12-28-2009, 04:27 AM
I'm huge on top-notch grindcore, and Agathocles has been a particular hot favourite grind act of mine, for several years now. They are from Belgium (Aborted fans should adopt another ace act from that country 
, call themselves 'mincecore' 
and have always had a hard political edge to their lyrics and attitude. Formed as early as the mid-'80s, Agathocles began putting out a ridiculous amount of (decent-to-great) demos, splits and EPs, before finally debuting with a live album, Culture of Degradation and a full-length, Theatric Symolisation of Life, both in 1992. Both are quite impressive albums, and Agathocles then resumed releasing another series of splits, Best Ofs, and EPs. I have checked out most (not all) of them, and felt they were all quite cool and fun to listen to. I soon realised that Agathocles were a pretty unique band in more ways than one, i.e their peculiar, though successful, decision to punctuate their studio releases with a litany of varyingly enjoyable splits and EPs, in between. That's what they have been doing for the past ten years. Fans got another 6-7 fantastic full-length albums, and dozens of splits, EPs---and another remarkable feat--4-5 'live' album releases, as well. This year alone, they have released a pretty good live album, Reds at the Mountain of Death , and guess what? another handful of splits. 
So, you could say Agathocles has been an astonishingly busy band and a prolific producer of new material, for the past almost twenty years. And the massive irony of all this is that I've known a few genuine grindheads that haven't yet heard (of) them. Check them out anyway:
http://www.agathocles.com/
, call themselves 'mincecore' and have always had a hard political edge to their lyrics and attitude. Formed as early as the mid-'80s, Agathocles began putting out a ridiculous amount of (decent-to-great) demos, splits and EPs, before finally debuting with a live album, Culture of Degradation and a full-length, Theatric Symolisation of Life, both in 1992. Both are quite impressive albums, and Agathocles then resumed releasing another series of splits, Best Ofs, and EPs. I have checked out most (not all) of them, and felt they were all quite cool and fun to listen to. I soon realised that Agathocles were a pretty unique band in more ways than one, i.e their peculiar, though successful, decision to punctuate their studio releases with a litany of varyingly enjoyable splits and EPs, in between. That's what they have been doing for the past ten years. Fans got another 6-7 fantastic full-length albums, and dozens of splits, EPs---and another remarkable feat--4-5 'live' album releases, as well. This year alone, they have released a pretty good live album, Reds at the Mountain of Death , and guess what? another handful of splits. So, you could say Agathocles has been an astonishingly busy band and a prolific producer of new material, for the past almost twenty years. And the massive irony of all this is that I've known a few genuine grindheads that haven't yet heard (of) them. Check them out anyway:http://www.agathocles.com/
...I'm tempted to tell you to check out their '09 live album, [i[ Reds at the Mountains of Death [/i]...But no, I reckon an ideal intro to this band would be