What is Novalis?
"Novalis was the pseudonym of Georg Philipp Friedrich Freiherr von Hardenberg (May 2, 1772 - March 25, 1801), an author and philosopher of early German Romanticism." - Wikipedia

"I should've tried NOVALIS much sooner, "Sommerabend" has became my first dive in to one of Germany's top prog rock bands. The band was smart to sing in their native tongue, avoiding many of the criticisms of other German bands singing in English, such as GROBSCHNITT or ELOY. They only sung in English on one album, and that was "Banished Bridge", their debut, and they figured out real quick that the English language wasn't suited for them..." - Proghead-ProgArchives

"Banished Bridge" is simply an essential recording and stands up easily to all other German prog bands of the 70’s "Banished Bridge" is 4 tracks of indispensable lush SYMPHONIC PROGRESSIVE ROCK with deep melodies. Many of NOVALIS’ lyrics were based on the poetry of 16th century poet Friedrich Freiherr von Hardenberg ("NOVALIS" was his alias). The opening 17-minute title-track track is worth the admission into this one alone, with some succulent organ and synth work, PINK FLOYD-like atmospheres and even sound effects. The wild thing on this album is that I don’t believe there are any guitars ! and the lack of is not troublesome. Lead singer Jürgen Wenzel sings (and speaks) in English and does so without any irritation to the listener. The 3 other tracks are also excellent with more FLOYD-like atmospheres (aka "Ummagumma") with a highly exploratory nature... something they kind of deviated from on their more symphonic later albums. A great album!" - loserboy-ProgArchives