Detailed Reviews [Soniq Theater - 2022 - "Cinemagic"]

Prolusion. German veteran artist Soniq Theater is out with his latest album "Cinemagic", which is the 22nd album to be released under the Soniq Theater moniker. Like all other of his albums it is self released, and available as a free download from the artists website.

Analysis. Soniq Theater started out exploring symphonic progressive rock through the use of a keyboards only approach, and over time has developed into a creative venture that combines elements from progressive rock with details from ambient music and electronic music. For quite a few years the albums released by Soniq Theater have been situated in this specific field, and this is still the case in 2022. The opening cut here is, presumably, an altered version of the song by the same name that first appeared more than 20 years ago, and it is also the song here with the closest relation to progressive rock. Emulated instruments means that the songs as such comes with a few weaknesses, with guitars and rhythm section in particular coming across as sterile and subpar when compared to the sounds from proper instruments, but it is a well made song in this context and showcase creator Mueller's abilities to craft material in a symphonic progressive rock oriented manner. We do get some tendencies in this direction on the other songs of this album too, but by and large with more space and room for impulses from ambient music and electronic music. We get many fine melodies and harmonies as usual, and some fine and playfully engaging synthesizer motifs and effective supportive layers beneath the dominant motifs too, but as always with a sterile, clinical and odd sounding vibe due to emulated instruments and what may or may not be limitations of the equipment used. One small surprise on this album is the composition 'Armageddon', which is more of a purebred and expressive creation closer aligned to the dystopian borders of the progressive electronic music scene and not all that far removed from the grim, dystopian excursions of an artist such as Gridfailure.

Conclusion. Soniq Theater continues to operate in a field where it doesn't face all that much competition by creating compositions blending details from ambient and electronic music with impulses from progressive rock by way of keyboards alone. This time around one might argue that the songs perhaps do have a bit more of a movie score like quality to them, but that may as well be due to automatic associations due to the names of the songs here. As always with this artist: If melodies and atmospheres are more important to you than form, sound and execution, there's a good chance you will find this album to be an enjoyable one. Especially if you tend to enjoy music such as this, blending details from ambient and electronic music with impulses from progressive rock.

Progmessor: February 2022
The Rating Room