The Brutal Death/Slam band Sanguisugabogg is back with their third record, Hideous Aftermath. Following 2023’s Homicidal Ecstasy, the band continues to push further into the grime and muck of death metal/deathcore.

I reviewed their previous record, Homicidal Ecstasy HERE. In that review, I stated that folks who enjoy the pummeling aggression of slamming brutal death metal bands but prefer their death metal marinated in filth would find the record a solid effort. However, with very little to differentiate between individual tracks, the tracks blended together into one putrid pile (hah, brutal death puns).

At the time of release, the band has released three singles to showcase their progression into their new album, Hideous Aftermath. The album opener, “Rotted Entanglement,” opens with an old-school MySpace deathcore riff and already shows that the band is opting for a more vicious approach on this record. As someone partial to old-school deathcore, I found “Rotted Entanglement” to be treading familiar yet rewarding ground. In contrast, “Abhorrent Contraception” is a slower, sludgier single, more akin to what Sanguisugabogg is known for. However, they throw in enough dissonance in their higher register riffs to keep the song feeling fresh. While not nearly as novel as a band like Ulcerate that specializes in dissonance, fans will appreciate that the band is throwing in new elements into an otherwise stale songwriting format. Slam-heads, fret not, there are plenty of chunky slams to go around.

While the two singles showcased different sides to this iteration of the band, it is their third single, “Repulsive Demise,” that stood out the most to me. Perhaps the most simplistic track on Hideous Aftermath, it is still the most special to me, as it is the most distinctive. The track is laced with menacing ambience. Opening with a lumbering bass line, it is the added sample of a radar ping that pushes this track into something truly unique. The guitar rhythm with this album’s tone is monotonous in a way that feels like a monster creeping ever closer to the listener. When overlaid with the radar ping, “Repulsive Demise” has an industrial feel to it that would feel right at home on a Godflesh record. With vocals that sway between death metal growls and pitched-down gurgles, this track is a perfect example of the power of simplistic yet definitive songwriting. The constantly changing tempo of the cymbals and the meandering drumwork elevate the track even further. A masterclass in songwriting.

Unfortunately, very little else stands out as uniquely spectacular on this record. The record definitely ups the tempo and aggression from their previous albums. Tracks like “Erotic Beheading” and “Sanctified Defilement” continually toe the line between deathcore and death metal, but feel like riffs and sounds we’ve heard before. On the other hand, “Felony Abuse of a Corpse” and “Semi Automatic Facial Reconstruction” have an almost Cannibal Corpse-esque feel to them with their riffing and chord work, but fed through the Sanguisugabogg meatgrinder. The band’s hardcore roots are bared in sections of “Heinous Testimony”, while “Ritual of Autophagia” pulls in progressive-adjacent ideas to add new tentacles to their signature slamming riffs. Closing track “Paid in Flesh” is a gargantuan, nigh-eight-minute beast, which is almost unheard of in this genre.

Hideous Aftermath is a 10-track, 47-minute juggernaut that overstays its welcome to an extent. With several tracks exceeding the five-minute mark, consuming this kind of music for extended sections, with very little to break up the intensity, is a fatiguing proposition. The production chosen for this record continues Sanguisugabogg’s penchant for grimy, wet-distortion, muddled sounds to keep up the aesthetic of sewer filth. For those among us who prefer high-fidelity, modern, crisp production with well-defined sounds, this band will test our comfort zone. In their praise, however, Hideous Aftermath feels more defined, even at its muddiest portions, than their previous records.

Special praise to drummer Cody Davidson. His performance behind the kit and songwriting chops on Hideous Aftermath is truly the highlight of this record. His ability to elevate seemingly straightforward guitar riffs with ever-changing dynamic arrangements is something to marvel at. Switching between different genre tropes, from death metal to deathcore, from hardcore to slam, he effortlessly changes the color of the sections by varying his drum arrangements. His use of cymbal and snare, in particular, feels fresh and unpredictable throughout the record, and makes the tracks worth analyzing in greater detail.

Hideous Aftermath is a step in the right direction for the toilet leeches in Sanguisugabogg. The band continues to harness all the filth and menace they possibly can as they refine their songwriting on each successive album. While not correcting all the wrongs, this record will draw in more fans from other genres if they can stomach all the vile grime the band shovels in copious amounts.