A couple of years ago I tried out an unfunny experiment. Ohio death metallers Sanguisugabogg held the main support slot for Suffocation, and I tried to Strava my time in the mix. How many km/h could I track from wheeling round in a circle, or from getting thrown from the pit’s mouth-edge to its opposite side? If the GPS had worked in the underground lair that night, the splits would’ve been impressive. Alas.
Why did I do this dumb thing? Firstly, I was a few beers down. Second, the group was my main draw for that show, and to say I was ready for a throwdown is underplaying it. Finally, it’s the sort of playful memery that the ‘Bogg promote themselves; the antithesis to how a non-death metal listener would take their sarcastically grotesque presentation. After all, their logo is “the Nike swoosh of death metal!” as vocalist Devin Swank says with an odd helping of truth. When they splatter that illegible band text across popular icons like Spongebob, it gets people talking. Luckily, so does their music: takes on classic B-movie inspired death combined with obtuse flair, powerviolence, and the absurd. Fittingly, third full-length Hideous Aftermath continues to show their deserved seat at the upper tiers of extreme music.
The first indication here is the generally accepted rule that, if Kurt Ballou is involved, the result’s going to be formidable. In the mastering role for the band’s last outstanding effort Homicidal Ecstasy, you could hear his warmed-amp touch on Skin Cushion that’s now all over the production job, and even his influence on the compositions. The latter stages of Felony Abuse Of A Corpse is a little like Converge’s own No Heroes era through its ramped tempo, and gnarly metalcore is tinged over Semi Automatic Facial Reconstruction. That’s all a compliment to Drew Arnold and Cedrik Davis’ tighter command of their axes, and the former track’s acoustic drumming segue into Ritual Of Autophagia only shows another side of Cody Davidson’s stylised drumming that’s at turns theatrical and riff-serving. Oh, and it has a mid-tempo beatdown style that brings in Nails’ Todd Jones for an Abandon All Life studio reunion. Go figure!
However, Sanguisugabogg are no copycat outfit and dextrously carve out their own unique sonics. The preceding singles all showcased progressive structures that were in turn ‘catchy’ (if you can believe it): repeated sections and brighter lead work showcasing musicality bleeding out of the brutality. Abhorrent Contraception shows the trading guitarists bringing out new boxes of tricks—slam to speed to near-Latin grooves—while Rotted Entanglement is clinical yet amorphous with passages shape-shifting around a knife’s edge. All of this, however, underpinned by the band’s filthy hardcore essence. They have a sound not like those death metallers playing to the cosmos or those dragging the lakes of hell, but the aural equivalent of wading around in a toxic, infested junkyard complete with bin-top snare drums. Erotic Beheading is like that, this record’s ‘shorter pit opener’ with a classy hip-hop beat, and Swank’s classic song-ending “bwoooaarrrrr” rings out on the bracing Heinous Testimony. Imagine riding every dangerous looking fairground ride in succession, and that song’s that.
The group mentioned their desire for outside the box instrumentals which are heavily distinct in its standout cuts. The Justin Broadrick-inspired Repulsive Demise, at first confounding, shows them sculpting their influences into a groovy nü-industrial hit that’s more than a mere e-drum showcase to give Davidson a rest in the live setting. There’s even an extra To Build A Mountain cover here, just when you think Crowbar’s original cannot get any more subterranean, but the intended tracklist closer Paid In Flesh is their Shakespearean epic moment (and he did love a bit of violence too, let’s face it). At nearly eight minutes, it’s a locked in trio of suites featuring Full Of Hell’s Dylan Walker emerging like Durin’s Bain in Moria’s caverns for a sludgy Thou-like mid section, and a chunky chordal denouement with Ballou getting the full-room surround sound working.
Hideous Aftermath is ironically a gratifying delight, and the journey there is a dense multi-layered treasure trove of creative nous the four-piece have been honing to devastating effect. It’s a lot (if that wasn’t clear), and picking through it requires the work of a forensic pathologist. Presumably, that’s exactly as they’d want it: a high energy bloodboiler tempting anyone to live the maelstrom of a Sanguisugabogg gig whenever they turn up to bring the cartoonish chaos, and give listeners the runaround no Strava can track.
For fans of: Ingrown, Undeath, Godflesh
‘Hideous Aftermath’ by Sanguisugabogg is released on 10th October on Century Media Records.
Words by Elliot Burr
