For What? For Who?

Agathocles are definitely no newcomers to the scene, I even dare to go so far as to call them one of the most classic bands in the grind/crust scene. And while they have created some absolutely classics, murdering songs, they are also the masters of half-arsed splits. Now don’t get me wrong, when Agathocles really goes at it they kick some serious arse. Razor sharp daggers, for instance, still holds its place among the best grind-related albums I’ve ever heard. But I’ve often become disappointed after getting my hands on a split of theirs, only to find the same songs already released on a couple of different records, but from different recordings and often with terrible sound quality. So it’s fair to say that I’m very sceptical towards all new releases from Agathocles. And what we have here are 12 live tracks from ´97. The sound quality is surprisingly better than most of their splits, so that’s a plus, but it’s still not their best. It’s a decent dose of vicious mincecore, and it has that classic Agathocles dual vocal attacks that really hits the spot. But I’d much rather put on one of their really great albums.

A new band, or at least to me, is the Polish act H.407, and I was curious to hear what they had to offer. I’m sorry to say that they fall in to the category of crust/grind acts that are quickly forgotten, that holds nothing to distinguish themselves from the crowd. I feel absolutely nothing for the music, which makes this extremely difficult to review. It’s not good, it’s not bad, it’s not even ok… It just is… You know? One growling and one screaming dude, a mangling drummer and screechy guitars and bass, you’ve heard it all a thousand times before. H.407 does absolutely nothing to stand out, and I doubt I’ll ever go back to this record after this review.

Originally written for http://www.mylastchapter.net