Pascow - Sieben review and thoughts

[originally posted February 13th 2023 on cohost]

Jade is a very important album to me, so Sieben was one of the most highly anticipated albums this year, so after sitting with it for close to 3 weeks, i really wanna get my thoughts out on it.

Firstly, looking at the album as a follow-up to Jade. That album I loved a lot because, for a punk rock album, it was very moody, very experimental, and felt very cohesive. It has tons of songs that divert from the typical Pascow punk rock sound, such as incorporating metal riffs, dance beats, and putting a lot of emphasis on creating an atmosphere. I think tracks like Marie and Unter Geiern are especially good examples of that. The cohesion comes in part through consistant lyrical themes, but also excellent arrangement that makes the whole album feel like a single, connected piece with beautiful bookends of the piano intro into the very energetic Silberblick & Scherenhände, the middle of the album with the short instrumental piece Die Backenzähne des Teufels as an act break, and the minimalistic, heartbreaking outro ballad Wunderkind, played with only vocals and a distorted electric guitar (very underrated combination imo, we have enough slow solo acoustic guitar ballads).

So how does the follow-up album Sieben hold up to that comparison? Unfortunately, not very well. While the songs are thematically consistent, it feels much more like a loose connection of songs, rather than a meticulously crafted single piece. The experimentation is also largely missing - one of the preview singles was Mailand, which gave me huge hopes for the experimental side of the album with its heavy use of violins, and despite a standard downbeat, having a very dancy feel, but it is unfortunately more of an outlier on the album. The only song that makes use of offbeat drums is Gottes Werk und Teufels Beitrag, which is something I would have loved to hear more of, cause the offbeat tracks were always highlights to me on previous albums, such as the aforementioned Marie and Unter Geiern, but also Diene der Party and Castle Rock. In all honesty, my initial reaction was a little disappointed.

however,

This doesn't change the fact that this album absolutely rips. Once I got past what I expected and looked at the album on its own merits, it really grew on me very quickly. I love this album. Was ein absolutes Brett. I already listened it enough in those 3 weeks that it'll most likely be one of my most listened albums of the year. Musically, yes, for the most part, it is pretty straight forward punk rock. Not a ton of experimentation or unexpected hard left turns. But it is really damn good punk rock. There is so much force behind every single track, and despite sticking largely with this one style, the songs all do set themselves apart, with lots of variety in sound and intensity and tons of catchy hooks coming through the aggressive delivery. And speaking of delivery, their singer Alex has a way of snarling these lyrics that hits all my buttons for a strong emotional response and regularly puts tears into my eyes. I can't guarantee this hits the spot for everyone, but it certainly does for me. There is so much passionate bitterness in the way he sings, and it serves so well for the lyrics. This band's lyricism may as well be my favourite in the entire German music scene. This album talks a lot about the margins of society, between poverty, gentrification, war and love, and while in some parts are being beautifully poetic and cryptic, scenarizing very down-to-earth human experiences, but then being as direct as a punch in the face in other moments. Something they continue from Jade's experimentation is that there's excellent involvement from guest singers, most notably Königreiche im Winter, which features Apokalypse Vega from the band Acht Eimer Hühnerherzen, who are an amazing band in their own right and were in my top albums list of last year with their album musik.

Incredible album. It's not Jade, but not every album has to be an all-time favourite. It's enough to be a real damn good punk rock album with great messages that elicits a strong emotional responses.