Review Summary: A minor setback for a major comeback? Let's hope so.
Disappointment is quite a feeling, friends. It's not quite sadness, but there are many thoughts of ‘what if’? It's the same way with music. You look forward to something for weeks, or even months, and once you hear it, you wonder why you were so excited in the first place. Those are my exact feelings on Sanguisugabogg's third album,
Hideous Aftermath. Their previous album,
Homicidal Ecstasy, and even the debut, had everything I love in slam with their hardcore-influenced riffage, well-calculated breakdowns and vile vocal performance. This album is a maturation of sorts, but it ends up hurting the product.
How can maturation be a bad thing? Well, the fun element of this band was what drew me to them in the first place. The fact that they were just slamming riffs (and probably tons of beers) and having a good time is what made their music so appealing. With this album, it feels like some of that goes out the windows in sacrifice for a more serious death metal experience. The problem with that is a lot of this just ends up sounding like generic modern death metal. Tracks like ‘Ritual Autophagia’, ‘Erotic Beheading’ and ‘Sanctified Defilement’ are just fine, but they do nothing to stand out from the hordes of other death metal bands out there.
These tracks, among others here sadly, are nothing but mid-paced chugfests. Yeah, the riffs are “heavy” and “brutal”, but where are all the passionate slams and pig squeals? Sadly, they're few and far between on
Hideous Aftermath. This stuff takes more of a backseat to a more standard death metal affair, and while I appreciate the guys wanting to evolve their sound, cutting the elements that made them good really does them no favors in the long run.
Don't let me be such a downer though, it's not all bad. There are a few absolutely killer tunes present here. ‘Felony Abuse of a Corpse’ is probably the best song they've written thus far. Super beefy, black metal-inspired riffs ring through your eardrums like a bad infection, sounding reminiscent of Kill-era Cannibal Corpse with the sharp production and breakneck relentlessness. This track also features Damonteal Harris of PeelingFlesh fame to add a bit of extra heat. Another banger, ‘Heinous Testimony’, harkens back to their core slam sound while mixing in a Dead Congregation-esque death/doom style. They even throw some deathgrind into the mix on ‘Semi Automatic Facial Reconstruction’ and it sounds exactly how the name suggests with its breakneck riffage and blasts.
Sanguisugabogg had a bit of a misstep here with
Hideous Aftermath, but like I said, it's not all bad. There are glimmers of greatness here and there, but there's a bit too much generic death metal this time around. Some people will probably welcome this switch-up with open arms, I just happen to prefer the styles of the two previous albums personally. As mentioned before, the maturation is evident in every second of this album. The question is, will it be worth watering down their sound? Only time will tell.
