Big Sleep by False Flag

False Flag made headlines a year ago when the young punk band played a claustrophobic set on BART, winning the band coverage in local news. Hailing from the Tenderloin, the trio followed up their DIY powermove with Big Sleep, eight caustic tracks that’ll have you itching to open up a pit on those fancy new BART cars. The album’s Damaged-era Black Flag punk rock multiplies Henry Rollins-level disgruntlement with three screamers contributing to the mayhem. Opener “Cerebellum Obstruction” sets the vibe with chugging guitar and abrasive screaming, “I’m a slave to that train til’ the end of the line/Itching off my skin/Taking up my time/Our decaying city crumbles/Where’s your hope? Where’s mine?“ “Mind at Bay” oscillates between a caustic doubletime mosh and sludgy overdriven throbs, like Sabbath on quaaludes. The album’s high water mark is the five-minute epic, “My Golden Heart Will Never Bend” which blooms like an explosion from slinky guitar to bombastic sludge. 

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