A SECOND OF ACTION

From 2002 and on begins a long and very prolific period for former Rachel's Birthday keyboardist Alfred Mueller, as he produced each year one solo album under the moniker Soniq Theater.In 2002 he released his second personal work entitled ''A Second of Action''.

The whole album is again entirely performed on keyboards, while all guitars, bass and drums are either sampled or programmed.Once more Mueller main stylings come from the E.L.P.-influenced keyboard-driven Progressive Rock, minus the jazzy inspirations, and ''A Second of Action'' contains 12 short instrumental tracks, which are nicely arranged and executed, suffering though from the disadvantages of sampled instrumentation.Mueller is a gifted musician, no question about it, and his keyboard themes are at moments fascinating, ranging from powerful textures to elaborate symphonic passages and smooth piano preludes to Electronic/spacey explorations.Thus, his music draws comparisons with one-man acts such as SHAMALL, NETHERLAND DWARF or BACKYARDS.He supports these good keyboard instrumentals with fiery sampled guitars, pounding drum programming and even some digital violins, however it is these fake sounds that make the album sound rather cheap.Additionally ''A Second of Action'' sounds a bit repetitive throughout, as most of the tracks are quite similar in terms of structure and the lack of instrumental variation make it a bit boring until the end.

Was this album performed by a regular band, we would be talking on another basis.As it is, ''A Second of Action'' would be a decent listening for anyone interested in keyboard-led Progressive Rock with symphonic leanings, but its overall mechanical production and sound prevent it from being recommended to a wider audience...2.5 stars.