Soniq Theater - Soniq Theater

Year of Release: 2001
Label: self-released
Catalog Number: n/a
Format: CD
Total Time: 69:03:00

Soniq Theater is the brainchild of Alfred Muller, a gifted German musician (ex-member of Rachel's Birthday) that wanted to convey an impressive array of sounds with this self titled (and self distributed) CD. And after quite a few listens I must admit that Alfred surely delivers the goods, even if the overall recording of Soniq Theater suffers a bit in the sound quality department, especially concerning the electronic drums that are too easy to detect. But the music is really captivating, going from the space age progressive of Ars Nova, to the complex structures portrayed by Oliver or Rick Wakeman in some of their songs. In fact Alfred has complete control of his numerous keyboards, and he is a bona fide master in changing atmospheres and musical landscapes with incredible ease. Take for example the bombastic "Unicorn", with its tons of synthesizers and guitars perfectly intertwined together, "Pandora's Box" with its futuristic mischievous ambience, or the oriental influenced "Minka E Rano", and you'll soon realize that these are the songs that are to be considered truly progressive. But the record is comprised of 16 tunes, and the best aspect is that everyone of them has some unexpected and interesting twist. In the end I'm sure that with a real rhythmic section these tracks would be even better, so let's hope some label takes notice and backs up Soniq Theater, taking the project to its proper heights. Highly recommended.

Tracklisting:
Rondeo (5:44) / Unicorn (3:46) / Pandora's Box (4:24) / Minka E Rano (2:23) / Excalibur (4:27) / Jurassic Classic (2:34) / The Power And The Glory (6:47) / Tsunami (5:05) / Palace Of Glass (2:19) / Laughing Through My Tears (3:40) / Leftoverture (1:02) / Hydra (4:19) / Crying Sky (4:04) / The Riders Of Rohan (7:00) / Cinemagic (6:17) / Dans Les Nuages (5:03)

Musicians:
Alfred Müller - keys

Discography:
Soniq Theater (2001)
A Second Of Action (2003)
The Third Eye (2003)
This Mortal Coil (2004)
Pandromania (2005)
Enchanted (2006)
Seventh Heaven (2007)
Life Seeker (2008)
Vision Quest (2009)
Unknown Realities (2010)
Force Majure (2011)

Genre: Symphonic Prog

Origin DE

Added: May 18th 2002
Reviewer: Igor Italiani

Artist website: www.soniqtheater.de
Hits: 1719
Language: english