Family Man - Black Flag

I bet no one could see this coming; a hardcore punk album split down the middle, with one half devoted to instrumentals and the other given over to spoken word narratives from Henry Rollins, unaccompanied by backing music until his grand finale 'Armageddon Man.' Black Flag's inventiveness will doubtless surprise anyone who approaches them with preconceptions of what makes hardcore punk rock, as Rollins' occasionally poetic, often surreal monologues are a far cry from the political conscience of earlier songs like 'Police Story.' The monologues are mostly fairly short, with the exception of the ten-minute 'Armageddon Man' that works brilliantly, and the less ...