In 2019, after six years away from studio recording together, Transatlantic's Neal Morse, Mike Portnoy, Roine Stolt, and Pete Trewavas met in Sweden for four days in 2019. They cut enough material to fill two albums. Plans to complete and tour the set in 2020 were scuttled by the COVID-19 pandemic. Morse suggested culling for a single-disc release, but his bandmates disagreed. Portnoy offered an unprecedented solution: release two musically distinct versions of the record simultaneously. Stolt was tasked with shepherding the 90-minute double disc -- subtitled "Forevermore" -- to completion. Morse went further than editing for the single disc, subtitled "The Breath of Life." He rearranged, reorchestrated, and re-recorded songs with different singers; he also wrote some new lyrics and added an exclusive song ("Can You Feel It"). While 13 of the original 18 tracks cut for The Absolute Universe are shared, some are radically different musically, and some employ different titles. Both versions of the record unfold as single, sprawling compositions divided into multifaceted chapters (a la 2009's Whirlwind). Not a concept recording per se, the album meditates on the many concurrent crises that humanity faces at this historical juncture. Transatlantic respond with creativity in offering accounts of, and exhortations to, inner personal transformation as the redress to existential change. As a way of reconciling the project in its entirety, Transatlantic released the limited The Absolute Universe: The Ultimate Edition. It contains all the music with an expanded 16-page booklet, and features a 5.1 surround sound mix with videos. The set also includes a making-of documentary and a 60x60 cm poster, all inside a lift-off box framed in silver foil. ~ Thom Jurek
