6 of 7 thought this review was well writtenWhile it isn't too difficult to find people who sing the praises of Black Flag's classic releases, there is a point in their discog where the interest seems to taper off, resulting in some now undeservingly neglected material. The indifference is an understandable reaction to a certain extent, but any notion that later Black Flag is entirely without merit is a mistaken one. Their final album
In My Head is one of the reasons why, and unsurprisingly its odd, discordant nature helped to continue the post-
Damaged tendency of alienating large sections of their fanbase right up till the end. It still holds up as one of their stranger, more interesting records.
Their third release of 1985 after
Loose Nut and
The Process of Weeding Out,
In My Head is distinguished primarily by its heavy, oppressive mood and the manner in which Greg Ginn melds the sharp, dissonant soloing and experimentation of preceding releases with the more straightforward hard rock and metallic elements that had been mostly kept separate. This yields perhaps its most successful result on the awesome title track, but even the more uncomplicated moments like “Drinking and Driving” are contorted and shifted slightly left of center by Ginn’s playing. As with pretty much any Black Flag full length, there’s some clunky low points (“The Crazy Girl”) and detractors can point to Rollins' distant, reverbed vocals, a leaden drum sound and the general ugliness of the whole thing, but standouts like “Paralyzed” and “Society’s Tease” deliver the goods regardless. Ultimately, it’s another eccentric Black Flag album where the idiosyncrasies become part of the appeal.
