Music genres are weird and dumb and I want to take a look at some of the weirdest and dumbest genres that there are. That’s the whole point of this segment, to look at some of these hyper-specific sub-genres that have popped up over the years and analyze where they came from, what good examples are, and what they… are. Without further ado, WTF is mincecore?

Mincecore is a subgenre of grindcore, which is itself a crossover genre between death metal and hardcore punk. For the purposes of not making this article a million years long I’m going to operate under the assumption that you already have a passing familiarity with grindcore. Very short songs, very fast tempos, very loud guitars. That’s grindcore. It’s just a flurry of blast beats and screaming for 30 seconds at a time. When it comes to the lyrics and themes on the other hand, there’s a bit of a split. A lot of the genre and its various subgenres deal purely in extremity. Album art is covered in visceral gore and song titles are purposely as offensive as possible. Originally however, there was a strong left-wing political slant to the lyrics, taking cues directly from the hardcore punk that influenced things in the first place.

This is where mincecore comes in. Fed up with some of the more problematic elements that had started to creep into grind with the push for bands to become more and more extreme, Agathocles were the first ones to coin the term. Taking a hardline stance against homophobia and misogyny, they brought things back to the hard left political leanings that the genre started off with. On the musical side of things they also tend to lean on their punk influences pretty hard. Riffs are a little simpler, tempos are a little slower, drums are a little bouncier. There’s still plenty of blast beats and screaming, but this is one grind subgenre where it’ll be common to find yourself wanting to bob your head.

Agathocles

This is the one. Agathocles hail from Belgium and have been going pretty consistently since 1985 with a handful of lineup changes throughout the years. Their discography is massive, but there’s really no bad place to start, and you can hear the style itself forming throughout their catalogue. They were the ones who coined the term, after all.

Haggus

The masked mincers themselves, Haggus come from California and have been around for about five years, making them one of the newest groups to pick up the mantle. That said, they hit the ground running and have been absolutely pumping out releases. Splits, albums, compilations. Their discography is way bigger than it has any right to be, honestly. These guys make super fun, super bouncy mincegore with low pitched down gurgley vocals.

Archagathus

Like most mincecore bands, Archagathus are Agathocles worship. Unlike most mincecore bands, these guys went one step further and even gave themselves a name to match. Archagathus was the son of Greek tyrant Agathocles. Clever. With that out of the way, look at this magnificent album cover. Congratulations, you’re pregnant. You’re welcome.

Rot

Brazilian band Rot were another earlier mincecore band, but they definitely lean a lot harder into the sounds of traditional grind. If you want blast beats everywhere with only the occasional bouncy part, then this is the one for you!