What The...
| What The… | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | November 5, 2013 | |||
| Recorded | 2013 | |||
| Genre | Hardcore punk | |||
| Length | 43:55 | |||
| Label | SST (391) | |||
| Producer | Greg Ginn | |||
| Black Flag chronology | ||||
| ||||
What The… is the seventh studio album by American
Artwork
Unlike the cover art of the majority of Black Flag's catalog, What The… was not designed or illustrated by
Reception
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
Consequence of Sound |   [12] |
| Exclaim! | 4/10[13] |
| Kerrang! | [14] |
| Pitchfork | 4.9/10[15] |
| Rock Sound | 4/10[16] |
What The... was poorly received by music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 42, based on 10 reviews, which indicates "mixed or average reviews".[9]
AllMusic gave the album a rating of two and a half stars out of five.[10] The reviewer felt that vocalist Ron Reyes "was never one of Black Flag's better vocalists, and he hasn't improved much after more than 30 years" and that "this music seems clumsy and half-hearted, and Ginn's interplay with new drummer Gregory Amoore [sic] feels sluggish and leaden at every turn."[10]
By contrast, both the A.V. Club and Pitchfork found Reyes' vocals to be a strong suit of an overall disappointing album. The former described Reyes' vocals as "meaty and dripping, his voice is a hundred scabs being ripped off at once", and the latter found the vocalist to be the effort's "unlikely star". However, both reviews faulted the album for having inconsistent musical quality across 22 tracks, despite periodic highlights. [11][15]
Track listing
All tracks are written by Greg Ginn and Ron Reyes, except "Off My Shoulders" written solely by Ginn.[10]
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "My Heart's Pumping" | 2:12 |
| 2. | "Down in the Dirt" | 3:39 |
| 3. | "Blood and Ashes" | 1:48 |
| 4. | "Now Is the Time" | 1:47 |
| 5. | "Wallow in Despair" | 1:30 |
| 6. | "Slow Your Ass Down" | 1:50 |
| 7. | "It's So Absurd" | 1:11 |
| 8. | "Shut Up" | 1:43 |
| 9. | "This Is Hell" | 2:01 |
| 10. | "Go Away" | 2:32 |
| 11. | "The Bitter End" | 2:02 |
| 12. | "The Chase" | 2:17 |
| 13. | "I'm Sick" | 1:45 |
| 14. | "It's Not My Time to Go-Go" | 1:36 |
| 15. | "Lies" | 2:47 |
| 16. | "Get Out of My Way" | 1:01 |
| 17. | "Outside" | 2:44 |
| 18. | "No Teeth" | 1:44 |
| 19. | "To Hell and Back" | 1:43 |
| 20. | "Give Me All Your Dough" | 1:28 |
| 21. | "You Gotta Be Joking" | 1:17 |
| 22. | "Off My Shoulders" | 3:18 |
Personnel
Black Flag[10]
- Ron Reyes – lead vocals
- Greg Ginn – guitars, organ, theremin
- Dale Nixon– bass
- Gregory Moore – drums, backing vocals
Additional musicians[10]
- Mathew Cortez – drums
- The Ducky Boys of Granger Lake – backing vocals
- Ron Raygunn – backing vocals
- Cliff Samuels – backing vocals
- Eric Vasquez – backing vocals
Production[10]
- Andy Batwinas – engineering
- Mike Shear – engineering
- Greg Ginn – composition
- Ron Reyes – composition
References
- ^ Flynn, John (October 24, 2013). "Black Flag to release 'What The...'". Punknews.org. Retrieved October 24, 2013.
- ^ a b c Adams, Gregory (October 24, 2013). "Black Flag Unveil New 'What The...' Album". Exclaim!. Retrieved October 24, 2013.
- ^ Yancey, Bryne (November 5, 2013). "Media: Black Flag: 'What The...'". Punknews.org. Retrieved November 5, 2013.
- ^ Lipshutz, Jason (November 27, 2013). "Black Flag Singer Ron Reyes Fired Mid-Show". Billboard. Retrieved June 18, 2016.
- ^ Wolfgang's Vault. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
- ^ White, Adam (November 26, 2013). "Ron Reyes and Black Flag split". Punknews.org. Retrieved December 5, 2013.
- ^ Consequence of Sound. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
- ^ a b Eakin, Marah (October 25, 2013). "Black Flag's new album has pretty horrible cover art". The A.V. Club. The Onion. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
- ^ CBS Interactive. Retrieved December 4, 2013.
- ^ Allmusic. All Media Network. Retrieved December 4, 2013.
- ^ a b Heller, Jason (December 3, 2013). "Black Flag returns, not that it needed to". The A.V. Club. The Onion. Retrieved December 5, 2013.
- ^ Bray, Ryan (December 2, 2013). "Album Review: Black Flag – What The..." Consequence of Sound. Retrieved December 13, 2013.
- ^ Khanna, Vish (December 3, 2013). "Black Flag – What The..." Exclaim!. Retrieved December 13, 2013.
- ^ This is more Beige Flag--and would have been more aptly titled Why... [30 Nov 2013, p.54]
- ^ Pitchfork. Retrieved December 5, 2013.
- ^ Deller, Alex (December 13, 2013). "Black Flag - What The". Rock Sound. Retrieved March 5, 2025.
