SEVENTH HEAVEN

On his seventh release, Soniq Theater aka Alfred Mueller takes a more melodic and mellow approach to his songs than on his previous releases.

Which in my opinion is not for the better, as the more mellow soundscapes actually makes the emulated instruments here stand out more as emulated than previously.

Besides that; there are more songs here that sound rather uninspired; and as it takes really strong songs to make these keyboard-only performances to sound good, the end result here is a release a tad weaker than others I've heard from this artist.

Still, people into strictly keyboard-based symphonic music will find a gem or two here, as long as they are able to tolerate the overall premise here of emulated instruments sounding more like emulations and less than the real thing.

It is probably isn't too surprising to discover that this was Alfred's seventh solo album, fittingly released in 2007. As with most of his work the music was composed, performed, produced, recorded, mixed and mastered by Alfred who also provided all of the instruments. This is really an album of opposites as while it contains some of Alfred's best work, it also includes some that just aren't to my taste at all. The album starts off really positively with a sprightly rocker that is very much in the style of Wakeman, but cries out for real guitar and drums. In fact there are a few of the songs on this album like that, as if Alfred wanted to move more into the melodic rock and away from the symphonic keyboard sounds yet was restricted by being 100% solo. There are some wonderful light touches on "Welcome Home" which for some reason reminded me of some of Anthony Phillips' work, and is probably the highlight of the album.

But while there are plenty of Vangelis and JMJ stylings here and there and "New Year's Eve" is wonderfully upbeat, but the album is definitely let down by the ubiquitous drum machine. It is an invention that I loath for the most part, and just tolerate on occasion, but while it is just an annoyance on the aforementioned number it totally dominates the next song "But Seriously" and for me totally ruins it. But, I know that I am probably in a minority and overall this is another solid album from Alfred, and again available from his site at www.soniqtheater.de.