EP Review: Haggus – The Mincecore Manifesto
Reviewed by Dan Barnes
Formed in 2014 in Oakland, California, as a tribute to Belgian grind gods, Agathocles, Mincecore mob, Haggus, have been made busy releasing an endless number of EPs and splits with the likes of Pyosis, Golem of Gore and Bowel Erosion to name but a few of the very many.
Debut full length, Gore Gore… and More Gore arrived in 2017, Plausibility of Putridity a year later; just in case you were struggling to get a handle of what constitutes Mincecore, know that the third album, Nauseating Polyphasia for the Inharmonious Enthusiast came out in 2019, followed by Straight from the Slaughterhaus in mid-2020. Last year’s fifth and final full-length so far, Destination Extinction, received largely positive reviews.
Seemingly unable to keep themselves out of a recording studio for too long, Haggus is about to release EP number fourteen, The Mincecore Manifesto, through Tankcrimes, which should finally put to bed the question: “What the f… is Mincecore?”
Positioned somewhere between anarcho-punk and dripping goregrind, The Mincecore Manifesto is politically charged from the outset. Decease the Police, for all its catchy riffs, has a punishing low end and an anti-establishment attitude. Fucked Up Future takes its swings at the inequality of wealth, through a fat bass sound and flailing, grinding guitars that, somehow, manage to convey a sense of fun. Welcome to the Mincecore Jungle can otherwise be found on Nauseating Polyphasia… record, lands with blistering speed, brutal barks and froggy croaking vocals.
Three songs down and we’ve barely had five-minutes, which have whipped by in a flash. The punk vibes of Tyranny and Cruelty lean in a Celtic direction through unmissably danceable sections; those frog vocals are back, accompanied by a throbbing bass and grinding blasts during Mincecore Provocateur, while its sibling, Mincecore Gratitude, plays around with an easy riff and some classic thrash metal guitar. Closing tune, Head Infection, bolts together the choppy riffs, the blasting grind and the infectious grooves to give this manifesto a memorable conclusion.
The outlier on this EP sits in its centre: the almost four-minute Ain’t Life Grand, which occupies around a quarter of the run-time. It takes those choppy guitars, adds some groove to the mix, a sprinkle of noise and a few hardcore elements to create a ripping, charging wall of noise, underscored with thrashing, whiplash riffs and shows Haggus aren’t mere wham-bam merchants.
At a touch over fifteen-and-a-half minutes, The Mincecore Manifesto is raw, hostile and bubbling with ire; every tune is a punch to the gut of mediocrity, replacing it instead with the fast, filthy and downright unhinged. It’s a statement of intent from a band not willing to accept the world as it’s become.
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