I’ll readily admit that under most circumstances, punk rock isn’t my thing; the idea of a genre where amateurism is a strong feature, and perhaps even a selling point, has never quite sat right with me (which is also why it took me years to even consider listening to black metal or noise music). I’ve found a small amount of highlights, though it’s probably only as small as it is because I’ve not sought out much punk. One such highlight is
My War by
Black Flag, a California punk band of the hardcore variety, hardcore punk being, well, basically punk rock but harder faster, more aggressive, and with harsher (or at least stranger) vocals, to the best of my knowledge. It was mostly relegated to California and Washington, D.C. On California’s end, there were such bands as the
Dead Kennedys and, of course, Black Flag, and D. C. had
Bad Brains and
Minor Threat, among others.
While the band’s debut,
Damaged, fits all those descriptors to a tee, I currently don’t feel the need to revisit that album, because I find
My War to be the better album. The record came out during an interesting time for the band; the president of MCA Records, who distributed their debut, was so offended by
Damaged that he labeled it anti-parent, put that label onto subsequent pressings, and forbade Black Flag from putting their name onto their own recordings. The injunction was later lifted when Unicorn Studios, where they recorded
Damaged, went bankrupt in 1983. There was also some internal strife; Greg Ginn passive-aggressively tried to edge out bassist Chuck Dukowski and force him to leave, because he felt he wasn’t a good enough musician, and leave he did. I can only assume that Ginn knew all too well just how… questionable the rhythm section on
Damaged was. I’ve no idea what fate befell erstwhile drummer Robo, but in any case he got replaced by
Descendents drummer Bill Stevenson. Incidentally, if you listen to this album and like it, I think I can safely recommend the Descendents’ debut,
Milo Goes to College. I like to think it’s a good album, but that’s another review for another time. The album released in March of 1984 to mixed reception; the album was such a different experience to
Damaged that a lot of fans hated it, or perhaps had no idea what to think of it, and I hear the band only got more experimental with the years, but I wouldn’t know, I’ve not listened to the rest of their discography. With all that historical context in mind, to the album.
The record begins with the title track, “My War”, a venomous song which features vocalist Henry Rollins railing against a perceived menace and declaring war on the whole damn world. In my limited experience with Black Flag, I deem this to be Rollins’ best vocal performance; the man sounds like he desperately wants to reach through your speakers and strangle you. Out of all the track listing, this is probably the closest the album sounds to
Damaged; it has a similar energy, but the playing is tighter, and the drumming is better too. Stevenson is an excellent addition; he’s a good timekeeper, good enough that he can keep up with the swift changes in tempo in the more demanding songs that are to come.
“Can’t Decide” is slower and easier on the ears, but not necessarily any less unnerving; Rollins… shouts, for lack of a better word, about repression and indecision, and also lets out some rather pained screams for what’s supposed to be a breather from the opening round of vitriol that was “My War”. “Beat My Head Against the Wall”, a song presumably about beating one’s head against a wall, has a fitful energy to it, alternating between moments of lucidity and a blisteringly animated pace. There’s also a notably atonal Ginn solo, which is quite hard on the ears, but so fractured that it fits the song’s manic energy well.
“I Love You” would probably be a murder ballad if it weren’t as fast as it is, or maybe it really is; the song details a story of a man who works himself into a homicidal rage that he mistakes for love, because he believes his wife to have cuckolded him. This is possibly the most unnerving song on the entire album; Rollins gets increasingly pissed off to match the character’s increasingly violent state of mind, and Ginn’s solo also compliments the song’s anxious mood; it’s almost meandering, and his guitar sounds like it needs new batteries. It’s not off-kilter, per se, but it’s just strange enough to disorient. “Forever Time” is characterized by bursts of controlled noise, and Rollins shouting about… time, I guess. He says time a lot in this song, and screams it too, this song has some of his most powerful screams.
“The Swinging Man” is easily the most bizarre and disorienting song on this LP; Stevenson indulges in some surprisingly technical and frenetic drumming for punk, and there’s a technicality and atonality to Ginn’s playing that almost reminds me of Robert Fripp from
King Crimson. Christ, I never thought I’d compare a punk guitarist to Robert Fripp, but here we are. The song has such turbulently arranged instrumentation that it never feels entirely grounded, the sensation is almost akin to… swinging, for lack of a better word. Truth be told, this song almost sounds like it’d fit more on a
Glenn Branca album than a punk record, but technical though it is, it’s in keeping with the album’s perpetual tension.
Now we come to the part of the album that makes or breaks it for listeners, the B-side. The last three songs, “Nothing Left Inside”, “Three Nights”, and “Scream”, all have similar formulas; they share an obvious
Black Sabbath influence, in that they’re all slow and repetitive six-minute dirges with a pace more akin to doom metal than punk, and the lyricism, while not necessarily any more or less disturbing or even all that different in subject matter from the rest of the album, is more dolorous, with a stronger focus on alienation that pairs rather nicely with the music they accompany. On the topic of doom metal, it’s worth noting these last three songs inspired a metal subgenre called sludge, a fusion of the slow pace of doom metal with vocals inspired by hardcore punk, with the occasional burst of speed (though from my experience that last descriptor is almost never true of the “atmospheric” bands), but that’s another story for another day. Strange though these songs might be to most listeners, I don’t think this swift change of pace is without precedent;
Damaged, for the most part, is a lively and concise album, but its final track is also markedly more deliberate than the rest of that album. It’s slower, the lyrics present a more inwardly focused anger and hatred, not unlike
My War’s B-side, and the song’s so steady and atonal it almost sounds like it could fit into one of the earliest
Swans albums.
A lot of Black Flag fans of the time dismissed the album because of the final three tracks, basically, they were expecting another
Damaged, and what they got instead was something more adventurous, and dare I say more thoughtful, but I like them, I think they have a purpose. I actually think it’s a smart move to have them follow “The Swinging Man”, which is easily the most jarring song, it makes the sudden change in pace almost as strange. I find the differences between the B-side and the rest of the album somewhat overemphasized; while the tempos of those last three songs is drastically different from the rest of the album, I think the subject matter is in keeping with the rest of the album, and I’d say it’s not all that different either, but the song’s lyrics feel far more fatalistic because of the music they’re paired with.
I also find there’s a sort of arc throughout; “Nothing Left Inside” is about having nothing left inside, so, clinical depression perhaps, “Three Nights” is probably a murder ballad, and “Scream” is about Henry Rollins screaming in your ear. Both of them. I think all these songs share a similar anger to the rest of the album, but in a more indirect way, and revealed in a more gradual fashion, to the point where even when Rollins gets close to reclaiming his former vitriolic vigour on “Scream”, the album ends off with him utterly lost. It’s an unconventional way to end a punk album, sure, but it’s that relative unconventionality that makes that final statement all the more effective.
And thus ends
My War; I wasn’t expecting to like it as much as I do. If there is one thing
Damaged is better at, however, I think it had better basslines; the rhythm section on that album’s dodgy, but it had some catchy basslines that this album lacks, aside from maybe the opening of “Can’t Decide”. The bass on this album is just there to provide a steady rhythm section, but that’s fine, that’s the one thing any bassist worth their salt should be able to do. Otherwise, I think
My War to be an improvement in every other way imaginable; the playing is tighter, the musicianship is more disciplined, the band is more experienced, and the album is more calculated and insular in its rage.
Favourite tracks: "Beat My Head Against the Wall", "My War", "Nothing Left Inside"
Least favourite track: "Can't Decide", if I had to choose one
