
By: Gavin Brown
Agathocles | website | facebook |
Cause of Divorce | website | facebook | twitter | bandcamp |
Released on March 13, 2016 via WOOAAARGH Records
In a career that has lasted over thirty years and literally thousands of demos/albums/splits/7 inches etc, it is great to see that cult Belgian grindcore (or mincecore as the band themselves would have it) maniacs Agathocles still sound as raw and vital in 2016 and this split release with brutal German grinders Cause of Divorce is as raw and intense as well as vital as it gets.
Agathocles kick things off with ‘My Ride Goes On’ and after a lengthy sample, the grind madness explodes and doesn’t let up for the duration of the split with both Agathocles and Cause of Divorce blasting through their tracks with aplomb.
Agathocles don’t let up after that furious opening and completely tear through their tracks with typical unhinged glee, with the furiously raw ‘Zie Mijn Gelaat’ and the more punky grind of ‘Emptiness’ being particular highlights and just shows that over the past 30 years, the band have honed their grind assault to perfection.
After such a brutal start from such a legendary and well respected band, many bands would struggle to follow this aural assault, but Cause of Divorce are definitely not one of those bands and bring in the noise defiantly. Cause of Divorce have more groove in their sound, but are no less as intense with the likes of ‘Addicted’ and ‘Black Star’ proving this without doubt and the closing grind of ‘Mental Burden’ is as harsh as it gets.
The fact that Agathocles are one of the bands who have most influenced Cause of Divorce, it is fitting to see them do a split together and the results are as raw and brutal as you would hope and both bands’ variations of grind are still as vital now as they were when both first started out.