MY WAR - Black Flag

YEAR: 1984

LABEL: SST

TRACK LISTING: My War, Can't Decide, Beat My Head Against the Wall, I Love You, Forever Time, The Swinging Man, Nothing Left Inside, Three Nights, Scream

IMPRESSIONS: This is my favourite Black Flag album mostly for side B. Side A contains really great and solid Black Flag songs with Rollins taking over as lead singer and preserving the Black Flag sound of the previous album "DAMAGED". Side A also features several songs which feature exhilarating tempo changes -- sometime several in one song -- especially tasty on "Beat My Head Against a Wall" whereas "The Swinging Man" sometimes sounds Zappa-like instrumentally. However, it's the final 3 songs which make up Side B that bring in an entirely new sound which is frankly thrilling by contrast; the tempo is almost mind-bogglingly slow yet remains impossibly heavy and doom-laden. . .Black Sabbath has been touted as an influence on the sound of these songs. This album (and Black Flag's subsequent tour of the Pacific Northwest) was apparently a big influence on the dawning of grunge.

MY FAVOURITE TRACKS: My War, Can't Decide, Beat My Head Against the Wall, The Swinging Man, Nothing Left Inside, Three Nights, Scream

FACT SHEET: MY WAR is Black Flag's second album (believe it or not); not counting their countless EPs and live albums. The cover artwork was done by Raymond Pettibon. Black Flag at this time consisted of Henry Rollins (vocals), Greg Ginn (guitar, bass) and Bill Stevenson (drums); the Dale Nixon credited as bass player was a pseudonym for Ginn.