Progressive rock group Transatlantic, feat. Neal Morse, Mike Portnoy, Roine Stolt & Pete Trewavas, have announced the return with a brand new studio album, The Absolute Universe, on February 5th, 2021 (Inside Out Music). Representing the band's first new music since 2014's Kaleidoscope, with 'The Absolute Universe' the band have done something unique and created two versions of the record.

Mike Portnoy explains: "We've got two versions of this album. There is a two CD presentation, which is 90 minutes long, and a single one - that's 60 minutes. However, the single CD is NOT merely an edited version of the double CD. They each contain alternate versions and even in some cases, new recordings. We wrote fresh lyrics and have different people singing on the single CD version tracks as compared to those on the double CD. Some of the song titles have also been changed, while others might remain the same, but compositionally what you'll hear has been altered. You must appreciate that what we have done is unique. We revamped the songs to make the two versions different."

"We did write some new music for the single CD," adds bassist Pete Trewavas. "What's more, there are also differences in the instruments used on some of the tracks across the two records."

"I always try not to compare albums as much as possible," says Neal Morse. "It's very difficult when you're trying to be creative, because your natural instinct is to constantly compare. But in order to create you have to kind of step away from that. Having said that, I would say this would have more in common with The Whirlwind album (the band's third, from 2009) than others that we've created."

Source:	facebook.com
Band profile:	Transatlantic