BLACK FLAG — My War (review)

BLACK FLAG — My War album cover Album · 1984 · Hardcore Punk Buy this album from MMA partners
5/5 ·
Warthur
Delayed by contractural issues, Black Flag's follow-up to Damaged doesn't even try to follow the quirky, accessible hardcore style of that album, but instead works on expanding the sonic palette of hardcore. The influence of SST stablemates Saint Vitus crops up here, as Black Flag embrace fuzzier, slower, more downtuned riffs and doom influences to produce an album of two halves. Side A consists of a brace of hardcore punk songs with Greg Ginn's downbeat guitar playing adding a more morose spin to proceedings, and Henry Rollins no longer offering quirky jokes like TV Party. (Instead, over the whole course of the album it feels like the emotional wounds evident in the title track from Damaged have been festering all this time.)

On the second side, everything slows way the fuck down, and as Henry wails and moans his way through his tortured lyrics Greg goes full-on sludge metal with the listener; indeed, it's the blending of hardcore aesthetics and doom metal slowness here which arguably created the blueprint for sludge metal to follow.

Overall, My War is a much more challenging album than Damaged, and hardcore punk purists may find it disappointing - but as a twisted, sludgey, doomy bit of metal-tinged punk, it's a classic.
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