Review of the new Paganizer Album "As Mankind Rots".
Band Name: Paganizer
Album Title: As Mankind Rots
Tracklist:
As Mankind Rots
Devoured
Aftermath Breeder
Only Maggots
Put On Your Gasmask
Hollow
A Testament To Madness
Afterworld
The Rotting End
One Way To The Grave
Vanans Makt
Running Time: 39:15
Release Date: February 5, 2026
Rating: 10/10
Label: Xtreem Music
Version Reviewed: Jewel Case CD
Band Members:
Martin Klasen - Bass
Dennis Blomberg - Lead Guitars
Rogga Johansson - Vocals, Guitar
Matthias Fiebig - Drums
Gust Vocals On Track 11 By Bulten
All Music And Lyrics By Paganizer
Drums Recorded By Par Fransson
Mixed And Mastered By Ronnie Gjornstrom At Gjornstrom Sound
Artwork By Ivan Gragin
Front Cover Artwork By Silvester Koorevaar
Back Cover Artwork By Lucrecia Morti
Photography By Liv Klasen
Even though Sweden’s Paganizer was formed in 1998, released their first album in 1999 and now have with their new album “As Mankind Rots” thirteen full length and numerous EPs under the belt, I haven’t heard their music until today. Oh, I’ve heard of Paganizer, but haven’t heard a note of their music until today. Just one of those things. I’m not sure about their past albums, but “As Mankind Rots” is on Xtreem Music, an awesome label run by Dave Rotten of the mighty Avusled and Holycide and Xtreem Music albums have been hard for me to track down here in the U.S.A. Avulsed quickly became one of my favorite death metal bands about ten years ago when I found one of their albums on Amazon. I want all of them and all this time later I have only been able to track down half of them! Anyway, when Dave isn’t working on his own projects, he releases equally amazing albums from his and other bands on Xtreem Music. Such is the case with the wonderful “As Mankind Rots”.
Being a death metal band from Sweden, I was thinking their music would be a lot like the early Dismember and Dismember material. I mean, that sound is definitely there, but it’s also more in the grind/death genre with the likes of Benediction and Napalm Death as well, especially in the vocal department. Rogga Johansson (who has the longest list of other bands he is in that I’ve ever seen on The Metallum!) has his own style, but he definitely is influenced by Dave Ingram of Benediction and Barney Greenway of Napalm Death delivering his vocals with that low bark like pace and raspy sound they have. The music is fucking phenomenal and while not totally unique it is better executed than most other bands doing this style. It’s fast with a lot of blast beats, rarely mid or slow-paced and is catchy and memorable even after just a few listens. The lyrics are centered around anti-Christian themes as well as death, gore and murder. The production is great and everything is represented in the overall sound due to a great mixing and mastering job.
The cover art of the album is quite honestly one of the best I have seen in a while. It’s simple and drawn in black, white and gold, but the style is very eye-catching to me. It shows an undead-looking robed figure holding a skull in one hand. The skull has sand falling off of it so Mr. Corpseface must have just pulled it from the earth. The Paganizer logo is awesome and is total death metal in style with a Thor’s Hammer hanging in the middle of it all. Very, very cool. Inside of the booklet you will find all of the lyrics, a band photo, more artwork and the band and album info.
“As Mankind Rots” was a great surprise. It ticked all of what I love about death metal. Anyone into no-frills, straight ahead death metal with some grind would do well to add this to their collection. I really need to look into their past albums! This warrants my highest rating possible!
As always, I ask my readers to support the bands, labels and artists by purchasing the physical copies of the albums they love and/or by going to their Bandcamp and Facebook pages and supporting them there.
Blasted By Britton Facebook Group.
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