Sanguisugabogg - Tortured Whole

 

Key Facts

Country: 🇺🇸

Genre: Death Metal

Release Date: 26th March 2021

Record Label(s): Century Media Records

Band Members 

Cody Davidson - Drums, Keyboards

Cameron Boggs - Guitars

Devin Swank - Vocals

Ced Davis - Bass 

Sanguisugabogg - Gored In The Chest

Review

Rating (out of 5🤘): 🤘🤘🤘.5

Favourite Track(s): Gored In The Chest, Dragged By A Truck, Dead As Shit, Posthumous Compression, Felchin Filth, Dick Filet

The meteoric rise of Sanguisugabogg has been one for the ages, coming from monstrous beginnings with debut 4 track EP Pornographic Seizures in 2019 to one of the most hyped debut album in death metal for a long time. Even so, Sanguisugabogg have taken the hype in their stride, creating something disgustingly heavy packed full of vile, verminous and visceral riffs. Sanguisugabogg is a name comprised of the latin word for “bloodsucker” (“singuisguga”) and “bogg” which is a tribute to both band founder and guitarist Cameron Boggs as well simultaneously being the commonly known English slang word for “toilet”. The USA's fastest rising death metal act have certainly made an impact with debut album Tortured Whole. Blending technical playing with brute force heaviness, Tortured Whole is an assault on all your senses. 

The ludicrous repugnancy of this album is second to none. Oozing vulgar and grim malevolence that sends  you straight to the dingy underworld of death metal. If you come here looking for clean death metal, then you're in for a shock, this is death metal in it's most visceral and ugly form. Sanguisugabogg is a brand of brutal death metal which is unafraid to push the boundaries of the traditional brutal sound whilst comprehending the importance of simply having a good time. Capitalising on the often exacerbated grim and fringe sexual fetish topics, the song titles are pretty comical Dick Filet is a personal favourite and the lyrics themselves are gurgled at you through an unintelligible phonic sound of toilet bowl growls. Whilst the grime and gore is at the forefront, the music itself stands out from the crowd of Old School Death Metal-esque bands and feels unique in the genre. Blending the unforgiving ruthlessness of blast beats with the slowest beatdown riffs imaginable. What is slightly confusing is the synth interludes Pornographic and Interlube, whilst they do offer up some respite from the unrelenting riff onslaught, it can be quite jarring on the first listen. Maybe that is their purpose, to completely whack you out of left field and add a different element to the album? The unexpected influence of 80s horror films could be the answer to that one. Even so, the album plays to all of Sanguisugabogg's strengths, expanding on what they started on Pornographic Seizures and reminding the world how fun old school brutal death metal can be. As a  whole,  Tortured Whole is definitely a one letter to old school death metal, reaching peak putridity and vulgarity. It's not heavy for heavy's sake, it has purpose and the riffs are well balanced between chugs and lead runs. The album remains consistent, with brutal effectiveness, it feels like it could ravage you from the inside, making your innards out-ards. Even so, it is far from a masterpiece but it's piss-taking playfulness is not lost on the listener. Whilst a lot of ODSM revivalists want to remain straight faced and serious, Sanguisugabogg is a breath of fresh air. Despite this, when the band let loose and go full caveman they do create something quite sinister and domineering. Overall, Tortured Whole is a straight up, slab dragging, feces flinging album, definitely one for the purists. 

The album's production has taken some light influence form the first two Cryptopsy albums, more specifically the infamous None So Vile. The snare makes the sound of Slipknot's beer keg dinging look amateur and it is a perfect fit for an album that is sonically bass heavy. Its destructive ringing echoing through the ensuing chaos like the bells of war. The production as a whole though is deliberately OTT. The ugly guitar and bass tones provide a distinct muddiness that is reminiscent of those early recordings. The production more than suits the material, its uncompromising rawness gives the album a distinct mystique, if that rawness wasn't there you'd loose that mystique and it'd sound like every other OSDM revival band. In some cases it almost feels confrontational and antagonistic, especially targeting the 'Gatekeepers'. Overall, the album very much follows the EP's production values and is hardly anything innovative but that's the point. 

Possibly one of the most disgusting albums you'll hear all year, but if you need to vent in an infantile caveman manner, get Sanguisugabogg in your ears. 

Sanguisugabogg - Tortured Whole