Black Flag – My War

My Waris the second studio album by American bandBlack Flag. It polarized fans on its release in 1984 onSST Recordsover theLP’sB-side, on which the band slowed down to a heavy,Black Sabbath-esque trudge, despite the reputation the band had earned as leaders in fasthardcore punkon its first album,Damaged(1981).

After a period of legal troubles which prohibited the band from using its own name on recordings, Black Flag returned to the studio with a new approach to its music that incorporated a greater variety of styles, resulting in a sound orthodox punks found difficult to accept. The line-up had shrunk from five members to three: vocalistHenry Rollins, drummerBill Stevenson, and co-founding guitaristGreg Ginn. Ginn doubled on bass guitar under the name “Dale Nixon” for the recording as co-founding bassistChuck Dukowskileft the band shortly before recording; the album includes two tracks Dukowski wrote.

The A-side of the LP is composed of six generally high-paced, thrashy hardcore tracks, featuring guitar solos unusual in punk music. On the B-side are three tracks in asludge metalstyle, each breaching six-minutes with ponderously slow tempos and dark, unrelenting lyrics of self-hatred. The band members had grown their hair long when they toured the album in 1984, further alienating theirhardcore skinheadfanbase. Despite mixed reception at the time of the album’s release,My Waris now regarded as one of Black Flag’s seminal releases and had a major influence on the development ofsludge metal,grunge, andmath rock.