Black Flag decided to continue on well into the 1980s. Wisely, they branched off from the original Hardcore Punk Music that they delivered with a series of experimental, pseudo-Heavy Metal albums, especially so later on. This is one of the group’s final releases, although not their final release overall, just before Black Flag came to an end. This album continued some of the different ground that they had covered on earlier releases, such as My War (1984) and Slip It In (1984) had delivered. This album was produced by Bill Stevenson, Greg Ginn and David Tarling and was released on 14 May 1985 on SST Records, running for just over 34 minutes in total length. Acclaimed artist Raymond Pettibon did the iconic artwork for this album as well. Black Flag was on this album: Henry Rollins (vocals); Greg Ginn (guitars); Kira Roessler (bass guitar and backing vocals); Bill Stevenson (drums). Let’s take a listen to this album, and we shall hear what we have got.

1. Loose Nut begins with fast drums and downtuned guitars to match. This is an awesome and punchy tune about sexual lust. Very, very cool and sing-along throughout. Decent music is present on this tune, and this song has a very proto-Grunge feel to it. It is an excellent song that rails against a person who requires a partner to get them through life, emotional baggage, if you will. All in all, this tune is dark, discordant and absolutely awesome to hear. Henry Rollins sounds fantastic throughout, and it is a very solid, sweet tune to listen to. Black Flag had the ability and musical talent to pull off some aggressive and interesting sounds throughout. The guitar solo is very close to Black Sabbath in some ways, but the intention is completely different throughout. This song is perfect for a mosh pit style experience. No need for pretentiousness or intellectualism, just purely great music to listen to. Awesome and cool to listen to, from start to the sped up conclusion that falls apart nicely. Top. The outro has some hammer-ons on the guitar.

2. Bastard In Love begins with some downtuned chugging riffs and continues the themes of before. It is a cynical, dark and scathing attack on things present in a horrid relationship. This is the one-sided perspective of a man crazily in love with a woman. The music and lyrics are a brutal and abrasive listening experience, and this is the perfect music to listen to if you hate peace and love-based Hippies. All in all, the discordant, heavy and pounding nature of this music is a wake-up call to those of you who are deliriously in love with the wrong person. Nonetheless, this is an awesome tune that has power, energy and passion. Again, solidly awesome to hear, and it is a good hybrid of Punk and Metal. Cool stuff.

3. Annihilate This Week begins as a midtempo, sludgy piece of music about hitting the self-destruct button in one’s life and desiring things that one cannot obtain in life. This is likely about drug and alcohol use as well. It’s very good and sounds decent, surprisingly enough, for this experimental sort of music. Again, about sexual lust and personal gratification in that respect, this is music for those of you who have no religious, moral or political beliefs. This is a very awesome and interesting listen, with references to the college student lifestyle of music, drugs, alcohol and sex. Still, this is absolutely awesome, to this very day. The guitar solo sounds really fantastic as well. Unbelievably, this music is much better than it gets credit for. Henry Rollins comes across as an iconic Rock/Metal/Punk vocalist who carries this tune along very nicely. A sweet listen. Top tune.

4. Best One Yet is a short tune which is a bit quicker, and has a good guitar riff set. This is a tune about self-loathing and continues the themes of My War (1984) here. This music is a loud, aggressive and punchy mixture of cynical and sarcastic motives for social degradation and selfishness, which we are all guilty of at times. This music is a super, dynamic and interesting listen for all its relative simplicity. Absolutely cool and awesome to hear, this has a real “up yours” sort of attitude about it. Great to hear.

5. Modern Man begins as a slow, doom and gloom sounding piece that sounds absolutely freakishly awesome to listen to. Loud kick drums, dark and melodic guitars, along with a sense of scary attitude, are present. This leads into some sped-up drumming, which launches straight into a driven and decent song that sounds very excellent throughout. A powerful and interesting song that sounds absolutely aggressive and cool, this music is some of the best Punk/Metal-styled music of its time. Henry Rollins spits out vocals in a hollering, aggressive way, and this song has many twists and turns throughout, as it launches back into the intro section to finish off. Top notch. Good work.

6. This Is Good begins with some heavy bass guitar work, launching into a song about violence and some aggressive music to match. This is, again, very much mosh pit music that sounds like a literal punch-in-the-face to listen to. Likely a song about self-harm, this tune is going to be difficult for many to stomach. An interesting and worthy listen about what makes people violent in the first place, this has a suitably discordant guitar solo that sounds messed up, but in the best way possible. A very cool and worthy listening experience, this is a dark listen that explores the depths of the human soul. Violence for violence’s sake is the call to arms of this song. Great to hear.

7. I’m The One begins with some nice and chugging down-tuned guitars, and launches into a pounding and upbeat song that sounds really cool. This music continues to explore the darkest and deepest human emotions that are present within any individual out there. An extremely warped and cool-sounding tune, the guitars are front and centre here. Extremely cool and different, this song is another legendary slice of Punk that will have a huge effect on the Punk or Metal fan out there. Very, very cool and Henry Rollins and Black Flag kick some serious proverbial here. Warped, weird and anti-beauty, this works incredibly well. Great tune. It ends with some sustained and feedback-laden guitars.

8. Sinking launches right into the music with a very nasty and punchy sounding tune that articulates the feelings of loneliness and despair, in a half-hearted way. Still, this is not designed to be taken at all seriously. A loud and warped, punchy tune that sounds like the sort of thing that would be a psychologist’s or psychiatrist’s nightmare, this is driven and messed up enough to have an impact on the serious listener. All in all, this tune is shocking enough, to this day, to scare off those of you who like digital postmodern Pop Music. The guitars sound top and are delivered in a non-melodic and discordant way. This tune does go on a bit longer than needed, but it’s fine. Henry Rollins gives a voice to every young, messed up and angry teenager out there who needs music to blast life away if necessary. This is good for what it is, although it is a bit lengthy, once again. The end has another guitar solo, and the band finishes off well.

9. Now She’s Black is the final song. It begins with some gurgling bass guitar and punchy, pounding drumming. This goes on for a bit until some neat and heavy guitar riffs emerge in the scene. This sounds loud, driven and interestingly suspenseful. This dark and distorted mood of groove goes on, then builds up to a heavy and energetic progression with some great drumming. Very, very good. This eventually launches into a loud and chaotic sounding piece of music with loud and excellent screaming by Henry Rollins. A very good listen. This music is a pounding, possessed-sounding and brutally aggressive listen about some of the worst-case scenarios to a young, white male. This isn’t about racism (or at least from what is being sung here), it is about being sexually attracted to a dark soul. The screaming, anger and power from this song are all absolutely top. It concludes with a totally angry finale, and the album ends nicely there.

Believe it or not, this is a very good album that has power, variety and a load of aggression. It’s not Black Flag’s best album, but certainly not their worst album, either. Even so, for those of you out there who need to raise a middle finger at society and everyone around them, this is not a bad place to start listening to this music. Should you listen to this album? If you have heard other Black Flag releases and you were impressed, go ahead. People who like gentle and beautiful music will not appreciate this, however.

The best punch-in-the-face music that you can hear.

8/10