Album Reviews

- by Tom Dumarey

Five years after ‘Diene der Party,’ Germany’s Pascow is back with a new album called ‘Jade’. According to the ban, it’s their first album without any cryptic shit. Not sure what that means because I haven’t heard any of their previous releases, but there you go.

The least you can say about this collection of twelve songs is that it’s pretty diverse. They kick things off with a dramatic piano overture, before bursting out some serious riffage that sounds like Kvelertak meets punk rock ‘n roll on single ‘Silberblick & Scherenhände’. If you don’t know what that title means, well... neither do I. These dudes sing in German, which means I only get about 40% of what they are singing about.

But you don’t need to understand any German, to get excited about absolute ragers like the title track, and ‘’ or the Anti-Flag-like ‘Treck der Toten’ or the duet with Bambix’ Wick van Houdt that is ‘Schmutzigrot’. Elsewhere they throw in a little bit of ska (‘Marie’) or go for a spaghetti western vibe in the interlude that is ‘Die Backenzähne des Teufels’. Whatever route they choose to travel down, at its core there is a pretty solid melodic punk rock. Well, except for closing track 'Wunderkind,' where they completely rip off Bush's 'Glycerine'.

Track listing:

1. Prolog
2. Silberblick & Scherenhände
3. Jade
4. Marie
5. Kriegerin
6. Die Backenzähne des Teufels
7. Unter Geiern
8. Treck der Toten
9. Schmutzigrot
10. Heute Jäger, morgen Taucher
11. Sturm, der durch Erlen zieht
12. Wunderkind