Sanguisugabogg – Hideous Aftermath (Review)

Sanguisugabogg are a death metal band from the US and this is their third album.

Following on from 2023’s Homicidal Ecstasy comes the 48-minute Hideous Aftermath. Sanguisugabogg have created a limbering death metal monster. Laying bloody waste to all around it, it’s ridiculously enjoyable and well-crafted. Yep, this beats Homicidal Ecstasy to death and revels in its destruction. As much as I liked that record, this is superior in every way that counts.

The Sanguisugabogg of 2025 is an evolved predator. This is apparent in the album artwork, the production values, and the songwriting. Hideous Aftermath sounds huge, and the band capitalise on this with some of their most brutal, yet refined, material yet. The songwriting is operating at a higher level of ability, and the performances and execution of the songs match this. To round it off, Hideous Aftermath sounds sonically great too. There are also a plethora of guests spread out across the album, from Cattle Decapitation, Defeated Sanity, Full of Hell, Peelingflesh, and Nails.

The bleeding heart of Sanguisugabogg’s style is intact, but they’ve developed their songwriting, which includes more nuance and emotive elements. Now, hear me out here – I’m talking relatively speaking, of course. So make no mistake, this is still crushingly brutal death metal, ripe with blast beats and huge chunky riffs. However, hidden within the carnage lie elements that speak of an evolved sense of musical ability, of a desire to inject a dose of feeling into the mayhem. Add to this a few different ideas and textures across the album, (technical flourishes, a doom outing, an industrial Godflesh-inspired song, etc.), and you have a potent cocktail of death metal venom. In effect, Sanguisugabogg are no longer just ripping out entrails, they’re now playing with them meaningfully and using them for divination.

Hideous Aftermath brings together old-school and modern death metal, and does so with skill and a butcher’s eye for choice cuts. The riffs are better, the dynamics stronger, the growls more powerful, the hooks sharper, and the overall experience a bloodbath of death metal heaviness. Sanguisugabogg aren’t just stringing together groups of riffs, they’re writing full, complete, well-rounded death metal songs.

Hideous Aftermath has really impressed. Despite the hype surrounding the band, earlier releases showed a lot of promise, but it’s only now that Sanguisugabogg have truly delivered. I am now 100% converted to the Sanguisugabogg way of death metal.

This is a great death metal record, murderously good, and an essential listen for anyone who’s into the style.