Album Review: Paganizer - As Mankind Rots
Reviewed by Eric Clifford
This snatched my attention the second I noticed it on the promo list – and I think the main reason is that it was I who reviewed Paganizer’s last release. Scanning back through that review it reads as a tepid little tract about an album I was fighting for my life to be interested in. On balance, I was probably a little too charitable in my estimation of it. There are sins by the thousand that may bedevil any given album, but the absolute last thing any metal project worthy of the name should be is boring. But no matter, for a follow-up now approaches from yonder horizon, and once more does beneficent fate present me with an opportunity to redress past mistakes. So, how does the latest addition to Rogga Johansson’s frankly enormous discography stack up?
This one is, I think, a bit better than the last Paganizer effort. Snapping wolverines of tracks like “Only Maggots” and “Hollow” drive it forward with simple yet savage bursts of blastbeats and crust punk riffs, whereas “Afterworld” boasts a bouncy drum beat that hauls along one of the more compelling riffs on the album. “Put on your Gasmask” feels like a bit of well-intentioned Nasum worship; all big hardcore chords and strumming patterns alongside the classic gasmask imagery that became such an identifiable component of Nasum’s aesthetic, all armed and armoured with an unhealthy, inflamed production that suplexes the riffs into you with steroidal, meathead glee. Some albums are conversational; there’s push and pull, give and take, almost a repartee to them. But this album isn’t the talkative type. It’s the “beat you senseless with a cinderblock” type, the “axe first, axe questions later” type. It’s a machine for turning notes into appallingly painful organ ruptures in the most blunt, unsubtle methods possible.
That said, there are two things that hold Paganizer back here: the first is the same complaint you’ve likely read charged against any number of the million or so projects that Rogga is part of: “As Mankind Rots” is utterly typical and almost remarkable in how steadfastly unadventurous it is, with the second complaint being a truly godawful track called “Vanans Makt”. The first is a long deceased horse to beat; realistically I could plagiarize the last review I wrote for the band wholesale and much of it would still apply. Suffice it to say then that if for some reason you find yourself awake late at night, beset by frets that Paganizer might acquire a progressive streak, you may sleep soundly; they’re as staunch and unflagging in their old-school credentials as they’ve ever been. It’s uninventive to almost cover-band levels, and at this point I’m not sure how to feel about it. Yes, the sheer bloody-minded recidivism of Rogga’s approach forms a definite detraction for me, but equally…what was I expecting? You rather know what you’re getting with a Rogga project at this point for better or worse. You don’t walk into McDonald’s expecting some uncanny nouvelle cuisine personalised nugget effigy, so maybe a similar framing of standards works best here: if what you want is loud, unsophisticated, unclean death metal full of deeply familiar riff patterns and a heaping portion of snotty punk influence, then you’ll likely find “As Mankind Rots” quite a homely, snug experience. If, however, you’d like something that makes the daintiest stumble away from the dusty manuscript of punky death metal, then realistically you’re best looking elsewhere.
“Vanans Makt” on the other hand is heinous. Of itself it wouldn’t be a terrible example of Paganizer’s general modus operandi, but it has these horrendously ill-fitting guest vocals in the verse that work about as well with the gravelly instrumentation of the rest of the band as squirrels do with woodchippers. I realise that I’m complaining about the band doing something different after an extended period of bemoaning their stylistic rigidity, and the irony isn’t lost on me, but just because these vocals come out of left field compared to everything else here doesn’t mean that they don’t clash profoundly with the rest of the song. Sometimes clashes like these can have a perverse value of their own – Six Feet Under’s cover of AC/DC’s “Let Me Put My Love into You” is possibly the most hilarious thing I’ve ever heard – but even that dubious joy doesn’t apply here because the result sounds like a passport mixup forced a k-pop group to front Dismember. Hopelessly incongruent.
Not that The Razors Edge employs numerical ratings, but if it did, then this is the sort of album that would be sat somewhere in the 2.5 to 3 out of 5 range. The peppier tracks carry enough firepower to get me decently invested, but equally there are entire battalions of defiantly old school death metal bands from seasoned veterans to fresh faces and a huge amount of them are more compelling for me personally. None of which is to say that what the band are doing here is without value – die hard fans of Paganizer or this brand of deathly contusion infliction will doubtless walk away smiling. I think it’s o.k overall - apart from “Vanens Makt” I was entertained for it’s duration even if I can’t envision returning to it once this review is submitted, so if the flavour of the month for you is dirty, straightforward OSDM and crust punk, perhaps chuck a few Krona in Paganizer’s direction. Hopefully this latest sordid opus will scratch that festering itch for you.
Be the first to comment