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Review Summary: Fun music the first few times, but the novelty wears off quickly. It’s hard to believe that Ministry have been releasing industrial (and 80’s electronica) albums for over twenty-seven years now. Twenty-seven years is longer then a lot of their fans have even been alive, it’s longer then most new bands could even dream of lasting. Over those twenty-seven years they’ve released some great albums, but they’ve also released a few duds too. Due to this, every new Ministry release must be met with one question: which category does this fall into, dud or great? As a final “gift” to fans before bowing out gracefully, Al and company have released a collection of cover songs, and the answer to the inevitable question is: this is a dud.
The premise for the album is solid enough; stop with the politics and anger and instead take a bunch of old, fun rock songs and give them the industrialized treatment. The opening track, “Under My Thumb” executes that plan perfectly by mixing the 80’s synth of the first Ministry albums with the heavy guitars of their current sound while at the same time maintaining the vibe and arrangements of the original Rolling Stones song, and it also features guest vocals by Burton Bell of Fear Factory. This song shows that actual thought was put into the arrangements in regards to the skillful way that they’re able to integrate the two opposing sounds, industrial and classic rock. Unfortunately, the only other song to succeed so well is "Radar Love" which features guest vocals by Josh Bradford of Revolting Cocks.
The other songs just don’t seem like enough attention was paid to the actual blending of the styles which ends up making them sound like drunken one-offs. On the two previously mentioned tracks it seemed that special care was taken to blend the synth and guitar elements into the context of the original song, and that simply isn’t the case here. Each song is a repetitive, dull affair with minimal interesting ideas other then replacing the original guitar sound with the wall-of-distortion that Ministry is known for. Vocally things aren’t any better as the vocals are simply processed and then screamed in karaoke fashion, which causes the songs to become obnoxious on top of being boring. When you add the fact that two of the tracks can already be found elsewhere (Supernaut and Roadhouse Blues) the album starts to feel a bit unnecessary.
So this is it? After twenty-seven years of churning out electronic and industrial music, this album is the last we’re getting with the Ministry name attached to it? I can safely say that I am a little disappointed with that. I do want to make it clear that the first few times that you listen to this album you’ll probably enjoy it due to the fun, tongue-in-cheek nature of the songs, but it loses its novelty quick and that is the point I am at while reviewing this album. I guess things could be worse because their final album of original music could have been this bad, but I still wish more time and effort had been put into the making of this album.
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Album Rating: 2.5
It's a little shorter then I figured it would be... update in work...
Edit: DoneThis Message Edited On 04.10.08
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nice review, album looks odd though.
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Great review as usual 
I'm becoming something of a Ministry fan, but mind you i've only heard their earlier stuff. I expect to find a few duds later on.
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
I dunno, I actually liked this album. Not as good as their earlier releases, but still...
The review was well written though.
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Knowing full well that Al Jourgenson has alot of tongue in cheek humour to him, I would rather just ignore this album and pretend that he went out on a high note with The Last Sucker (at least I found it good). Even though I will not be checking this album out, I will say this review was well written. Can't comment on the song descriptions because I will never check this out.
| | | Album Rating: 2.5
I'm becoming something of a Ministry fan, but mind you i've only heard their earlier stuff. I expect to find a few duds later on. In my opinion everything between (but not including) Psalm 69 and Houses of the Mol are duds...The Last Sucker (at least I found it good). I thought it was good too, just not compared to the two before it...
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Agreed. Houses of the Mole and Grand Rio Blood actually incorporated more of a thrash element which I found to only heighten Ministry's industrial approach.
I still refuse to believe he made this album. I hate cover albums. Sad excuse to cash in IMO.
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ive yet to dig this fast pace industrial style but im sure i'll eventually come around. and you should review last rights. i just picked it up and you make good reviews.
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Al, Tommy, Ministry: PLEASE STOP RELEASING ALBUMS. PLEASE!
This is coming from a huge Ministry fan. Ever since Rio Grande, they've REALLY sucked IMO.
Pretty good short review, by the way.
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I will nefer get Filth Pig, Dark Side of the Spoon or Animositia. I'll give Work for Love and Twitch a miss too.
| | | Album Rating: 2.5
and you should review last rights. i just picked it up and you make good reviews. Review finished... just for you.
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So this is basically a compilation right?
at least 3 of these songs were on other albums.
roadhouse blues,
supernaut
and lay lady lay.
I am sure others appeared on various tribute albums.
So I wouldn't consider this as their last album,
this might be their last release
but their last album is Last Sucker.
anyway judging by the release date it's obviously an April fools' joke.This Message Edited On 05.15.08
| | | Album Rating: 2.5
So this is basically a compilation right? at least 3 of these songs were on other albums Yeah, I mentioned that a few of the songs were on other albums, but the majority of them were recorded for this specifically.So I wouldn't consider this as their last album, this might be their last release but their last album is Last Sucker. I agree, that is why I ended the review with "I guess things could be worse because their final album of original music could have been this bad, but I still wish more time and effort had been put into the making of this album."anyway judging by the release date it's obviously an April fools' joke. I'm pretty sure, based off interviews, that the release date is coincidence.
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
Few soundoffs here:
First of all, I'm laughing my ass off right now at the second half of "What A Wonderful World".
Just wanted to tell Ministry initiates that I believe everything between Psalm 69 and Houses is GOOD.
Filth Pig took many attempts, and I didn't like it for a long time. Today, I love it.
Dark Side of the Spoon sounds like a return to form of Psalm, and Animositisomnia, though a departure, is my favorite album now. If you like Houses and Rio Grande Blood, there's no reason why you shouldn't like Animositisomnia... except maybe for that horrendous title.
On another note, I was expecting a LOT more out of The Last Sucker. It doesn't live up to the trilogy, though some songs like "Death and Destruction", "The Dick Song" and "End of Days" are excellent.
yak yak yak. Basically, just wanted to say that if you haven't heard em yourself, don't count the albums widely acknowledged as duds out - I like em!
As for this one, I don't expect much for covers album. And btw, "Lay Lady Lay" was previously released on Filth Pig.
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One of the best cover albums ever
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