Review Summary: Feeling more like a cash-grab than an actual album, What The… is a textbook example of a failed comeback.
When you think of punk rock, there’s a good chance that the name Black Flag will pop up at some point. Being one of the most influential bands of the 1980s, it’s quite easy to see why they’re so recognized and renowned. While certain albums of theirs don’t receive the widespread acclaim as others, you simply can’t argue that their influence isn’t there. With that said, when we heard Greg was going to form a new version of Black Flag with him being the only original member, most of us were probably left scratching our heads in confusion.
The biggest issue that people brought up was the fact that Keith Morris, Chuck Dukowski, Bill Stevenson, and Stephen Egerton already reformed a version of Flag without Ginn. Two out of those four are original members, and Stevenson joined the band originally in 1983. While originally performing under the Black Flag name, Greg Ginn sued them claiming that he had full ownership of the Black Flag name. This string of events was right before
What The… came out, and right before Greg reformed his own hybrid of Black Flag, which only makes this album seem like a cash grab to go against the other lineup. With that said, the album itself is nowhere near the standard of Black Flag’s past material. With Ron Reyes on vocals, the album has a sound similar to the one utilized on
Jealous Again, for better or worse. Those six minutes of that EP feel like they’ve been stretched to a full album’s length for this record.
For the music itself,
What The… is Black Flag with absolutely every single form of experimentation stripped to the absolute basics of punk rock. While this worked for their earlier material quite well, it gives this album a very lazy feel. Even without their past material in mind, this album still falls flat on its face as a hollow shell of punk rock. Songs like “My Heart’s Pumping”, “Wallow in Despair”, and “Shut Up” often come across as self-parody, and sometimes sound like they were poorly ripped off of
Damaged in extreme cases. Greg’s guitar work is more or less exactly what he did in the early 80s, but it doesn’t have that sloppy edge he was known for. Everything is performed almost too well, to the point of where it loses any feel of being a punk rock album. As for the production, it's very muffled and sterile, with the drums being pushed almost all the way into the back of the mix. This basically makes it sound like every other “modernly” produced rock record, which is a true shame.
So overall,
What The… feels like nothing but a dated attempt at an edgy punk rock record. Greg presents nothing significantly new, except for a modern production job and more emphasis on his guitar effects. While a conservative effort could be nice for most bands,
What The… is just a rehashed version of what Black Flag was, and literally borders on self-parody. None of the presented material here is particularly memorable, with it all just being the same old sound. Greg might’ve gotten back at the FLAG incarnation of his old band, but this album doesn’t prove anything besides the fact that Black Flag should’ve just ended in 1986.
