“Cold, dead skin soft to the touch, I am now aroused.”
For the sake of making this easier for everyone, Sanguisugabogg is pronounced as sang-gwee-sue-guh-bog. Now say it five times fast. Also, as you’re absolutely curious about what on God’s fucking green earth this means, its unofficial translation is “leech toilet”. A blood-sucking shithouse. Incredible, isn’t it? Such a moniker could only belong to a band whose mothers took Tylenol during pregnancy, if any of the recent inane jargon we’ve heard is to be believed. Fittingly, the Ohio-based quartet have essentially made a career out of gnawingly heavy Drop G-tuned dopehead death and a social media presence that could rival r/dankmemes. Sanguisugabogg embodies every superficial stereotype of cannabis death metal to a cranium-draining extent, and they are arguably better than anyone else at it. Sure, Pornographic Seizures, Tortured Whole, and Homicidal Ecstasy were chock full of those familiar, warmhearted themes surrounding raping dead bodies, black market surgeries, and serving filleted cock as an appetizer, but the abyss-deep, low-tuned backdrop ensured a mace was mashing our already decaying brains. For most, Sanguisugabogg could have kept this up for an eternity, and there would’ve been no complaints. Who says stoners are perpetually complacent? Well, a lot of people do, but for Sanguisugabogg, that couldn’t be further from the truth.
The most greened-out band in metal seem to have taken a sabbatical from the sonic vices this time around with Hideous Aftermath. Despite the maintenance of vocalist Devin Swank’s horror-filled poetry, their newest iteration has made it clear that they have no intention of resting on their laurels. Unga bunga caveman death metal is now their choice cut, but with a heavy sprinkle of technicality and barraging production on top of it. Some will say this is Sanguisugabogg’s transition into true death metal, and maybe that sentiment will end up having merit. Regardless, this is a band that has had it figured out from the very beginning and are merely taking strides to push themselves musically. Are they laying off the reefer just a bit? Doubtful. Yet with Hideous Aftermath, it’s understandable how that would be the impression many would get, simply based on the album’s coherence in comparison to Sanguisugabogg’s previous work.
Sanguisugabogg’s reputation for tasteless brutality amplifies rampantly on Hideous Aftermath. Within the opening seconds of “Rotted Entanglement”, every residual facet of their sound is front and center, only more polished and predicated on stomping your guts out with bear-trap-souled boots this time around. Drummer Cody Davidson has either been leg pressing dump trucks or is the first person to successfully smoke performance-enhancing substances. The pedal kicks and snare on Hideous Aftermath echo profusely. Complimented by Cedrik Davis and Drew Arnold’s hellish riffs and chugfest, Sanguisugabogg has not only decidedly improved their euphonious methodology but still leaves plenty of room for further progression in the future.
Students of traditional influence will be quick to recognize the apparent likeness to modern-day Cannibal Corpse on this record. While this has always been the case for Sanguisugabogg, lyrically speaking, Hideous Aftermath delves into the stylistic realms of Cannibal Corpse’s macabre sensibilities. With unrelenting tonnage at every turn, Sanguisugabogg took the glossary page out of A Skeletal Domain, and it’s clear they studied it day in and day out to mature their songwriting. The spinkicker, however, is the fact that Sanguisugabogg didn’t fully resign themselves to a breakneck pace in totality. From the opening and closing sections of “Felony Abuse of a Corpse” to the mid-paced drubbings on “Abhorrent Contraception”, there’s plenty of technical entrail splatter to go around on Sanguisugabogg’s refined burlap.
Even with a somewhat considerable alteration in approach, there’s a plethora of nuance to Hideous Aftermath. The indica-induced slams that every toker wearing a Snuffed On Sight or Bodybox shirt fell in love with are still here. “Heinous Testimony” and “Erotic Beheading” are coked-out bulls in a bong shop at every compositional level. If these tracks aren’t enough to help the drug-rug sporters coast through low cognitive power mode, “Repulsive Demise” utilizes ride cymbal, pedal, and snare to create what can only be described as a death metal disco. Unsated? Sanguisugabogg recoil with a thrashing ode to deathgrind on “Semi Automatic Facial Reconstruction”, including a feature from the great and powerful Travis Ryan. Hideous Aftermath is the most developed and experimental ammo box from a band that looked as though they would be aligned with a single artistic form for their whole careers, and it’s very clear that Sanguisugabogg is much better off for taking the risk.
Wholesale, Hideous Aftermath is an incessantly agonizing trek, even for seasoned genre listeners. Those willing to endure the pain will find plenty to masochistically revel in, but for some, it may be too much out of the gate. It’s more likely that people who are used to Sanguisugabogg’s sadistic schtick won’t be able to get enough of Hideous Aftermath, whilst those who are green to their ways will require a period of acclimation. No matter how taxing it may be to initially digest Hideous Aftermath, it’s also doable for those who aren’t inclined to this flavor of sound. Somewhere, a disgruntled Swifty will find the piercing, unintelligible grunts of Swank to have more expressive meaning than the AI-generated “words” of a self-proclaimed underdog that will inevitably fly her private plane down the aisle next year, assuming the sexually transmitted CTE from Travis Kelce hasn’t fully permeated by then.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock or have been too persistently baked (average stoner death fan), 2025 has been a year unlike any-fucking-other in quite some time. Yet again, we are adding another act to the list of bands that released their career-defining album this year. Hideous Aftermath, in every sense of the phrase, is Sanguisugabogg’s magnum opus. It’s a rare feat to produce both your most methodically crafted and exploratory record, but through what can only be assumed as the power of the sweet leaf, Sanguisugabogg has done just that. Upon further consideration, maybe the Ballmer Peak does exist. If so, Sanguisugabogg has mastered it to the point of fully attaining death metal stardom, and there’s no telling where their interminable momentum will take them next.
9/10
Hideous Aftermath releases October 10, via Century Media Records, and can be pre-ordered here.