Review Summary: What does Jello have to do with Lard?
Al Jourgensen is a punk at heart. After recording a short EP with Ian MacKaye from Minor Threat in 1988, he decided it was time to do it again, but this time with Jello Biafra from the Dead Kennedys. Lard was formed with Biafra, Jourgensen, Paul Barker and then Ministry drummer Jeff Ward. Taking from the typical Ministry sound and combining it with Jello’s punk heritage, Lard provided a refreshing step back and a new perspective on Ministry’s sound for the moment.
While
Pure Chewing Satisfaction is a curious name for an album, it fit well with the quirkiness of the grouping that was Ministry and Jello. With lyrics similar to the Dead Kennedy’s political themes, Lard quickly turned into a sound of its own with Jello’s vocals soaring over Ministry’s pounding, clean beats and catchy riffs. Songs like “War Pimp Renaissance” and “Peeling Back The Foreskin of Liberty” sport catchy riffs over typical repetitious Ministry beats. While the songs are politically themed, the actual feel of the song isn’t as serious as most political anarchy songs are. With lyrics like: "peeling back the foreskin of liberty/ what do we see?/ ain’t God fillin’ teeth/ it’s Jews and Hillary", it’s not difficult to see the pursuit of that theme, but it’s ultimate desertion for the fun factor. With song structure short and similar to what Jello was used to, and Ministry providing the riffs and beats, Lard was quick to become a lighter Ministry: just with a different singer.
Pure Chewing Satisfaction was Lard’s first release in 7 years after releasing
The Last Temptation of Reid. While some of the songs were recorded at the same time for separate albums, Lard decided to go for a shorter, more cohesive approach with
Pure Chewing Satisfaction. Prior to this album some of their songs tended to be longer and consequently disjointed. The result was an album that did a much better job combining the Al and Jello’s primary genre’s instead of making it sound like two separate bands playing together.
