THE SOUND OF THOUGHTS

An American musician,producer and composer,Robert Svilpa played in several small bands in his youth and even released a couple of solo works during the 90's,mainly distributed in the local area.1998 sees Robert moving to Seattle,building the foundation for what would become Hyperboreal Studios,a workstation PC with shareware audio software/midi sequencing.There Robert records a digital album entitled ''Onion'' in 2000 and between 2003 and 2005 he worked on its follow-up.This would be ''The sound of thoughts'',where Robert collaborates with some musicians on bass and drums but also handles all keyboards,guitars,vocals and programming.

A work clocking at over 70 minutes,''The sound of thoughts'' seems to cover the whole spectrum of Progressive/Art Rock music,sounding like a compilation of tracks than a tight release.Robert throws any possible style in the mixer,ranging from Prog Metal,Symphonic Rock and Psychedelic Prog to complex Fusion,Alternative Rock and even Lounge Jazz.And while the separate tracks are more than just OK,the whole effort is far from consistent.Svilpa's work on guitars and keyboards is varied and decent to say the least: heavy riffing, complex breaks, spacey synths, keyboard acrobatics along with diverse influences from PINK FLOYD and KING CRIMSON to DREAM THEATER and PORCUPINE TREE.And his vocals are in a good level,though far from anything trully special.Compositions are also in a decent level with nice solos,good instrumental parts and a very rich sound.But the problem is always there: the album is almost impossible to follow all the way through with every track differing from the previous so much,you think you listen to a different artist all the time.

Hard to rate this one.All tracks are quite nice,but the whole package as a flow is not.Robert should work on a couple of tightly-connected and -related styles to come through the demanding prog world,for his work on ''The sound of thoughts'' is one of the most unbalanced albums I've ever heard.Still the good material in here makes it worthwhile for die-hard prog fans...2.5 stars.