Time for another installment of Great Bands You Didn't Know Existed. Don't feel bad for never having heard of The Pathetx, though - this collection on Third Man is their first ever release. Active in Detroit at the start of the 80s, I'm presuming they've long existed as a local obscurity only, and it's taken someone like Jack White to shine a light on them and finally get something out. The Detroit connection is not necessarily immediately apparent in their sound, which is much more akin to their west coast contemporaries - Dead Kennedys, The Germs, early X, The Middle Class. But The Pathetx are a little less art-smart, a little more rough n tough, and just maybe a very early prototype for the hardcore/thrash evolution a few years down the road from them. Fast, hard and angry, and not averse to the golden art of the one note solo. They sound like LA, but their balled-up fist of a heart is all Detroit.
