NOVALIS

Reminiscent of another German rock band with a strong progressive attitude (Eloy), sometimes enriched with a few hints of hard rock (fortunately- in a few circumstances only- reminding me of Uriah Heep), the present album is characterized by an Hammond sound, according to the 70's mood, as well as by a classical approach in the vein of Ekseption, like in the symphony # 5 by Bruckner (here also taken from a live act of their own, whose arrangement is particular...) . But the hard rock imprinting, even though not often present here, is a typical "trademark" of this 70's cult band, which never forget the roots of the basic classic rock of that period...In particular the song "'Es farbte Sich Die Wiese Grun'" is the unique example regarding a soft mellotron sound, coupled with the moog in a pop progressive mood, which sounds "strange" in this work.

This time We find a different style, in the vein of the romantic songs by Moody Blues and Procol Harum and probably it's the most spontaneous act within "Novalis"...besides in the other songs you can find interesting time changes, the presence of "wah-wah" guitars and various sound effects (in the territory of "space rock"), but it's not their main target (and above all the most natural one) in my opinion...well, if you like the romantic prog sound of the seventies, in a strange mix between Uriah Heep and also a kind of typical space rock genre, you will buy the present album; otherwise you could also evaluate it like a good work of the past, without pretensions; and at the end it could be worth checking out at least, for a 3 stars evaluation..remarkable memory of the seventies, after all!!