GUITARISSIMO

Soniq Theater is a one-man band (like Nine Inch Nails or Synergy). But Guitarissimo is a compilation of all the songs Alfred Mueller (the man behind Soniq Theater) made with the guitarist Stefan "Groby" Grob. There's really good songs like Starlight Madness, Moon In June (no links with the Soft Machine song), or Downtown L.A. But there's weaker moments like Metropolis 1990, Harlequin or Seregenti Walk. For me, the biggest problem is the sound. The sound is too much synthetic. Take for example the song Metropolis 1990. It sounds like a 80's movie car chase soundtrack (that's why there's a 2014 remix on the album). All the instruments sounds fake, and it's a shame, because some compositions are great.

I've been listening to Soniq Theater for a while and I've heard the whole discography Alfred Mueller (the name behind the group) put out so far.

Now, when it comes to Guitarissimo (2015) this change the game a bit. I've said in earlier reviews that Alfred's music sometimes lacked some live elements and he finally got on this one. The album was recorded in 1990 by Alfred and Stefan Grob, the latter recorded guitars (thats why the name of the album) throughout the whole album and it makes a huge difference to the band's sound.

Now, saying that, please notice that this album has almost no Prog in it at all. There are many interesting moments and many intrincated passages, but in all in all it's not really a Prog album.

But anyway, I think Alfred would benefit greatly if for his next album he shared credits with other musicians as he did on this one. Cause this is one of his strongest releases.

3.5 stars

German project SONIQ THEATER is the long ongoing creative vehicle of composer and keyboardist Alfred Mueller, and he's just about annually released a new album under that name ever since 2000. "Guitarissimo" dates back to 2015, and, as usual, it was self-released by Mueller.

Those familiar with the previous works of Alfred Mueller's ongoing project Soniq Theater will be surprised by the contents of this album. A blend of new age-oriented affairs and what might be described as movie or TV-score dramatic soundscapes, this production is, at least for me, more interesting as a chapter in the development of Mueller as a musician and a composer than it is as a standalone production in its own right. As far as pointing towards a receptive audience, I'd suggest that those who find movie and TV scores from the late '80s and early '90s to be generally appealing may find this album to be a charming experience too.

As with all of Alfred Mueller's releases this is available as a low budget CD-R, or as a free download through Bandcamp. What isn't normal though, is that this isn't a solo keyboard-based release, but instead is a collaboration between himself and guitarist Stefan Grob. Recorded back in 1990, and only now being made available, this is very different to what I would expect from Alfred and it suffers for it. There are times when the guitars work well, and others where the keyboards are quite superb (love the Vangelis sweeping stylings on 'Beach of a New World' for example), but rarely do they totally gell together, and the result is an album I was quite disappointed in. But, Alfred keeps to as high release schedule of an album a year, so given that this came out in 2015 there are more for me to be listening to.