once or twice, for sure.

Wow, quite a rant, huh? But then again, this is quite unbelievable as well!