KALEIDOSCOPE

'Kaleidoscope' is the fourth studio release by the 'supergroup' Transatlantic. This is an album that comes after three stellar ones, so the expectations were, of course, quite high. Here, the band does what one would expect them to do ' a massive album bookmarked by two monstrous epics with a few shorter songs in between. We also get five vocalists throughout the whole thing (!), as Morse, Stolt, Portnoy, Trewavas, and the guest Daniel Gildenlow all have vocal duties.

Opening track 'Into the Blue' might be my most favorite thing from this band, it is absolutely majestic and memorable, it has some genius vocal harmonies by Neal Morse and the performance of all the other members is top notch. 'Shine' is a nice ballad-type band effort that was released as a single, if I am not wrong, with everyone in the band taking the spotlight on different parts of the song. 'Black as the Sky' is a punchy and proggy track with great vocal harmonies and an in-your-face chorus, much in the spirit of some of their 70s favorites like Tull or Focus. 'Beyond the Sun' is a little Neal solo piece leading up to the 32-minute title track ' which I feel is not as strong as 'Into the Blue' but quite spectacular as well. The instrumental sections on this one are the least to say impressive, and the chemistry between the players is enviable!

Excellent music, another really good release from Transatlantic, and a great addition to symphonic prog lovers' (and not only) collection.