Sanguisugabogg

Absurdist Ohio extreme metal band Sanguisugabogg ply an absolutely filthy, savagely downtuned brand of death metal with disgusting, gory but resolutely tongue-in-cheek lyrics. Formed in 2019 in Columbus, Ohio, the band initially comprised vocalist (and sometime-standup comedian) Devin Swank, guitarist Cameron Boggs, bassist Steph Barnes, and drummer Cody Davidson. Later, Boggs and Barnes were replaced by Cedrik Davis and Drew Arnold, respectively. Their unusual name comes from a combination of sanguisuga, the Latin word for leech, and the British slang word bog, meaning toilet — with the aim of evoking a bloodsucking toilet. Songs with titles like “Turkish Blood Orgy,” “Gored in the Chest,” “Urinary Ichor,” “Black Market Vasectomy,” and “Testicular Rot” give a good idea of where they are coming from. The whole band had been fans of old-school death metal from an early age; Swank’s first show, at age 12, was Cannibal Corpse. Inveterate jokers arguably as famous for their prodigious consumption of psychedelics as for their music — they claimed to have recorded the entirety of both their albums while tripping on acid — they dubbed themselves “drug death metal.” While the band’s tone was goofy and jokey, they took their music very seriously, utilizing crushing drop-G tuning and eschewing solos for a relentless groove and piledriving riffs. Picked up by metal giant Century Media on the strength of their first demo EP, 2019′s Pornographic Seizures, they recorded their first full-length album for the label, Tortured Whole, and released it in 2021. Following complaints over the EP’s lyrics about violence against women, the band switched it around and made all the album’s lyrics about violence against men. Their second album, Homicidal Ecstasy, followed in 2023. ~ John D. Buchanan