VISION QUEST

Vision Quest is the ninth release in ten years by German project Soniq Theater - also known as Alfred Mueller.

As with his past releases, synths and keyboards make up most, if not all, instrumentation; and the compositions are a blend of symphonic rock, soundscapes and ambient passages - with more than a few nods to the keyboard dominated symphonic artists of the 70's.

As with previous releases, this album is a mixed bag, with some compositions really intriguing in mood and atmosphere, while others are less successfull. The compositions themselves hold a high quality though, but as the synths are used to emulate various instruments; the sound of those instruments - as well as how much the listener is attentive to these - will have much to say for how compelling the individual creations are.

One to check out by those with an interest for symphonic progressive rock of the instrumental variety, and in particular those who don't mind the one man band approach using synths and keyboards to cover all musical grounds.

Alfred Mueller has been in different bands from the age of 18, but since 1999 he has devoted his musical attentions solely to Soniq Theater, which he describes as "one-man project, presenting a blend of progressive styles, mainly symphonic progressive rock with elements of metal, ambient, electronic music, classical music and fusion. 'Vision Quest' is the 9th album that he has released under this name, and is available solely through his website (www.soniqtheater.de) - as with his other albums this is very much a low-key operation with the 'cover' being just paper, no proper booklet as such. But, this really does bring back that days of tape trading that was so rife in the early Eighties ? a one man operation producing music and then doing his best to get it heard by the world.

So, what about the music itself? Everything here appears to be played on synths and keyboards of various types, with Alfred layering the sounds so that it does appear much of a band with 'drums' and 'bass' making appearances as well. In many ways I find his style to be much more in common with Jean Michel Jarre than Keith Emerson, as there is less focus on the bombastic and more on the ambient. Often themes are repeated, but when he gives himself the opportunity to expand and push his boundaries a little more then that is when he really shines. The obvious standout track here is "Jonathan Seagull" (which I presume is a reference to the Richard Bach book as opposed to the Neil Diamond film soundtrack) where Alfred plays with far more dominance and presence, and the song benefits from that. Overall the album contains many ambient as well as some prog elements and is an enjoyable album that is a good introduction to Alfred's work.