AGATHOCLES – MINCER – DISPLEASED  
Agathocles has always been an easy band to respect. The band has consistently stuck to its gun in order to spread its political message and dissent without much in the way of posturing, arrogance or monetary demands or returns. Be it through the noisecore of the late ‘80s, hardcore of the mid-‘90s or the death metal of the turn of the century the Belgians have stood up for their principles, all the while releasing tens of releases at a brisk pace.
The band that adopted the term mincecore – there even was a compilation called Mince Core History several years back - as its own has now issued something of a self-referencing album. Musically, it is just that too. Save for a couple of beefier tracks, like Empty Frame for instance, Mincer is political crustcore complete with vocals a la early Carcass, grinding noise and a noisy set of tunes without much in the way of structured riff-o-rama. Here is where the band comes short. Given a choice, Mincer should have come across as thicker, louder, heavier and less dependent on the same old rudimentary noise. It is hard faulting the band for its trademarks, but getting past the noise and the articulate messaging of songs like Goredom – Boredom (gore metal), Expendable Goods and Dethrone The Tyrant (America) or Diary Of White Trash (Flemmish fascists) Agathocles needs more speed, more heaviness and ideally both to become less a cover of itself and more of a powerhouse in 2006. Then again, what does a fed-up reviewer into heavy metal know? – Ali “The Metallian”