BRANDUNG

This is Novalis fourth record and the third in German language. The five gentlemen of the band do here an excellent job to entertain the audience. The spices to make that work is beautiful melodies, symphonic tendencies and a great rock voice(Fred Mühlböck). My feeling is that they were trying to make the symphonic mood popular. The music is synth driven(Lutz Rahn) but also a powerful gitarr (Detlef Job) is a strong reason this music is so good. We also have Hartwig Biereichel on drums and Heino Schünzel on bass. It is great they are singing in German, many good prog bands do the misstake to sing in English which lower the genuineness in the apperences.

"Irgendwo, irgendwann" is the starter, a powerfull song which perhaps was meant to be the hit. The languishing guitar plays an easy but strong melody. Then "Wenn nicht mehr zahlen und figuren" is an acoustic and wonderful short song is a classical style and with a poetic text. Unfortunately I don't understand so much German. "Astralis" is perhaps the most symphonic piece on this record with a big reach and pretentious drama. I love it! Of course we alse have a one-side-long track in "Sonnenwende" but it is divided in four parts, all different to each other. This composition is not a masterpiece but very enjoyable. The first and the last parts are the best here; Brandung is wonderful, perhaps the greatest on the whole record and instrumental. That part reminds me of medieval folk music and a little of Gryphon. As a unity I can't give Brandung less than five stars. Here we've got a marvelous record which I warmly recommend.