Sanguisugabogg - Hideous Aftermath (Century Media) [Sasa]
Hideous Aftermath, the new album by Sanguisugabogg coming up to roughly 47 minutes. Sanguisugabogg, known for their tortured whole album have been releasing death metal since 2019. They are a brutal death slam metal and and definitely take inspiration from bands like devourment.
This new album starts of amazingly fast with their first song Rotted Entanglement, the vocalist knows how to drag his vocals alongside the drums to create a more powerful breakdown. It does give a lot of similarity to a George Fisher with that disgusting old school death vibe to it.
The album has many special guests such as Damonteal Harris (Peeling Flesh), Todd Jones (Nails), Travis Ryan (Cattle Decapitation) and Dylan Walker (Full Of Hell) and Josh Welshman (Defeated Sanity), all are known within the heavy death metal genre. My favourite song on this album would be pain in flesh which has Dylan Walker this song has a bit of a more technical approach to it.
I honestly love it and love how fast the drum kicks are and the guitars sounding like they are going up and down on steps. The second-best song on this album is Repulsive Demise, it is a lot slower than the earlier tracks, but it is still heavy and almost has a hip hop feeling to it. I do like how it just feels like such a bop. It really is the odd song within the album, but it works well.
The album is full of good breakdowns and heavy vocals with amazing speedy riffs, it does come in and out of the brutal slam genre and into old school death, but it still works well it feels like it is swaying between the borders, but it does it so well. The albums is a medium length with really good instrumentals.
The band have told this album was the most personal one for them and I believe it as it feels like the band took a lot more time experimenting with death as a genre and overlapping old school and modern. 8/10
Age Of Ruin - Nothingman (Self Released) [Mark Young]
And the riffs keep coming!! This time courtesy of Age Of Ruin who bring their metal sensibilities along for their latest full-length kick-a-bout, Nothingman.
The Fixation comes in like Lamb Of God, remember the period around Sacrament/Wrath where they had thickened up their sound but still had that punk immediacy to it? That’s what you have here. No airs or graces, its assault and melody with a central hook for joining in live. It comes from being in that scene, knowing what works and what doesn’t and to an extent it works when they are in devil mode rather than the chant-a-long.
Even when they pull it up with a moment of restraint before the (expected) rising end its still an effective and engaging opening statement. I like the way things are going on this, and as long as there are no instrumental interludes we should get along fine.
Heavy Is The Crown goes for a shorter blast of energy, akin to heavy rock in its execution which is not meant as a slur. Its simply the way it comes across, moving forward but still crams in some ear-worm hooks for your ears whilst Lost In Shadows sits across the two genres, bringing in cleaner but still gritty vocals for the verse and the more extreme style elsewhere.
There is a base pattern at play but I’m pretty happy with how that plays out because what they try to do is get as many metal moments in there as possible and with a quality lead break placing the cherry on top, its just good stuff. What I didn’t get on with was the title track, so you have 4 tracks of fairly impressive metal, energy is high and then they pull the handbrake with Nothingman, which brings things to a screeching halt.
It’s an attempt at a modern ballad, one of those that is quiet and then very loud. I don’t mind bands who do it, I do mind when they drop it in the middle of an album where it kills that energy built up previously. The song itself is fine but needed to be placed at the end or at the start.
An Awakening is, you guessed an instrumental interlude...but it’s over quickly and we are back on track with The Ghosts We Carry which is a barnstormer. And it needed to be to get that energy punching back up again. Its got one of those builds that excels at splitting timbers and once again there is a glorious lead break dropped in.
For this, I can’t complain at all. Promise Me keeps things ticking along but Bleed For Better Days is another cracker from them as they dig deep into the bag of metal licks and tricks; pulling melodic flurries here, crushing riffs there as it speeds along nicely.
It is another example of them being able to pull so many ideas together into one space and make them work together as harmonious whole. And the closing solo? Chef’s kiss. LETTTTSSSSSS GOOOOOO heralds the beginning of their last song, Lovesong and you think, yes this is just how you end an album and yet they very nearly fumble it with a quiet start.
Luckily, they remembered that they needed big riffs and with that they bring things to a close. Reflecting on it, it was the right song to finish on; Earworms all the way and emotional heft, something they seem able to do with ease.
There are so many great moments on here, it’s a very accomplished album that shows off their innate skill at putting good riffs together and coming out the other side with songs that stick with you.
What costs them is the title track and its position, it just stalls everything and they work hard from there on in building momentum and they do it with some belting tracks that see out the album. Its well worth your time. 7/10
Katakomba - The Second Death (Majestic Mountain Records) [Matt Bladen]
R.I.P Tomas Lindberg, because without him and At The Gates a band like Katakomba wouldn't exist. These Swedes play Swedeath, filled with buzzsaw HM-2, they pack their sophomore record with yet more raw guitar riffs and a heightened punk spirit, perfect for a riff driven record company such as Majestic Mountain Records.
If you want riffs? You got 'em here for sure, fast and furious and played with an intense energy from rampaging beginning of Aquelarre to the epic finale of Saturn Devouring His Son Vomitorium, there's not much that will give you space to breathe. There's a few moments when it's slower, the build, the ominous ladder that leads to more violence, there's also a lot of satisfying chugs such as To Sow Dragons Teeth.
Mostly Katakomba drive home nihilistic Swedeath, with tracks such as Amour Fou/The Second Death and Mori In Absentia. Increasing the anger and the ferocity with album two, Swedeath fans get on it. 7/10
Cranial – Structures (Moment Of Collapse Records) [Spike]
Structures marks a powerful return for Cranial, reasserting their place in the post-metal landscape with conviction, grief, and refined tension. On this album, they lean into their weighty sound while embracing space, dynamics, and emotional resonance in ways that feel both mature and urgent.
The record opens with Guidelines, a track that immediately showcases Cranial’s signature layering. Guitars build over rolling rhythms, slowly gathering force, while the tension coils in the background. It’s not about speed, it’s about inevitability. You sense forward motion, even during quiet stretches, as though the track is pulling you along whether you resist or not.
Then comes Structures, the title track. Here, Cranial push harder, building walls of sound and allowing melodies to flicker through distortion. The song shifts between crushing heaviness and moody interludes, and vocals deepen the emotional weight without overwhelming the atmosphere. This track feels like a turning point, where structure begins to erode into something more visceral.
Into The Abyss is the most demanding cut on the album. It lets you sink. It allows darkness to stretch. It gives the listener space to breathe and then doesn’t hesitate to pull the floor out. The intensity grows in layers: guitars, drums, the vocal register rising, then falling, then rising again until you find yourself lost in the abyss the title promises.
The closer, The Beauty In Aggression, brings resolution. It marries melody and force, allowing Cranial to show they can end with clarity, not just crash. It doesn’t abandon the weight they’d built, but suggests that aggression can contain beauty, you just have to know where to find it.
What strikes me most about Structures is how aware the band are of timing and space. None of the heaviness feels bloated; the quieter parts aren’t filler, they’re the air that lets the impact land. The production suits this: clear where it needs to be, raw where it matters. You hear the grit in the guitars, the snap in the drums, and the way vocals push through the mix with intent.
Cranial have always carried the DNA of early post-metal, Cult Of Luna, HydraHead era but here they channel those influences without being tethered to them. Structures doesn’t feel like a throwback. It feels like a continuation of something deeper that the band have earned. This is intense, patient, and emotionally heavy. 9/10
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