Black Spot

by Matt WhalleyThe Black Spot does not beat out Loggerhead as best album in the nineties but comes very close. D.O.A. fizzled out in the late eighties with albums that didn't match up to the fury of their first recordings. The albums lacked the attitude that the band started out with more of a focus on protest songs. On The Black Spot, D.O.A. is still making statements but they are able to capture the spirit that their first records had. Joey Shithead and Brian Goble's lyrics sound more grown-up but still very angry. The rage wasn't translating on albums like Murder or 13 flavors of Doom. It is easy to see the songs on The Black Spot being played live where as Murder and 13 Flavors of Doom don't seem to have any anthems. The earliest and most memorable D.O.A. songs always had a simple catch phrase that you could chant along with. They made great punk rock anthems. The Black Spot has these kinds of anthems that hadn't been present on D.O.A. in along time. Songs like "Order" are classic West Coast Hardcore made twenty years after the fact. It is amazing to see a band that appeared to have run its course come back with two solid albums in the early and mid-nineties. The Black Spot deserves to be held up with D.O.A.'s earliest work as well as their work with Jello Biafra. Loggerhead, The Last Scream of the Missing Neighbors and The Black Spot seemed to signify a Second Coming for D.O.A. but unfortunately it didn't last.