Black Flag- What The… (2013)

Black Flag- What The… (2013)

Am I dreaming? Black Flag is really back? Or is this some cruel joke on me? Well apparently BF is back with a new record called What The…, so this is a reason to celebrate, as one of my favorite American hardcore band (the Bad Brains might be my FAVORITE), and probably one of the most innovative one is back, although this statement is true only in part, why? Because neither Henry Rollins, Dez Cadena, Chuck Dukowski nor Kira are on this record, but wait, that’s not something to dismay, because BF was an established name in American hardcore long before these guys joined the band, of course, Rollins, Cadena or Kira helped launch the experimental part of the Flag, but California punk revolution started with Ginn, face it.

Greg Ginn, the heart and soul of the BF is back in this record, along with him is Ron Reyes (the man who replaced original singer Keith Morris), also included is Gregory Moore who played drums with Ginn in Gone, a great BF experimental side project, and we have also a guy called Dale Nixon, so who the fuck is Dale Nixon? Well mein freundes Nixon is no other than Ginn, so in this record you have the chance of listening to the great Ginn not only in guitar, but also getting wild on bass (just check the intro to this record).

There’s something we obviously miss form a true BF recording and that’s the cover, strangely, this time the great Raymond Pettibone is not doing the cover, so instead we get a really ugly one by Reyes, but what the hell? This thing is all about music and I’m really happy to get the chance to listen to Ginn`s amazing guitar playing once again in a hardcore punk mode, and if you consider that Reyes is a complete madman on the record, you can assume this is a great record in a time when hardcore punk nostalgia is growing, and bands like OFF! Invoking that nostalgia is becoming more and more recognized, giving Keith Morris a very much deserved second wind.  

If you certainly miss Henry Rollins, My Heart’s Pumping with Reyes manic delivery surely will help you forget a little bit about Rollins, as Reyes shows to be a truly original and certainly an inspiration to the latter approach by Rollins, we get the amazing whirlwind that is Ginns guitar, a man who likes to fly all over the neck of his guitar, playing fast in his own amazing style and playing faster than anyone, just check Down In The Dirt for pure hardcore guitar invention, Ginn always amazingly creative delivering great intelligent guitar riffing which definitely sets BF apart.

Blood and Ashes and Now Is The Time are a big sign of why was BF so important at the beginning of the “alternative revolution” carried by bands like the Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Janes Addiction, BF show great sonic innovation in the hardcore punk context, giving themselves a big chance to experiments, to keep things moving and to always surprise us with strange, bizarre and intriguing structures and twists in their music, whole Wallow In Despair is pure guitar madness from the beginning, a sign of a band that has not lost any of its former fury, and one whose sound was so ahead of its time, that doesn’t need a big change to sound fresh and contemporary, and its definitely a big joy to have the chance of listening to Ginn getting really crazy on both bass and guitar as shown on Slow Your Ass Down, were Ginn initial notes sounds as commanding as the Dee Dee Ramones legendary “1,2,3,4…”

What The…is an amazing timeless document, one that incredibly shows the band in its own dimension, unshaken by new musical tendencies or times and fully capable of delivering more of the same mighty noise, with Greg Ginn endless ability to create imaginative guitar riffs and providing very exciting moments in hardcore and showing how his exotic and intense guitar approach helped immensely hardcore punk to transcend into the future, not a comeback, but a reaffirmation of the power of Ginn and his great musical vision.