The third album from Sweden’s Pascal is called “Orkanen närmar sig” (which in English should be “The Hurricane is approaching”), and it definitely is a  hurricane of an album. It’s rough, it’s loud, it’s sharp, it’s straight-forward rock’n'roll and full of power.  The music of Pascal says a lot with very few words, – it creates a lot of feelings with very few effects. Impressingly fine-tuned and to the point, and at the same time as jangly, dark and dirty as it can get.

I think this is what I love about this trio. They really do something to me, – I can’t listen to this without being affected by it, -  it affects both my body and my mind. I really FEEL their music, – I feel their frustration, I feel their anger, I feel their love. I want to jump around and scream with them, I want to get it all out. Pascal like to call their own sound “cave rock”, and in many ways this is primitive music, but it’s also much, much more.

Their Swedish lyrics are unique, and although I see that this is music it’s possible to enjoy to the full without knowing the language, I kind of feel sorry for the listeners who don’t know Swedish…. Very few bands can say so much about life, relationships, desperation and love as Pascal can with a few, simple repetitive sentences. Pure poetry.

Both their previous albums, “Förbi fabriken” (2006) and “Galgberget” (2008) are among my absolute favourite albums, and I think I actually like “Orkanen…” a little bit more. The songs are very strong, they perform and sing as if it was as important as life itself, and the production is better than ever. Music like this is probably not the thing a hi-fi enthusiast would put on to prove how good his new equipment sounds, but I really don’t think I have heard drums kick with more punch and guitars so sharp as this before.

To get the most out of this album, you have to “live with it”, – let it guide you, and don’t try to understand it or explain it, just feel it. Or as their label Novoton write in their press-release:
“Let the “Hurricane” hit you with full force. Then you will easily understand Pascal’s greatness.”

If you like this, be sure to check out Pascal’s singer Isak’s sideproject SKRIET. It has a lot of Pascal in it, but the energy is used very differently.