Messthetics #128: Pathology 1979-84

A compilation spanning the 5 year career (1979-84) of this Manchester band, collected by our buddies at Hyped 2 Death. flatly delivered, marble-mouthed lyrics (just one or two marbles, not a bunch). Mostly meandering guitar and bass beats. The instruments usually drown out the lyrics but are always subordinate to a lyric's rhythms. I think it's post-punk, with some very metal-like riffs that fizzle out into those meandering beats.These blokes worked in a psych ward, which influences the lyrics here when you can make them out. Gritty and misanthropic and so good. I like most of the first 10 tracks, my picks among those are 3, 7-10. FCC: 12 is indecent.
--Frank

1) sunny, jangly guitars. dialog heard under vocals near end. about the drink
2) more drum heavy, drums pounded in chorus which is sung more than most lyrics
3) **short story (it is read) about insane girl who drowns the family cat. mostly bass, high-pitched guitars mid-tempo drum. cool horn toward the end; indulgent ending
4) song written by 15 yo atheist. Main refrain: "There is no God" insistent, moody guitars and very low-fi vox
5) nice mid-tempo beat, low-fi guitars and fun hook, if a forgettable one. If you polished this up, you could put it in a Tony Hawk game.
6) slight, nodding beat with guitars in support. not much of a song
7) **stocatto beat. horn. fem, low-fi vocals. creepy, misanthropic.
8) ***most complex guitars so far, a sort of modern metal feel at some points. also another scratchy guitar. chanting quality to lyrics. of soldiers: "false morals...no morals, no emotion"
9) **You can hear metal here, but it's like they didn't know what metal was and just end up going into this vicious holding pattern, so good. "hate is a virtue...your religion couldn't save me" satanic, I think
10) ***version of 7, the instrumentation is more refined and the horn more prominent. Instead of the lyrics there is audio of "a genuine fight at a gig in Southport" Awesome.
11) improvised. instruments are drowned out and lyrics are shouted pretty artlessly.
12) guitars have hint of southern rock. cool guitar at the end sounds almost like piano FCC: indecent
13) synthy guitar feedback, sometimes sintar-like. horn 2.5 min in. vocals turn to preaching and back to normal
14) shades of surfer rock to start but overblown distorted guitars come in. sounds like there's an elephant at points.
15) screachy guitars and uptempo drums.
16) very polished.
17) meandering marching beat. 4 minutes in comes in some screachy feedback. ends quiet.