Man Bites Dog (1992)

Man Bites Dog is a bizarre "noir-mockumentary" in which a young film crew follow a charismatic and disturbingly chipper serial killer who goes by the name of Ben. Black humour is served by the truckload as we document Ben as he kills victims, eats mussels, visits his gran and generally waxes lyrically on subjects of his choosing. At first, the violence is jarring, but as we enter Ben's world, it starts to become more and more normalized. I think this is the point of the movie, as eventually, the film crew start to become involved in helping him out as he commits more and more serious / gratuitous crime.

I won't go any further into the plot or talk about the ending but the rate at which I was absorbed into the worldview of maybe not so much Ben, but that of the film crew, really disturbed me after the film ended. I was a spectator, along for the ride, joyously desensitized to and involved in the carnage that was being caused by the serial killer. The dark comedy of it all really threw me off as to how disturbing this film is. Interesting stuff!

Cinematically, the high-contrast black and white footage is stunning; allowing the film to be gritty and moody, as well as aesthetically pleasing.

Agathocles - This Is Not A Threat... It's A Promise!

(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?

Agathocles / VRV - UK Tour Split 7"

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.

Agathocles / P.O.S. - Split 7"

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.