“Slowly growing more insane / Living out this dream. “
Sanguisugabogg’s Tortured Whole was a divisive death metal record. Debate raged on whether 2021 was the right year for death metal that was so brutishly straightforward. In a scene where the most hyped acts celebrated technicality (for example, Blood Incantation, Mortiferum, and Malignant Altar), Sanguisugabogg provided a down-to-earth approach. It’s also true that their gutter-level humour did them no favours. For me, not to go “ooh this is a great album but / ooooh the mixing ohh I can’t stand the mixing“, but I just couldn’t handle Tortured Whole‘s snare, which had a sort of “up-tuned St Anger” clang to it. The rest I could get behind: dump truck heaviness; neolithic grunting; guitar tones inspired by shovels dragged across stone floors; interludes to keep things fresh. Hearing the riffs made you want to book the guitarist an eye test, so they might be able to distinguish more than the first four frets.
Sanguisugabogg have evolved significantly on 2023’s Homicidal Ecstasy and now more keenly embrace tempo switches, faster riffs, and longer tracks. Whilst these modifications are slight and the identity of the band remains intact, the shift in focus recontextualises the band in a welcome manner. The first track “Black Market Vasectomy” demonstrates of some upgrades to their sound. Things begin ‘as normal’, the band churning through riffs that scrape their chords like rust from iron. Vocals serve their snarls in bursts, accenting the heavy riffs closely. So far, so ‘normal’; but at one minute, the bands takes a turn into a speedy passage with flourishing fills. These switches are done in the classic death metal style, twisting on a dime into ever darker territory, and whilst they are not outside of Sanguisugabogg’s established style, they are much more frequent on this new album.
Lead single “Face Ripped Off” also has a double-time mid section, and is led by fuzzy bass with a tone like a giant digesting cattle bone. Aaron Heard of Jesus Piece and Nothing takes a vocal feature here that is entirely unremarkable, but that’s just how most harsh vocal features go. The second half of the record focuses on longer tracks, like “A Lesson In Savagery“, which teaches us the modern Sanguisabogg approach to songwriting. A simple introductory guitar riff becomes a headbanger when drums enter fully. They iterate over this opening riff for the first vocal section, navigating between gritty verses, speedy blast beats, and tension-building passages. The finale brings back that nasty intro riff, plus oinky vocals. Once again, it’s by no means as complex to earn the “technical” moniker, but an approach like this is a clear step toward a more classic death metal sound for Sanguisugabogg.
The remaining brutal aspects are primarily the vocals, and brutal they are. Simple grooves with squarely-in-time vocal grunts were all over Tortured Whole, but are less prevalent on Homicidal Ecstasy. Now the vocals are more varied to fit the wider variety of rhythms. There are even some catchy moments on “Feening for Bloodshed“‘s midsection, begetting the record’s dramatic instrumental finale with surprising melody. The drums are the best part. There’s nothing “caveman”-like about the intricacies of the fills and the size of the kit. Take “Mortal Admonishment” for a spin and you’d swear Cody Davidson was playing for a proper tech death band. The drum mixing pulls you right into the seat, delightfully crisp and distinct, and they fixed their snare sound without making it too clean, just for pedants like me.
It’s quite possible that Homicidal Ecstasy is a deliberate answer to the criticisms that Sanguisugabogg have endured up to this point, as they have stepped up their songwriting and rounded out their sound. It still holds onto what makes them satisfying – simple brutality, un-gimmicky presentation, and an oozey smidgen of genital humour. You won’t find cavernous atmospheres or many additional textures beyond the four-piece, so if you hope for these aspects in your death metal, search elsewhere, but there’s absolutely space in the 2023 death metal-meta for a band like Sanguisugabogg.
7/10
Homicidal Ecstasy is out February 3rd via Century Media Records, and can be pre-ordered here.