NOVALIS

I considered to post my reviews for ''Novalis'' mainly due to the pushing insistence of my friend Febus. If I was totally charmed by their excellent debut album, I have to say that I had some major problem in their vocal orientation starting with this album.

The problem beingGerman lyrics. I have never been able to swallow these. They sound so alien to me that there are virtually no band that could thrilled me with such a characteristic (unless ''Kraftwerk'' who had enough humour to generate some tolerance).

The good thing is that there are lots of instrumental parts in this album which are saving the whole work like the gorgeous ''Wer Schmetterlinge Lachen Hört''. From symphonic to hard-rocking: it is an extremely good track but far behind of their super ''Banished Bridge'' which was the highlight of their debut album and from their whole career as far as I am concerned. If I abstract these vocals, the instrumental portions do their job pretty seriously. I would have loved this album (and some followers) to be fully instrumental. A track as ''Impressionen'' is of course great and needs the whole attention of any prog lover. A huge piece of prog music indeed: the keyboards are rendering such a formidable feeling all the way through. Do I need to tell you that some (short) guitar breaks are outstanding and deserve a special attention?

''Impressionen'' is a wonderful track. It is sweating passion all the way through and conveys such a wonderful feeling! This is my second best of the band after the incomparable ''Banished Bridge'' epic. Prog lovers should just be on their knees while listening to such a great track. This is a masterpiece and an absolute highlight form this album. Do I need to tell you that it is an all instrumental track? SUPERB.

The finest moments of this album are the fantastic instrumental passages. The fantastic and bombastic closing number ''Es Färbte Sich Die Wiese Grün'' is just a wonderful example. They are combined with short and pitiful vocal ones which are best forgotten. But they still exist unfortunately.

Still, the music which is proposed here is so good that the four stars rating is not a problem. If ever the vocal parts would have been decent or non-existing, the masterpiece status would have been easily reached. As such, four stars (désolé Antoine).