BLACK FLAG – DAMAGED (SST RECORDS)
Damaged is an astoundingly good record, one of the tightest examples ever of a unit firing on all cylinders able to maintain a deadly and economical ferocity that simply blows away anything that dare resembles an obstacle.
This was the record that gave birth to Henry Rollins. After a batch of singles this was the first Black Flag studio record proper and from the off it blitzes without flinching on the none too subtle “Rise Above” that serves as a rallying call to anyone looking to stand up for themselves when feeling in a stifling situation and circumstances. It is genuinely possible to tap into the energy and sentiments of this record almost immediately and very easily.
With Greg Ginn playing like his guitar is on fire, the hooks are super heavy and painfully blunt as they jolt the listener from out of their seat and serves them with an aural slap in the face and sometimes a kick in the groin with almost each song beginning with his trademark feedback.
Clocking in at 34 minutes the 15 songs represent towering examples of hardcore where the intensity actually manages to sustain longer than the power bursts of songs that populate the releases of most bands of the early eighties era. In Damaged the world sees Black Flag at its peak, at the height of its powers with probably the best line-up it would ever enjoy.
The most poppy moments of the record appear in the form of the “Six Pack” and “
TV Party” singles both of which over the course of the band’s existence would experience numerous recording and be packaged and repackaged in a number of manners.
It is interesting to note that the majority of the songs were already in place prior to the arrival of Rollins and such his lyrical involvement at this stage was minimal in comparison to how he would later domineeringly be regarded as one of the main songwriters of the genre.
The album can generally be broken down into three types of Black Flag song: the poppy, quirky (as in “TV Party”), the intense outburst (as with “Police Story”) and the midtempo crunch of the two title tracks, which on this record displayed the most nightmarish visions.
Songs such as “Thirsty And Miserable” and “Depression” are the gnarly driving force of the album, the songs that punch holes in the wall where proceedings might otherwise experience a lull. I can’t help but feel as the Black Flag sounded matured that these were the tracks that fell by the wayside in preference to more intricate compositions that Ginn so strived to be playing.
For me this is easily one of the heaviest albums in history. At no point does the guitar sound ever feel weedy (as crime often committed by punk bands) and with the general ferocious landscape of the album it is easy to tell that this was an act walking it the way the talked it, living the life that they were singing about. And that was why none of them made any money (from this band).
If you have never heard this album you are lacking your stripes.
Thesaurus moment: halting.
Black FlagSST Records
