Indie Music Album Reviews

Pascal Grandjean - Karma Beyond Death

1/29/2025

Pascal Grandjean

Karma Beyond Death
self-released; 2025

By Matt Jensen

Pascal Grandjean’s latest album Karma Beyond Death is an ambitious swing at the big questions—the kind of existential pondering that has fueled music long before it was merely entertainment. He frames his work as a fusion of popular sensibilities with deeper philosophical inquiry, a mission that’s as old as music itself. From tribal chants to 19th-century classical compositions, artists have long sought to distill the human experience into melody and form. Grandjean isn’t reinventing the wheel here, but there’s something compelling about his approach.

Right from the jump, his latest release radiates theatricality and cosmic scale. “Paradise” sets the tone with harp, sweeping synthetic strings, and a grandeur that feels engineered for a stage production about the universe’s creation. The album rarely strays from that high-drama aesthetic, consistently reaching for epic peaks. Tracks like “Dying Hard” and “Way to Hell” lean into ’80s rock balladry—big, impassioned, and just proggy enough to catch the attention of Dream Theater fans. Even the quieter moments, like the piano-driven “Totally Calm,” are anything but restrained, pushing for emotional catharsis with the intensity of a final act monologue.

It’s an album that doesn’t just flirt with grandeur—it barrels into it headfirst. Nearly every track feels like it’s grasping to encapsulate the entirety of human existence, which can be exhilarating but also intense. A touch of the everyday—something small, unremarkable, yet intimate—might have made the more bombastic moments hit even harder. Still, when Grandjean locks into his arena-sized rock opera mode, the results are undeniably fun and epic. The soaring, theatrical anthems stand out, tapping into a nostalgic, over-the-top energy that’s hard to resist.

For those drawn to the high-stakes dramatics of ’80s prog and rock opera, this one’s worth a spin. It’s a maximalist ride, and Grandjean fully commits in a way that’s deeply satisfying.