Soniq Theater is the solo project conceived by Rachel’s Birthday keyboardist Alfred Mueller founded in Stuttgart, Germany in 1999 and dedicated solely to the production of studio albums. From 2000 to date 21 albums have been released available on CD-r and Digital, the latest of which “Time And Space,” self-released on January 01, 2021. The proposed genre is a mix of different sub-genres of Progressive Rock, combining symphonic sounds, classical, metal, electronic and jazz music. The artist composes, plays all the instruments, records and takes care of the mixing and mastering of all the tracks. The album sees keyboards as the main instrument, certainly the best part of the whole work, while the rhythm session in my humble opinion is not very effective. Some passages are more intense, especially in the solo keyboard parts, while the drum parts are weak, despite some interesting bass lines that give body to the songs. The spatial and cosmic melodies are interesting in some moments, but they should be supported by more decisive and full-bodied sounds. I find the synth parts more engaging, as well as some more symphonic openings, as in “Time Traveler” and in the opening track “The Time Machine,” the most incisive of the first part of the album. The Prog ideas would be better enhanced perhaps with the choice of more traditional instruments, in particular for the drum parts, which bring the record to a decidedly more electronic and cold sound. A positive aspect is certainly the artist’s technique, polyvalent and able to play a large amount of keyboards, a real added value but a bit an end in itself. Lovers of sounds steeped in electronics and space sounds will appreciate both the writing of the songs and their performance. Those who, on the other hand, are looking for more conventional sounds than Prog Rock, will find this work a bit difficult and difficult to understand. I hope these criticisms will be accepted as constructive criticisms, it is certainly not the intention of our webzine to despise the artist’s hard work, but simply to express a personal opinion, which may not even be shared. Except for the final track “Eternity’s Breath,” the closest to Prog, the second part of the album focuses on electronic and ambient sounds. Overall, the album is smooth if listened to without gender bias, without expecting a classic Progressive album.
Tracklist
01. The Time Machine (5:23)
02. Light Years from Home (4:55)
03. Time Traveler (6:34)
04. Space Time Continuum (5:26)
05. The 5th Dimension (5:54)
06. Jazz from Outer Space (4:27)
07. The Cosmic Jungle (4:26)
08. Spaceflight (6:03)
09. Eternity’s Breath (4:55)
Lineup
Alfred Mueller / Everything
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