Here at Dying Scene, we’ve been talking a lot behind the scenes about how to maximize our content—not only covering more, but covering better. We’ll be making some changes to our output in the coming months, and the end goal will be to provide our writers with more opportunities to write in-depth reviews, editorials, and interviews. Part of this is adapting our review format—there is simply too much out there to cover and full-length reviews just aren’t time effective. That doesn’t mean we’re getting rid of longform reviews (we’d rather die), only that when we do them, we’ll be investing more in them and treating them as we would a feature. For the rest, we want to cover the multitude of bands that are working hard out there but might get squashed under the great wheel of the album submissions game. Short-form reviews—as short and loud as punk itself—will be a way for us to cover more while still providing honest, dependable feedback. Let us know what you think of the new format, we plan to roll out capsule reviews as they accumulate from here on out.
I’m always on the lookout for rhythmic, melodic post-hardcore to make a comeback. You know what I’m talking about. Stuff that resides somewhere between Fugazi, NoMeansNo, Hot Water Music, and At the Drive-In. Aggressive, angular, creative, and singable.
Agador Spartacus hail from Hamburg, Germany and have come out swinging with the sort of EP that can’t help but turn heads. These guys are killing it with twisty, riffy tracks of guitar-centric post-hardcore that aren’t afraid of big choruses and big atmosphere. Agastonishing is a gun-metal cool release that deserves to be dug up from under the radar.
“Living Slow/Dying Hard” is fueled with stuttering guitars that switch gears to fuzzed out Snapcase riffs in the blink of an eye, its chorus providing a primal scream-along in the form of its title. “My Beautiful Mind” is another absolute banger, with perhaps the catchiest hook of the album. But this is picking glints from a bucket of gold, Agastonishing is an impressive EP that hooks from the start and then never stops hooking.
Check out: “Living Slow/Dying Hard,” “Tetris”