Head to a mirror. Stand in front of that mirror. When you’re done crying at the pathetic image staring back at you, take a long, hard look at the Cheeto dust sprinkled throughout that sadness of a beard. And yes, ladies — this absolutely applies to those of you who love to get slammed. Beyond being straight-up grooming neglect, that neon-orange residue is also the sacred seasoning for another round of guttural devotion courtesy of the mighty ’Bogg. On their brand new album, Hideous Aftermath, the Columbus, Ohio, four-piece of Devin Swank (vocals), Drew Arnold (guitars), Ced Davis (bass), and Cody Davidson (drums) has delivered yet another volley of hammers. This time, though, each one of those viscera-soaked hammers smashes the face a bit differently. Peppered throughout their too-dumb-to-be-tech-death sound are brief but brilliant forays into tighter, sharper, more dynamic death-metal territory.

The album begins with the aptly-titled ‘Rotted Entanglement’, a subdermal riff-meld that entangles Tomb Of The Mutilated-era Cannibal Corpse with the ‘Bogg‘s trademark “caveman death metal.” At precisely the 1:37 minute mark of the track, Devin drops a Swankquake of a guttural squeezed straight from the sphinctral abyss of one Chris Barnes. A fucking epic moment set to one of the album’s most punishing riffs that is sure to get the swamp and scrotum-smelling hordes moving in the pit. ‘Felony Abuse Of A Corpse’ begins with what can only be described as the slam version of Australian progressive death metal band, Portal. While slam keeps the song anchored in brutality, there exist heaps of discordant riff structures, jagged tonal architecture, and unpredictable rhythms that evoke the sensation of gastrointestinal distress in a dimly-lit truck stop washroom at 3 AM. It should also be noted that vocalist Damonteal Harris of one of my favourite up-and-coming slam bands, PeelingFlesh, makes a guest appearance.

‘Ritual Autophagia’ (feat. Todd Jones of Nails) is another trek into slightly unfamiliar territory, this time recalling the hardcore antics of Jones’ full-time band, Nails. The riffs here are sharp and angular, cutting through the rot with surgical precision, all the while Jones and Swank trade off within their respective vocal registers, allowing the gutturals and gang-like shouts to become one. It’s a very cool marriage indeed, one where the hardcore spasms inject a mechanical unease into the chugging churn, yet never at the expense of the slam. ‘Heinous Testimony’ is the first track thus far that sounds purely ‘Bogg-like. The brutality on display here is clenched and ready to evacuate, every riff straining against itself until the whole thing ruptures in a liquified blast of sewage and slams. This gets us back to the basics, back to the old-school death metal sound of their early ’90s forebears. It’s leaner and meaner, with less filler and more killer.

The off-kilter crush of ‘Abhorrent Contraception’ is unlike anything you have ever heard. The opening riff is three things at once – hideous, heaving, and hypnotic. Its groove is the soundtrack of the criminally insane. If slam had a funk equivalent, this would be it. Picture a dance hall filled with serial killers, popping and locking to formaldehyde and mutant funk, if you like. Probably the single greatest riff ever captured on tape. That is all. ‘Repulsive Demise’ is the album’s most percussive track. It’s stripped-down, groove-ridden ride channels the syncopated chugs and stop-start momentum of a band like Korn. The low-end has a bounce to it, but the bounce here is not of the jump-da-fuck up variety. No siree. This bounce is of the type that burdens its bouncer with the weight of gravity weaponized, where every brutal beat is an invisible force crushing and folding your innards like a hydraulic press. Korn had a penchant for turning a breakdown into a panic attack, and the ‘boggy ones deliver that same sense of psychotic momentum. If there ever was a ‘theme song’ for this album, this is that song.

‘Erotic Beheading’ is another incredible hybrid of pure slam and punishing old-school death metal. Its cavernous swagger is punctuated with technical flourishes not too far removed from the best moments of, say, Hate Eternal. If it weren’t for these moments, the song might have otherwise become quite monotonous. Again, it’s the variety of the pacing mixed with the foundations of slam that makes this album, up to this point, so goddamn enjoyable and impactful. ‘Sanctified Defilement’ is the one track that can truly get under your skin. It is slightly atmospheric (well, as atmospheric as slam can get), and the minor-key atonal shifts and percussive convulsions do a great job at building a heightened sense of dread. If the legendary Incantation were to go slam, I believe this is what might be birthed from that.

‘Semi Automatic Facial Reconstruction’ (feat. Travis Ryan of Cattle Decapitation) is hands down the most technical track on the album, and easily the most technical thing the ‘Bogg boys have ever done. Does it work? Well, that depends on how much you love Cat Decap and Travis Ryan, as those two things are all over this track. Of course, Travis brings his usual bag of tricks with him – gurgles, highs, lows – his whole schtick. To be perfectly honest, the technical leanings add a sense of chaos that is too far removed from the ‘Bogg I love and know. The only thing (barely) holding this together are the slams. ‘Paid In Flesh’ (feat. Dylan Walker of Full Of Hell) is, unfortunately, another track that sees the boggy ones morphing into something they are not. The first half of the song is passable, delivering pulverizing slam breakdowns and nods to OSDM. It’s the second half of the song that totally loses the plot, diving headfirst into Full Of Hell territory, where the distortion turns inward in an emotive and melodic way. It feels entirely out of place in the context of a ‘Bogg song. Pass. Pass. Pass.

As vocalist Devin Swank has said about Hideous Aftermath, “It’s the one where we rolled our sleeves up and brought our A-Game.” There is no doubt this statement is true, as this is easily their most focused and grand album to date. In fact, as much as I hate to admit this, labelling these guys as slam is likely doing the album an injustice. Still, I’ll be the first to admit that I love my ‘Bogg when it’s slamming on all cylinders. Sure, I definitely don’t mind the cleaner, more palatable production courtesy of Kurt Ballou (Nails, High On Fire), but I fear that this album, as good as it is at times, has spelt the end of the ‘Bogg as we once knew them. They’ve gone from that band with the silly, illegible logo to a serious contender in the realm of extreme metal (and we all know what success can do to a band). At the end of the day, there is enough pulverized meat left on these cannibalized bones to appeal to most slam metal connoisseurs and old-school death metal heads, making Hideous Aftermath deserving of your attention.

Release Date: October 10th, 2025
Century Media Records
Reviewed By: Jason Deaville
Review Score: 8