Untitled / You're Not Real

Since the departure of Matty in 1998 and especially drummer Burt in 2002 Agathocles went through several regressions. Musically as well as compositionally the band has gone back to the earliest days. And I don’t mean that in a possitive way. Their 2006 effort “Mincer” proved they could still write some impressive material once in a while (songs like 'Maze of Papers', 'Empty Frame', 'War Fetisjists Kill', 'Archives and Files', 'Logical Exodus', 'Goredom-Boredom' and 'Misery=Destiny' were compositionally enjoyable and masturfully contrived) but the sloppy performance and production of that album really damaged the hidden qualities of it. In 2007 the band went through yet another line-up change with Jan once again remaining the only member. Now he plays guitars instead of bass (and does the lead vocals of course).

This new EP sounds like Agathocles in ’88-‘89 yet the performance always feels a bit too slow. The speed and most of all furiousness are missing. The songs are very simple and short and never cross the boundaries of late eighties grindcore. Not a touch or hint of the quality Agathocles proved to have had during their 1992-1997 days is present and the songs here are so generic, it is almost painful. With each line-up change in their earlier days Agathocles managed to evolve. To incorporate new influences while still remaing the leading European grind- and crustcore band. This evolutions seems to have made place for devolution. The band persists in going back to their earlier days and also productionally sound as bad as in those days. Also as said the performance is lacking.

Agathocles were once a band of (underground) importance that was constantly growing and discovering new grounds. Now they just sound like old men having a go at what once was fun to do when they were all young. The ideas which once were ideals, have now become restricting dogma’s. Musical chains and conservatism. A painful development.