Let me start off by saying that hardcore punk is not my favorite genre. In fact, according to Black Flag’s rendition of it on their new album What The…, hardcore punk is most likely the worst genre ever created.
To cut the band a little bit of slack, I can imagine hearing songs from Black Flag’s seven-album repertoire emanating from 1980s underground skate shops. Their fast-paced, guitar-shredding style is reminiscent of the rebellious California skateboard culture that revolutionized everything from music to fashion.
Although there are 22 songs on this album, the average song length is about a minute and a half. Each track explodes out of nowhere, tearing a hole in the peace and tranquility of your mind, then ends as abruptly as Usain Bolt running into a brick wall.
What The… opens with “My Heart’s Pumping,” which very well describes the feeling one gets while listening to Black Flag. The incessant yelling by lead singer Ron Reyes throughout the album is prominent on this introductory track, as a constant guitar riff takes control of the background noise, attempting to put some sort of organization into the opener.
Two of the three singles off this album, “The Chase” and “Wallow in Despair,” do not display any further effort into creating songs that would generate excitement for this release. Both tracks, like every other track on What The…, are nearly identical and sound like a mash of noise and the yelling of profanity and gruesome themes.
Black Flag’s earlier albums from the 1980s were regarded as rebellious and disgusting (in a good way), as the band had a major cult following and led the hardcore movement based in southern California. After listening to their new effort at a full album after reconstructing a shell of the original band members, I wish they had stayed broken up.
I found no highlights on this album. Although I found their earlier works to be at least semi-decent for the genre, What The… brings absolutely nothing to the table in the scope of music in 2013. Black Flag has made an embarrassingly bad attempt at a money grab by releasing this new LP, and quite obviously, this attempt has failed.
Rating: F +
