Ministry is an industrial metal band from Chicago, Illinois consisting of keyboardist John Bechdel, drummer Pepe Clarke, bassist Paul D’Amour, secondary guitarist Monte Pittman, lead guitarist Cesar Soto & frontman Al Jourgensen. These guys have put out a dozen full-lengths within the past 4 decades, most notably The Land of Rape & Honey as well as The Mind’s a Terrible Thing to Taste & ΚΕΦΑΛΗΞΘ under Warner Records, signing to Cleopatra Records after the mixed reception of the Nuclear Blast Records-backed Hopiumforthemasses for their 17th & final album.
“Crickets” kicks things off talking about how being the time to embrace the responsibility of our inactivity if dictatorship takes its hold whereas “Voices of Hate” further elaborates their condemnation of fascism. One of my favorite tracks here would be the fiery “Clown Car” from the vocals to the instrumentation, which actually makes the messaging land. In an ironic twist of fate, “We Hate” & “Delete” might be the worst ones here. I’m talking AmeriKKKant levels of unlistenable garbage.
Kicking off the 2nd half, “Grifter” comes through with a mediocre critique regarding the idea of profiting leading into “The White Man Lied” awkwardly sounding like the True Blood theme song within itself. The thrashy “Singularity” decently addresses the rise of AI only for the “Burned Out” video contradicting all of that despite addressing important political issues across the globe, although “We’re Still Here” would go behind “Clown Car” because it does feel bittersweet.
This is like the 3rd time Al Jourgensen said he would he retire considering that The Last Sucker & From Beer to Eternity were originally billed as Ministry’s victory lap, but I’d certainly put Hate to Go: Takeout or Delivery above the latter & behind The Last Sucker. His politics haven’t changed & as much as I really want to like it for speaking up against the rise of authoritarianism, the industrial/groove metal production feels meat & potatoes.
Score: 2.5/5
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