Review by UnhinderedbyTalent for Sanguisugabogg - Tortured Whole (2021)

I let hype bring me to Sanguisugabogg in all honesty.  There definitely seemed to be a sense of outrage amongst some of the death metal community around either the amount of merch the band put out or the perceived deathcore/beatdown influences being far to obvious to allow the vast mindset of such fans to open up to their sound.  Having heard none of their output until a few months ago, I have to say they are not remarkable really by way of comparison to most other death metal I have heard over the years but that's not say that Tortured Whole is not a fucking blast.

Revulsion from some over their lyrical content is fucking laughable in a genre of extreme metal like death metal.  Shame really that the focus is on these when there are some chunky as hell death/doom riffs in here.  Yes, it doesn't all work (those fucking electronic/ambient tracks are just excess for excess sake), but even if you hate all the squealy riffage that is littered throughout the album there is still enough nods to the likes of Mortician for the fan of brutal death metal as well as equal reference to more modern revivalists such as 200 Stab Wounds to appease the retro crowd also.

I can listen to Dead As Shit all day if I am honest.  The title track rumbles along like it is the nineties all over again and the perversely titled Dick Fillet sounds every bit as hellish as the title intimates it should be.  Accept it for what it is and Tortured Whole is a fun 30 minute blast most days of the week.