The fall of the once-mighty, however,
is cheap pathos. Over and above such King-Creon-brought-low artifacts
are the things that greeted smaller audiences when they arrived but
were swallowed whole by history. For these sorts of records to be
interesting, they have to meet a rather more stringent set of criteria.
Yessongs, for example, doesn’t have to be any good to
inspire pity in the coldest heart; that it fell from a position of
prominence is somehow sad, whether it deserved to fall (it did) or
not. For an album that didn’t get any attention in the first
place to raise similar sentiments, its has to kick ass.
It needs to cry out from the speakers: “I’m over here! I’m
worth hearing! My hour is passing! Somebody! Anybody! Listen up!”
The Verlaines have a whole catalogue of just such
records, but the indignation factor is offset a little by the way
the Verlaines clearly understood their position. Verlaines records
don’t try to look imposing; they’re pleasant little documents,
there for the enjoying by anyone who wants them, not looking to make
a big stir if you don’t already care about them. Such is not
the case with our present company, a death metal album by a Dutch
band called Thanatos.
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