Bizarre, clanking, the sound of abattoir chains being drawn against a rhythmic pulse of growled vocals. Sanguisugabogg are unlike any other death metal band in that they take the genre to its video nasty extremes, and in doing so they have unobtrusively created a new type of art form. Music borne of nightmares, yet imbued with a sense of black humour. Those VHS horrors on the shelf all staring back at you in aural form.
Now on their third album, Hideous Aftermath threatens to desecrate new corners of your record collection. Building on 2023’s Homicidal Ecstasy, this time they invite friends such as Peeling Flesh, Cattle Decapitation, Full of Hell and more for a carnival ride into the grotesque (or should that be goretesque?).
Musically it shouldn’t work. Repetitive blast beats set against a submerged buzz of guitars with clanking drums emerging from the depths to provide the prime focus sound. Growled vocals intone horrific tales against the cacophony. Ugly, yet beautiful at the same time. It’s that drum sound which tips your sanity over the edge, bringing to mind incessant torture parlours where monsters tear at your flesh whilst in the background a continuous roar of despair emits from savaged instruments.
For all its threatening inaccessibility it’s actually an album which allows the listener to latch on and enjoy. Fine, it’s going to be suited more to those listeners in the extreme areas of metal but with popularity rising, you sense that Sanguisugabogg may become leading lights. Obviously deadlights as everyone floats down here. Contender for album of the year.
