Agathocles
Mincer
7.3
Well shit, it’s another Agathocles release. I’m not even going to attempt recapping their back catalogue but I do own copies of their 1998 release Humarrogance and 2001 release Superiority Overdose. Now in 2006, Agathocles are poised to release another slab of their distinctive self titled mince core (sort of a blend of crustgrind and goregrind) that while may not have a large mass appeal is going to find itself happily embraced by its own unique niche audience.
A decent comparison can be found somewhere between Regurgitate, Dahmer, and whatever sick and twisted shit you’ve heard before (I’m not exactly in the mood for name-dropping right now). Personally I’ve always been a bigger fan of crust that borders more towards either Cripple Bastards or Accion Mutante, but its nearly impossible to ignore the important cult of personality presence that is Agathocles.
The production is surprisingly sterile, not that I expected perfection, but the bass is mostly an incomprehensible fuzz, while the rest of the instrumentation is left feeling oddly compressed, but its something that while not completely debilitating, is quite annoying. Though their overall sound is tighter, Agathocles hasn’t lost their trademark sloppy sound. The vocal delivery is a combination of low gurgles and carnivorous mids that basically perform the same frenetic vocal patterns throughout the album. I wouldn’t exactly approach Mincer expecting a wide assortment of variation. The guitars blend the street ethos of crustgrind and blaring blasts of goregrind
Songs like “Dethrone the Tyrant”, “Matadores del Libertad”, and “Mincer” are all out maniacal grind manifestos while songs like “War Fetisjists Kill”, “Forced to Masturbate”, and “Yuppie Career Freak” feature some of their trademark churning groove, showing they at least have more than one ace up their sleaves. The two steps riddled “logical exodus” and old school hardcore tinged “Misery = Destiny” adds to the gritty old school DIY atmosphere of the album quite nicely. Agathocles has the inate ability to transfer seamlessly from the aggressive grind of “Ergos – Thanatos” to the crustgrind brutality of “Kurose”, “Class War Necessity”.
An interesting development on Mincer is Agathocles use of sparse guitar solos on tracks like “Maze of Papers” which to my knowledge they've never applied before. “Goredom Boredom” is strangely close to true goremetal for Agathocles while “Empty Frame,” and “Where it Belongs” manage to border on traditional death metal for a while. There’s by far more stylistic variation on Mincer that on any Agathocles album I’ve heard. It's good to see they've actually been evolving over all these years.
Just because Mincer isn’t the pinnacle of musical excellence doesn’t mean its not worth checking out. Agathocles have found their sound and have consistently released straightforward albums that attempt to be nothing else than pure mincecore. It’s revolutionary in now way, but worth hearing once to see exactly what it’s all about. Fans of the band and of similar genres will once again be extremely pleased.
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