I've had this for so long but the sodding thing is so small I keep losing it amongst my CDs! The Agathocles stuff here seems to be original tracks, which is refreshing in itself, but the greatest surprise is that they are also somewhat strangely melodic; it is the same lo-fi high quantity of shredding mincecore, but with strange, almost ethereal guitar leads over a few of the tracks. Just when I'd thought I'd heard it all with Agathocles, they really took me by surprise. Excellent stuff!
Generation Spasfon are hardcore punk through and through. Rebellion runs through the blood of this energetic, if not slightly typical, hardcore assault. This, unfortunately, appears to be the only thing that this band has released (correct me if I'm wrong!) The band provide reams of information on vegetarianism and veganism on the CD itself, and also run a website which is still going today, which you can visit here.
(I found this review after salvaging a HDD from an old laptop. It was originally written in 2013)
Ahh, the simpler things in life...the laptop open browsing the world wide web, a beer next to my right hand (and several more chilling in a washing up bowl full of ice), and my latest Agathocles LP purchase spinning on the platter. I've said it before, but you really don't need to fix what is broken. Agathocles have been peddling the same unique brand of grind for a good while now, and This Is Not A Threat.... is one of the more recent long-playing offerings in mincing chaos.
I think that the band definitely lost their way through the late 90s, but came full circle back into the perfect grinding sound of mincecore fury. This "perfected" AGx sound is what the band pretty much use as a template for everything these days, and This Is Not A Threat... is no exception. Expect the usual blasting grind assault from Belgian's finest purveyors of the art form. And like I said above, why expect anything else?
There's a whole ton of crap Agathocles out there so it's always enormously refreshing to come across the band's absolute golden material, especially on the 7" format. With the full lengths you kinda know where you are, but it is so easy to get lost in the group's endless reams of releases. Fascination Of Mutilation was a flexi released in 1990 on Rigid Records, so it's an early one in the band's life. General rule of thumb is - early Agathocles can't go far wrong. In my opinion, at least.
Fascination Of Mutilation is super short at only 5 minutes in length (being only on one side of a flexi, not like the fancy two sided flexis we get these days) but contains so many awesome recordings of Agathocles classics that its ironic quality-over-quantity approach more than makes up for it. "Threshold To Senility", "Gorgonized Dorks" and "Lay Off Me' all go down as well as the first beer at a summer festival. Cannot fault it.
Reekorrhoea is a project of Hyperemesis' Andy Ringdahl, focussing more on old-school horror movie themes as subject matter rather than all-out gore. It's still mincecore-infused goregrind goodness, however, so I love it! Imagine LDOH meets Agathocles at a Tumour gig and you're along the right lines here. The five tracks aren't particularly long but they don't need to be, this shit gets in, fucking gets on with it, and then fucks off.
The guitars are nasty as fuck but my favourites have gotta be the vocals and the drum programming. The snare is perfect, and those vocals are just top notch, like, innit. You can stream the entire thing from the Reekorrhoea Bandcamp page (I've linked the demo below) but there's also 75 copies available on tape, for the true crusty goregrinders. Word.
Up until now I've been avoiding Agathocles split CDs to lower my risk of obtaining duplicate material that may already be on a 7" that I own. Agathocles have a notorious back-catalogue of re-hashed shit (sorry, but it's true), and as a collector on a budget I have put barriers in place to lessen the blow of unknowingly buying something that I already have. This was all well and good, until during a trade with a Canadian chum, I was gifted with a AGx split CD that is actually really, really good (and as far as I can tell, all original material). So, this no-AGx CDs barrier is now broken. Fucking great.
I've never heard of Partiya before. Hardly suprising, what with them being a rather obscure Russian crust band. All the songs and lyrics (and even the original name and logo) are in Russian, but are kindly translated for us English-speaking folk in the booklet. Thanks a million for that, because otherwise I wouldn't even know what the name of this band was. I cannae write Russian on me keyboard! That would have been a pickle. Their material is fast and well-produced, and despite the language barrier and potential difficulty in obtaining their stuff I am now on the quest for more Partiya recordings!
Agathocles sound a bit dank in comparison the well-put-together Partiya, but it doesn't take long for me to adjust. The sound here is really similar to the Mincer sessions, if not a bit thinner. This band know what they are good at, and seem to have fallen into a well-working system over the last 8 years or so. Blast blast blast, growl growl growl. What more do you want?
Old 7MON live stuff compiled here in a split with prolific noise mongers Gorgonized Dorks. On black, and strictly limited to 338 copies on Bringer Of Gore Records. I have number 57.
I got this from Katz in Gorgonized Dorks when we were mailing each other about the Fart Wank / Gorgonized Dorks lathe cut split square 8" that never materialized (but now with the existence of Pointless Records, could maybe see the light of day). The Gorgonized Dorks side represents their sound fully, and is almost typical of them. 7MON's side consists of a horrible live recording from the 1980s.
This is one of my favourite things so far in my never-ending adventure into the discography of Belgium's Agathocles. I've seen it about for years, probably since it's release, but have just never got around to buying it. I finally picked it up (dirt cheap) at some stall at Obscene Extreme festival in the Czech Republic. I don't think the stall had a name but it was a gazebo being shared by two guys selling different records. One of them was the vocalist from Entrails Massacre, I remember that much.
If you are familiar with Agathocles then you already know what to expect from a full length such as this; fast and to-the-point "mince"core with gut-addling bass and shrieked or yelped vocals, dusted off with the odd helping of pitch-shifted lows to complete the grinding cocktail! Opening track "Dethrone The Tyrant" is an Agathocles instant classic, and even spawned an EP of the same name. "Yuppie Career Freak" and "Diary Of White Trash" are two more examples of Agathocles at their blasting brilliance, as are the title track "Mincer" and the hilarious "Pricks At Gigs". "Goredom - Boredom" again shows the band's endless disdain for goregrind, porngrind and the related imagery and lyrical themes present therein.
My copy is a fantastic deep transparent blue, which is great because I was expecting it to be black for some reason or other. This was released on Power It Up in Germany in 200? and is still really easy to find, so get a copy already!
The VRV / AGx UK tour was one of the most entertaining live shows I've had the pleasure of witnessing. Catching the legendary Agathocles in an upstairs room in a pub in Leeds was the perfect atmosphere; a whole bunch of sweaty grinders moshing about comfortably on a carpet! When the two bands got together to release this 7" after the tour had ended, I knew I had to own it, no matter how shitty it would probably turn out to be (by now you should know my disdain for badly recorded grind 7"s).
I ended up getting this off Burt at Obscene Extreme fest for literally all the spare change I had in my pocket! I was drunk and he was even more so (ha ha) and I ended up getting it for just less of £2. A fucking steal, no doubt. I resisted the temptation to buy up all the AGx stuff he had with him, but Gumpy succumbed to the cheap prices and fell down the rabbit hole and purchased his first batch of AGx splits. There's no way back up that slippery slope now, son!!!
The split is however, as i suspected, just badly recorded live sessions from the two act's recent UK tour. The Agathocles stuff isn't actually that bad at all. It's raw, don't get me wrong, but it's a fairly enjoyable listen, with a good mix of material. VRV on the other hand....well I turned it off after about 30 seconds. I was bone-dry sober on the listen-through and had no patience for his unique display of pummeling noisecore annihilation.
These are pretty rare, so if you were at one of the UK shows, I'd definitely say pick it up as a little memento if you happen upon a copy, but it will (rather obviously) never be able to truly show how awesome both bands were in a live environment.
Semtex 10 is a blast-happy, bombastic, fairly recent 3 song EP by unstoppable Belgian grindcore (sorry, mincecore) brigade Agathocles. As it contains more than just 4 different versions of "Trust? Not Me" it is totally worth picking up! As far as I can tell the songs seem to be original, which is what I'm all about. My only gripe is that there is no tracklisting or info whatsoever anywhere on the release. If you bought this at a gig or whilst browsing a distro you wouldn't even know what it's fucking called because there isn't even a title on this thing. Smart move, Sunship Records.
Anyway, I'm not here to judge people for their choice of included information, I'm here to listen to Agathocles, bitches. "Detonating Nitroglycerin" is a very typical but extremely enjoyable AGx track, but the title track is all kinds of weird. "Dormant Cell" on side B seems to strangely and surrealistically mix the previous two tracks together into a new concoction.
This release is limited to 500 copies, 250 on black and 250 on purple.
Another Agx split with (apparent) original songs here, so I went ahead and got it from the Goatgrind Records distro. The Agx stuff is fairly good but the sound leaves a lot to be desired. As far as I can tell it isn't live or anything, but it really is a nasty recording. Yes, yes, I am still fully aware of what genre I'm reviewing here but is it too much to want on some clarity every now and then? Regardless, Agathocles do what they do best here, and I should just be thankful that the songs are originals.
P.O.S. on the other hand aren't worth mentioning at all. Well, I guess they are but they their stuff on this disc did nothing for me and I found them extremely uninspiring, and even rather boring. Oh well. I've only given it one listen so far but my first impression is rather grim. This record is out on 330 black copies thanks to the wonderful Bringer of Gore records.
PS I mentioned at the beginning of this post that I got this record from Goatgrind Records, who is unfortunately closing down. Check out his closing down deals on 7"s, tapes and CDs. Also, there are no links for this online. Gutted.
What I have here for review is the 1997 Morbid Records (RIP) LP release of Humarrogance. The sound is that of the usual Agathocles stock, if not a little crisper than most recordings. The tracks blast and grind away with impressive mincing fury until it comes to an abrupt halt at the start of track eight, “White Horse”. This song has a strange rock and roll vibe to it, and it is very refreshing to hear Agathocles mince through something with such a prominent groove factor. The tracks that follow, “Ain’t I?” and the interestingly titled “Beam Me Up, Scotty”, are of equal quality and I find myself banging my head like an idiot.
The four bonus tracks that come on the CD version (I have that too) are either live gigs or live rehearsals of songs that hark back to Agathocles’ earlier days, with even pitch-shifted vocals in tow. The quality of sound on some of these tracks is pretty grim, but enjoyable none-the-less. It is my opinion that these tracks belong on a seven inch record, to truly emphasize the crust factor (actually chances are they have already appeared on seven inch about 37 different times).
The artwork perplexes me. It reeks of the typical D.I.Y. ethic you come to expect of grindcore, but the front sleeve is something else entirely. It is some sort of surrealist painting by an unidentified artist. Perhaps the painting is famous, and therefore does not require a credit. This could well be the case as I have little experience with the world of “art”. It is a painting though, that much I can tell, of two ghostly figures examining objects on a clothed table; there is a butterfly, an hourglass, and what appears to be a French baguette.
Since this CD/LP was my first experience of Agathocles, and I fully appreciate this piece, I would recommend this release to any fans of grindcore, especially those looking for an in-road into the never-ending maze of Agathocles releases (trust me, it's a fucking nightmare). Although, the constant vegetarianism / anti-nazi / anti-racism / anti-fascism edge may put off some people.
The Youtube user SPEAKERHUMAN has kindly put together the whole album as a playlist, so sit back and grind away!
A quick note on looking back at this blog's beginnings: I realise how harsh I was towards Agathocles in some posts. Whilst I do tire of them constantly re-hashing the same old stuff over and over in different shitty recordings, they are an excellent grindcore band (yes, grindcore!) and when they actually make original material it is usually very good. Not to mention they are fucking excellent live!
I picked this 7" up from Nic's Bones Brigade stall on the Wormrot UK tour. It was staring me in the face and was the only thing in the 7" pile that really tickled my fancy. I had a sneaky peek inside and didn't recognise any of the tracks as being the usual 30 or so that are re-recorded again and again for splits so I took a risk and slung ol' Nic three quid and went home. What I got was one of a 1000 repressed with a blue cover and a red disc. Original pressings (also 1000 pieces) have a black cover and a transparent orange vinyl. All versions were put out in 1997 by Keloid Records.
Shikabane are fucking excellent grindcore and I will be checking these guys out more when I get some time! Japanese hypergrind anyone? Think Carcass Grinder but not as awful. Think Unholy Grave but happier and less noisecore. It reminds me greatly actually of a band I was meant to split with before called Infiltro, but the project fell apart. Sounds very similar. Excellent grind anyway, and the drum sound is brilliant. Nice bright ping ping snares all round!
Agathocles have original tracks here, so once I got over my minor heart attack I dropped the needle to the wax and enjoyed. Fucking bliss! Seriously guys, you should do this more often! Ha ha. All jokes aside, it's nice and upbeat "mince" from AGx, but with Jan's usual growls / shifts replaced with yelps and odd laughing sounds. Excellent and entertaining lyrics as usual. I will say that the AGx side is over way too quickly though. Nevermind! That means I'll just have to collect more 7"s, right guys?
PS this track is a Shikabane song from a different release. I can't find any videos for this split.
My final Agathocles 7" for the time being! Phew! This here is the cheap Agathocles split with Jan AG & The Gajna, which was not released on any label. Again, there is no pressing info online anywhere, and I am assuming that all copies are black. Considering both bands feature Jan as the frontman, the evidence points to self-release, but something about this tells me it might be a bootleg. Any clarification is welcome!
Agathocles offer one song to this 7", which is plonked right on the end of side b. It's a bit of a bummer if you bought this for collecting all the Agathocles stuff, because 90% of this 7" is the fucking abysmal Jan AG & The Gajna "music". I do not understand why there needs to be another Agathocles-style noise band? They are truely awful and I hope to never come across them again. This is my least favourite Agathocles release in my collection and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.
I'm torn between selling this (edit: it's actually fucking worthless, should have seen that coming!) or keeping it in the hope of amassing a gigantic Agathocles collection one day.
This is Agathocles' short EP called "Gotcha", which is a collection of tracks that originally appeared on their split CD with Comrades (and Ravage on the Malaysia version, by yet another label) that was released by SOA Records. There isn't label or pressing info included in the release, or easily available online. It is unclear whether the band re-released these songs on this 7" themselves, or it was done as a bootleg.
Judging by the artwork quality I'd take a guess at this being a bootleg, but with Agathocles' varying degrees of output I can't really tell for sure. The sound is harsh as usual, but the mix seems to drown out a lot of the actual sound in pure distortion. If you have any information on this release then feel free to leave a comment or email me, I'm really in the dark with this one!
This is Agathocles' split with Italian fastcore band Repulsione, released in 2008 as a co-release between the excellent Grind Block Records and ¡ZAS! Autoproduzioni. Limited to 500 copies on black wax.
Another great Agathocles release, I'm not entirely sure if these songs are originals or not but they are not of the "what appears on 95% of splits" stock. Sound is raw as per usual, but great tunes. Repulsione, who feature members of 2 Minuta Dreka (also the label is run by Jack Off, the vocalist for 2 Minuta Dreka), play fast, almost powervoilence-esque grind, a whole world away from the groovy sound of 2 Minuta Dreka. If I'm honest the production is a bit muddy but do not let that put you off.
