Various Artists “Black on Black…A Tribute to Black Flag”
Let’s face it – we all treat tribute albums with great skepticism. First, we all get worked up about what bands get selected, and then when our expectations, stemming from the original song of course, are not met, we rip into the faulty bands for being so inferior to the mountains of classics past. “Black on Black – A Tribute to BLACK FLAG” does much to dispel the foregoing argument (since the original BLACK FLAG songs weren’t all that sonically amazing), though it still fails to capture to stunning blight that BLACK FLAG wrought. I’m hardly a BLACK FLAG expert – in fact, the only thing I’ve ever owned of theirs was a fourth-generation dubbed cassette of “Damaged,” but it’s still clear to me that much of what these guys put out still shows up as influential today. This eight-song disc is a collection of four highly-limited split 7″s on Initial featuring BLACK FLAG covers from the likes of GIVE UP THE GHOST, ANODYNE, BURNT BY THE SUN, COALESCE, CONVERGE, DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN, THE HOPE CONSPIRACY, PLANES MISTAKEN FOR STARS, and PLAYING ENEMY. Without a doubt, GIVE UP THE GHOST’s working of “Depression” is the most original to form, sounding like a high-fidelity update to a 20 year illness. COALESCE’s “Jealous Again” is a ball of energy, and CONVERGE’s “Annihilate the Weak” is slightly less than murderous on the ears. My favorite tune on here though is THE HOPE CONSPIRACY’s thrashing of the classic “Nervous Breakdown.” PMFS does “Wasted” some modern justice as well with some blessed gutteral screams. The only thing I would have changed with this would have been replacing PLAYING ENEMY’s sludgy closer of “Six Pack” with something more punchy, as the disc tends to end on a flat note. If only all tributes to bands could get so much accomplished in 27 minutes, we’d all be spared a lot of embarrassing moments. “Black on Black” isn’t the most brillant collection of covers ever amassed, but it treats the BLACK FLAG legacy well, and provides a thrilling modern hardcore/metal reflection in noting that although this music has come so far since the beginning, those songs in the beginning raised quite a standard to follow and top.
Initial
