EP Review: Bog Rot – Sex, Drugs, Bog N’ Roll

“If I don’t get sleep, they will come get me, if I start to feel weak, it’s already too late for me.”

Bog Rot – Sex, Drugs, Bog N’ Roll
September 30th, 2023
Grunge / Sludge Metal
Plastic People Records
St. John’s, Newfoundland

Emerging from the boggy wasteland of Newfoundland, Bog Rot are here to combine the melancholy edge of grunge with the heaviness and drug-induced psychedelia of sludge metal, all couched in the aesthetics of the Spongebob Squarepants font. As a “supergroup” of sorts, featuring members of Jaded Truth, Sentimentipede, and Everose, Bog Rot definitely has the chops to produce something cool with this EP.

What we get on this release is the sonic equivalent of being strung out and hungover for a week straight. As the first track, “Ketamine for Crocodiles”, indicates, this EP is bathed in the grease, grime, and mold that one would expect of a corpse decaying in the goudie out in the boons of Newfoundland’s boreal forest, perfectly encapsulating their name.

The bass and guitars are awash in so much feedback and fed through such a muddy tone that you feel like you’re sinking into the most disgusting foxhole this side of the Atlantic, full of viscera, waste, and unidentifiable human sludge. Indeed with titles like “Tonic Clonic”, “Brainfreeze”, and “Get It India” (a reference to Newfoundland’s own India beer), it should come as no surprise that the songs on here feel so sickly.

In a lot of ways I’m reminded of Jaded Truth’s first record, Rx, which was a concept album surrounding mental illness, anxiety, depression, and nightmares, as well as, as evidenced by the title, drug use (prescription or otherwise). There’s a patina of filth and disease coating this EP, and for that it almost feels like a spiritual successor to that record, even having some similar vocal melodies and affectation.

I’ve heard some people don’t like this EP but I for one find it to be a pretty enjoyable release. Is it anything new or groundbreaking? No. Could the songs be tighter? Yes. But I love how snotty and upsetting and uncanny it feels. Everything from the production to the bass and guitar tone to the different vocal styles combines to create one heaping pile of vomit, and I love it.

Final Verdict: 3/5

Favourite Tracks:
“Flat Stanley”
“Tonic Clonic”

~ Akhenaten