Of the original Flying Nun bands, the Verlaines - the flexible vehicle for Graeme Downes - are still the most ambitious.
Downes' lyrical depth and mercurial melodies deliver durable albums which bristle with rage rather than succumb to the comforts of age. Here in angry opener Born Again Idiot, theprotagonist talks to God who says he should have read His book but "you read Nietzsche instead, I'll catch up with you shortly after you're dead".
In the seductively jazzy On the Patches ("off the fags") Downes says there's no good argument for intelligent design "unless she's a sadist" and there's an apocalyptic gloom about the evolutionary path in Dark Riff ("time's quickening drum").
Woozy trombone in the bent ballad Diamonds and Paracetamol, about cruel infirmity, creates disconcerting unease, as do whirligig guitars and horns in the swinging Beauty is Truth.
An angry scepticism is rife ("I've grown tired of perfection"), there's barely suppressed fury at those who have pets as fashion accessories and in places there's a broad political subtext.
James K Baxter's long shadow is here too, the 11-minute Last Will and Testament is dense, acerbic poetry and the final piece What Sound is This? comes on like an antipodean Fall.
Not easy, but often with a grip like that ancient mariner eyeballing the wedding guest.
Stars: 4/5 Verdict: Still raging against the machine, and the long goodnight. Buy this album here.
