Rollins Band & Friends - "Rise Above: 24 Black Flag Songs to Benefit the West Memphis Three" (2002)

The tragic fate of the West Memphis Three surely haven't been missed by anyone, and one dude who was affected by this atrocity of injustice was Henry Rollins who decided to do his best to raise some money for their cause.

So he got his Rollins Band to record two dozen Black Flag songs and invite an impressive line-up of people to do some Black Flag karaoke. These include everyone from Nick Oliveri (Queens of the Stone Age, Mondo Generator), Corey Taylor (Slipknot) and Lemmy (Motörhead) to vintage Black Flag royalty like Kira Roessler, Keith Morris and Chuck Dukowski.

And let's not forget Inger Lorre - I had a massive crush on Inger when I was a kid and hearing her singing on Slip It In only rekindled it. Her band The Nymphs released an utterly brilliant selftitled album in 1991 before breaking up and fading into obscurity. If you haven't heard the album you have a lot to look forward to. Go check it out!

I remember reading about all the guests before the album came out thinking it was too good to be true and while it holds no candle to the originals, this is even better than you'd think. The Rollins Band are on fucking fire, infusing every song with much of the hate and raw energy of the originals, consistently playing them faster than Black Flag did back in the day.

Personal favorites here include I've Had It, with The Mars Volta's Cedric Bixler-Cavala manic vocals, and American Waste starring Neil Fallon. I've heard Fallon bellow out groovy blues rock in Clutch for so long I had forgotten how much venom he has in him. Definitely his best vocal performance in years, and that also goes for Tom Araya who spits more blood in the 53 seconds of Revenge than he has done for the last 20 years in Slayer.

(mp3) Neil Fallon - American waste
(mp3) Cedric Bixler-Cavala - I've had it
(mp3) Nick Oliveri - Jealous again
(mp3) Mike Patton - Six pack
(mp3) Tom Araya - Revenge

Buy the album, support the cause.

And here are the originals. Because why not?

(mp3) Black Flag - I've had it
Taken from Nervous Breakdown (ep, 1978)

(mp3) Black Flag - Jealous again
(mp3) Black Flag - Revenge
Taken from Jealous Again (ep, 1980)

(mp3) Black Flag - Six pack
(mp3) Black Flag - American waste
Taken from Six Pack (ep, 1981)

All available on The First Four Years (compilation, 1983)