LOST APPEAL: Haggus - "Mincecore Until You Die" 5" Lathe Cut (2015) Review

One of my top bands from last year was the unbelievably fun and amazing mincegore band Haggus, from Oakland CA. Although only around for barely two years, Haggus have already recorded dozens of songs and released numerous cassette splits and EP's. All of which are brilliant and highly essential in my opinion. I've been itching to obsessively hoard and collect every release they've done. Like with every mince band I enjoy. I swear it's a curse that these bands are so prolific, but that keeps the fun of the hunt going on. In any case, I was able to finally snag a chunk of their tapes from Mullet Death Records. And also this, the second pressing of the "Mincecore Until You Die" 5" lathe cut. A charming little release that I knew I would have trouble with, but had to own it regardless. This was released on the bands own label, Fuck Your Life Records.

Haggus are a band that is proud to be mincecore as fuck. Fun and greasy to the marrow. Creating a beautiful hybrid of catchy, punky songs, high speed goregrind and brutal imagery. "Mincecore Until You Die" is a tight collection of six songs in their catalog, remastered into a neat little EP. Real banger tracks are on here, all wins no flubs. This would probably be a great thing to show anyone who wants to get into Haggus. The opening track "Accurate Exaggeration" alone pretty much sums up the fun of Haggus in a tight minute. With it's polka beat, memorable stops and powerful blasting.

The clearly labeled "Second Press" also has a completely different cover then the first. Both were limited to just 50 copies. The thing's also 1-sided to go along with it. I really dig the look of this thing. Going back to what I hinted at earlier about knowing there would be problems with this; lathe cuts have been really tricky for me. They're a gamble no matter how you look at it, and a lot of time the major payoff of having a lathe in aesthetic, not sound quality. Coupled with the fact that my turntable doesn't like playing 5-inch records, I had to do some trickery to finally hear it. I got it played through, and it sounded good. But just mechanically it's not a "throw on and play" record. I just had to have it because it's Haggus and they're too good not to have everything they do.