By Kyle Francis
Black Flag are one of the originators of hardcore and today are being musically honoured by the hardcore and metal bands they’ve influenced with Black On Black: A Tribute to Black Flag. Of course, just because these groups grew up listening to and emulating Black Flag, doesn’t mean they’re any good at it.
As with most tribute albums, there is good and bad. Some of the highlights on Black On Black are Most Precious Blood’s rendition of “Rise Above,” Give Up The Ghost’s “Depression” and especially Converge’s “Annihilate This Week.” There are a few other songs near mentions, but the majority of the 15-track album is just boring. Most of the songs simply sound like Black Flag originals with metal distortion on the guitars and some dude growling instead of singing.
The point of a cover is to explore a great song with your own style, not simply copy it. The few who did it well make this album worth it, while the others are just filler. This CD should have been no more than seven songs long.