THE WHIRLWIND

Dear, oh dear. I bought this against my better judgment and my better judgment is now laughing at me. Seventy-seven minutes of blandness, of formulaic, (ironically) soulless neo-prog without feeling, ending with the most cheesy revivalist number I've heard since I left the church.

Thing is, as much as I want to hate it, parts of this album are actually very good. The musicianship is superb (though PORTNOY could hold back on the drums every now and again, surely) and some of the compositions are reasonable. It is let down by two things, in my opinion: first, it simply doesn't have the compositional strength to justify an hour and a quarter of your time; and second, oh dear, that finish.

From 'On The Prowl' to 'Rose Colored Glasses' I felt this had the makings of a four-star album, but what followed descended into Christian cheese. This bible verse and that bible verse patched together like a Vineyard or Hillsong worship tape - and that last song! A more deliberate, cumbersome and ineffective attempt to pump up the emotions I've never come across. Not for me, sorry.

I bought this thing off iTunes and didn't get the bonus disk. I'm kind of relieved, having heard their version of 'Shine On You Crazy Diamond.' If you like TRANSATLANTIC and can stand the cheese, you'll probably like this. But for me it's a good half-hour of music spoiled by what surrounds it. Barely three stars.