Review: Sanguisugabogg – Hideous Aftermath
Sanguisugabogg’s “Hideous Aftermath” opens with the promise of a blood-slick carnival, and for a moment, it delivers. The Ohio death metal crew has made its reputation by balancing absurdity and brutality and their latest record doubles down on that formula. This isn’t refinement so much as escalation: heavier, wetter, and even more obnoxiously self-aware. The riffs still stink of HM-2 distortion and old flesh, the drums still sound like blunt trauma, and the band remains defiantly unclean. Yet somewhere in the process, the chaos that once felt refreshing begins to dull at the edges.
“Hideous Aftermath” is, in many ways, a statement of confidence. The band knows exactly what it does well, mid-tempo lurches, caveman vocals, and breakdowns that collapse into sludge, and they deliver these with the precision of butchers. The production keeps the sound filthy but legible. The songs hit with undeniable force, the kind of sonic bluntness that would flatten a live crowd in seconds. But the further one gets into the album, the more it begins to feel like repetition: a parade of punishment, each blow landing where the last one already bruised.
There’s a strange tension in “Hideous Aftermath” between parody and sincerity. The band’s fascination with grotesque imagery has always been too exaggerated to take seriously, but here it feels less playful, more perfunctory. What once read as tongue-in-cheek now feels automatic, as though the band is performing their own caricature. The humour still flickers in the background, but it’s buried beneath a weight of production and professionalism that strips away some of the grime’s charm. The album sounds massive, but not always alive.
Musically, Sanguisugabogg are still mining the death metal lineage that runs from Mortician through Bolt Thrower to Cannibal Corpse, with detours into hardcore breakdowns and sludge riffs. There are moments that suggest a darker, more atmospheric direction, but the band rarely stays long enough to explore them. Instead, they default to the same battering rhythms and guttural repetition. It’s undeniably effective, but it lacks the danger that once made their sound feel volatile. The shock has worn off.
“Hideous Aftermath” is a record that does what it promises: it crushes, it disgusts, it entertains in short, violent bursts. But it also exposes the limits of Sanguisugabogg’s aesthetic. There’s only so far the band can go when every song ends in the same impact crater. It’s a fun record in the way demolition is fun to watch: spectacular for a while, then monotonous. The aftertaste is pure filth, but perhaps that’s all it was meant to be.
