My War

by

Black Flag

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Anger, depression, paranoia and despair. These themes were all explored before the release of "My War", the mammoth second album by Huntington Beach pioneers Black Flag. There may have even been some dramatic lip service given to the concept of emotional collapse and the experience of hitting zero degrees psychologically.

But this was something quite different. Far from a superficial examination of the ambiance of alienation felt by their audience at the time, "My War" quickly establishes the bands ability to capture the zeitgeist in this non-trivial and genuinely unsettling presentation. Lock yourself in a darkened room alone with your torment and a bottle of Jack Daniels, then turn it up way past eleven and JUST FEEL IT!

"Nothing Left Inside" by itself is a gauranteed purgation of sorrow for those contemplating the value of continued existence.But that's just the tip of the ferocious iceberg. "Beat my head against the wall", "Can't Decide", and the pummeling title track are all frightening representations of schizophrenic energy. At once both detached and passionate.

To be sure, there is musical evolution to accompany the harrowing lyrics of a very young and very tortured Henry Rollins.

Here guitarist Greg Ginn provides the perfect Yin to Rollins Yang in the form of sludgy, Sabbath like punk blues rock, which was unique to the Flag during the early to mid-eightees. During all this innovation their contemporaries were more than happy to hide behind the pandering assurance of blinding speed and virtual anger. "Damaged", the groups previous album, was notable only for its mastery of punk convention.

But on "My War", they actually transcend mere posturing to bring the listener a tangible and disturbing intimacy with neurosis unleashed. Heavy indeed. I am also happy to report that the pace of the album (which is particularly oriented to an L.P. format) survives completely intact on the C.D. There are those who may complain of murky production, but they are only sissies who fail to realize that murky production is one of the endearing charms of the album, just like the unyeilding rhythm section. Drummer Bill Stevenson (The Descendents) is backed up by Ginn who, under the guise of Dale Nixon, does double duty on bass and lead guitar.

I strongly urge any apprentice punk rocker or metal head to experiment with this record. It has been one of the most excruciatingly true and visceral experiences of my entire life, but be warned: It will be a little too intense for fans of whiney new school fare like Good Charlotte and Papa Roach. Better wear a helmet, sonny boy.

This album features some great songs--- particularly "My War" and "Forever Time". Problem is that this is the album where Black Flag ceased being a band so much as Greg Ginn's personal outlet. Black Flag WAS Ginn's outlet from the beginning but it was the chemistry between him and Chuck Dukowski (plus a handful of great drummers) that fueled the music into snarling brilliance. Unfortunately, this album sounds 1) sterile and 2) like they spent too much time perfecting it. It wasn't recorded live--- Ginn played bass on the album under the name Dale Nixon and Rollins vocals don't gel with the music, regardless of how much passion and anger he spews out. He sounds ferocious on some of these songs, but it just isn't mixed well. It almost sounds like he's doing kareoke over the backing music.

I'm not going to trash the slower songs because some of them are actually good songs. However, having heard earlier live renditions of "Scream" and a few other tracks, I must say I think they worked on this a little too long. It would have came out better if it was a little less polished instrumentally.

I favor the early line-ups and I think the two guitar Damaged/'82 Demo period with Dez was their strongest period. There's still some great songs here but honestly I think if this era of Black Flag is your bag, you would be better off with live material. They played some of these songs much better live than what is contained here.