There used to be a restaurant chain here in the States called Steak and Ale. They served traditional American food, a staple of the menu being meat and potatoes. No, this isn’t a review for A La Carte, it’s for Rogga Johansson and his main band Paganizer; I say ‘main’ because dude has a few projects going on… Anyway.

This album is the 14^th full-length from these Swedish trolls of brutality. Of course it’s a doozy, it wouldn’t be a Rogga album if it didn’t have dirty as fuck guitar tone, feral vocals, and the sickest riffing from the bowels of wherever Hell is in Sweden.

From the blast-laden first (title) track “As Mankind Rots” the pedal is through the floor. “Devoured” is, by contrast, a slower-moving creature. Throbbing double bass catches your breath as the track rolls over you. Paganizer in 2026 is a veritable force of nature. Sporting a glorious production that will leave you gasping on the floor, battered like a catfish on a Sunday evening.

Paganizer plays with tempos like a deranged cat with a mouse. “Aftermath Bleeder” and “Only Maggots” pulse with a prime era Death Metal heartbeat. They get into Bolt Thrower and Hail of Bullets territory on “Put on Your Gasmask” and “Hollow”… think Mercenary and On Divine Winds/ III: The Rommel Chronicles (respectively). As Mankind Rots is the fitting follow-up to 2024s Flesh Requiem because that was a perfect album in its own right.

“A Testament to Madness” and “Afterworld” are incredible centerpiece tracks, providing enough dynamics to keep it enjoyable as fuck. Is this Paganizer’s best album? That I can’t say, it’s pretty fucking brutal, the production, as I said before, is on point. Everything sounds phenomenal, proving that there are no signs of them slowing down anytime soon.

“The Rotting End” doesn’t let up for a second, it being a roller-coaster of tempo shifting madness, and not to be outdone, “One Way to the Grave” brutally ruins your ears… but then “Vanans Makt” comes dancing in. I almost wish the whole album was like this, not saying that everything else is subpar, but this track channels Korpiklaani, and it’s just bouncy as fuck. The addition of female vocals is a secret weapon that hopefully will show up on future releases.

At the end of the day, Paganizer has released another fantastic album (like I was surprised that they did). Chock full of relentless blasting, razor-sharp riffs, and earthshaking drums. Meat and potatoes Death Metal at its finest hour, and you fans of, well, anything Rogga Johansson has done in his career will undoubtedly eat this motherfucker up. So do yourself that favor you keep promising you’re going to do and get this album, before you rot away.

[Visit the band's website]

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