FLOSSENENGEL

Novalis Flossenengel is a very hard album to review. Even trying to see it in the context of the period I found it hard to get what they really wanted with this album. After repeated spins my guess is that the band tried to please everyone, from old fans to the new generation, and the results, although not really a failure, shows some bizarre situations: the instrumentals are back, the opener being a fine example of what they do best: concise progressive music with melodic traits that appeals even to the non initiated. On the other hand the gratuitously aggressive vocal lines on most of the tracks ruins everything. It simply does not work and I´m still wondering why they did it (punk influences, maybe? Even if punk was pretty much on the wane in 1979).

The exceptions to the rule are the spacey and long (8:38, quite bold for the time) Im Netz and the title track,. The former is probably the best tune in here, and it reminds everyone of how good they can be. The former is a bit folkish with an accordion accompaniment that is very nice and original. Unfortunately are all spoiled by the very bad idea of forced, angry delivering. they are surely no The Clash. Which is a shame since the songs themselves are, if not that good, at least passable rockers.

In the end I guess there are more hits than misses in this album, but the misses are quite annoying and spoil the flow of the CD. I´ll give this one a 3 star rating although it should be really 2,7. Let´s see what they did next!