Though the band didn't officially break up until 1987, 1985's IN MY HEAD was Black Flag's last studio recording, as well the last release to feature longtime drummer Bill Stevenson, who left shortly after these sessions to rejoin the Descendents and later form All. Capping two years of exhausting productivity--four studio albums, a live album, and an instrumental EP--IN MY HEAD finds Stevenson, singer Henry Rollins, bassist Kira Roessler, and guitarist Greg Ginn moving back toward straightforward punk after a period spent exploring jazz-tinged heavy metal. Neither as manic as the band;s earliest material or as sluggish as the fruit of its metal-thud era, the 12 songs on IN MY HEAD are mostly mid-tempo rockers with plenty of room both for Rollins\' political broadsides and Ginn's metallic solos. The album is also more cohesive than most Black Flag LPs.
