Ever so often, we like to take a walk on the wild side and taste metal closer to the absolute extreme fringe. Genres like grindcore and brutal death metal fall into the extremity of the type of music we know and love. To make matters worse (or better, depending on your, tastes), we have subgenres like goregrind that focus on hyperviolence in both imagery and instrumentation, and pornogrind which infuse a sexual element of extreme violence into that pretty picture. Why mention any of these niceties? Because we are talking about the new record Homicidal Ecstasy from Ohio’s goregrind band Sanguisugabogg. For the three of you wondering, the band name is a portmanteau of the Latin words, roughly translating to “Toilet Leech”. Do with that whatever information you may.
Homicidal Ecstasy is Sang’s sophomoric effort following 2021’s Tortured Whole. With this record, we get twelve new tracks and forty-five minutes of caveman death metal. There is no nuance here. There is no expectation of the delicate crafting of specialized sounds. What we get instead is mid-paced stompy death metal that skirts the line of slamming brutal death metal with the brash overtones of grindcore. Taken as a product, these twelve tracks blend together into one mush of sewer grime. For those who appreciate the simplicity of straightforward “punched in the throat” chuggy guitar riffs, Sanguisugabogg is the band for you.
Even after several successive listens cover-to-cover, there is very little that stands out through the runtime of Homicidal Ecstasy. Unfortunately, pummeling brutality goes only so far for me, and while I appreciate many of the breakdown-y riffs which seem to borrow heavily from downtempo and beatdown hardcore, very few moments on the record warranted any kind of revisit. Speaking about individual tracks is difficult when so little springs out at a listener, even though there is moment-to-moment enjoyment in several segments through the record. The only section and this is forced, that I could pick out from the record was the tremolo picked section in the closing section of “Feening for Bloodshed”. Tracks like “Hungry for your Insides”, and “Face Ripped Off”, have around two-ish minute runtimes that will appeal to the grindcore fanatics among us. “Mortal Admonishment” does try to change up the rhythm by introducing drum arrangements drawing from two-step hardcore sensibilities. Sadly standout moments were few and far between.
The production values of this genre is also very niche, akin to lo-fi black metal but almost at the opposite end of the sonic spectrum. We get extremely scooped-mids “wet” guitars which drown out much of the dynamics that could have been served to us if the band decided to write more intricate riffs. The bass is lost in the noisy rumble of the low-end mix. The drums are also standard fare of the slamcore genre, with rumbly bass drum tones, highly emphasized cymbals, and whip-crack snare sounds. People who are fond of the genre will find this sound expected and tropey. For many others, it would not be a stretch to find the entire sound map jarring and fatiguing to extended listens.
Unfortunately, there are bands out there that are writing brutal death metal, even the more ridiculously hyperviolent/hypersexualized kinds that this band is trying. Bands like Defeated Sanity, Gorgasm, Dying Fetus, Analepsy, Katalepsy, etc. are pushing the envelope of what is considered abrasive yet still listenable, but those bands have superior songwriting capabilities even within the genre constraints, that is largely lacking on Homicidal Ecstasy.
Homicidal Ecstasy is the record for you if you like your metal drowned in the filth of the sewers, dredged up in gore, with caveman levels of aggressive simplicity. For the rest of us, this record lacks nuance and is middling in its appeal.