Review Summary: Industrial pioneers Ministry's overlooked and unaccepted industrial, sludge and doom masterpiece.
First of all, before ever listening to Filth Pig, I wasn't the biggest Ministry Fan. I had heard the odd track here and there and had listened to Psalm 69, (mainly for Jesus Built My Hotrod) sources told me it was their best album... After listening to Psalm enough, I wanted to delve further into the Ministry catalogue in search of more 999 mph riffs, wacky sampling and basically everything else that caught my ear in Psalm 69. Where best to look? The next album of course...
In my case this proved to be a dead end in searching for what I thought would be Psalm 70. I gave Filth Pig one listen and was flabbergasted. It just didn't seem right to me, it all seemed merged into one. `Reload' started the album off on the right foot driven by its thick, face-melting bass-line but that was over in two and a half minutes. The only track which sort of got my attention was `Crumbs' and still, I wasn't so interested in Filth Pig anymore. I was pretty disappointed. Move on a few months, I came back to Filth Pig.
I'm not sure why, but I remember playing a few tracks from Filth Pig at random during a journey, the first time I had listened to it in months. Suddenly, a different approach to heavy music had stood out to me unlike before. I started giving the album more attention over the subsequent weeks and before I knew it I was listening to it constantly. A masterpiece of an album had emerged.
`Reload', the first track as I before mentioned, is almost like a false start. It's like it was leading the keen listeners of Psalm 69 back in 1996 into a full sense of security before the slow, sinister, sludgy and monolithic Filth Pig truly kicks in. This album is immensely slow yet crushingly heavy for the most part. The title track is a dragging, two-chord piece of pure menace, mood set perfectly by the apocalyptic drum clatter right at the start. It even incorporates a harmonica solo which adds to the southern vibe. Straight after is `Lava'. This one sounds like a catchy tune grinded distortedly through melting bass amps. Other stand-outs include `Crumbs' with its militant style, chugging riff and venomous lyrics. Also, `Game Show' a near eight minutes of anguish accompanied by stop start, hard-hitting guitars which almost seem slowed down, a particularly eerie track.
Filth Pig has plenty of highlights but my two favourite tracks are `The Fall' and `Lay Lady Lay'. `The Fall' is a collision of absolute doom and beautiful despair. This is evoked by the roaring synth and crashing snares juxtaposed with a delicate cascading piano line. `Lay Lady Lay', Ministry's atmospheric, acid-laced rendition of Bob Dylan's classic is bizarrely pulled off and even more bizarrely, is actually quite moving.
All in all, Filth Pig isn't exactly the album to go for if you are trying to get into Ministry quickly (like I was) I'd suggest Psalm 69, The Land Of Rape And Honey or Animositisomina if that's the case. Filth Pig is special to me because it was my first introduction to slower, heavier genres of metal. I've since gone on to discover and to love bands like Electric Wizard, Godflesh, (which were a huge influence on this album) even Type O Negative and it all started with Filth Pig. I feel like my music taste has matured and broadened vastly since I started appreciating this record.
It's not hard to see why it was so badly received when it was released, even I'm guilty of dismissing it at first, but Filth Pig and the subsequent Dark Side Of The Spoon for that matter, simply demanded more from the listeners who would be casually in search of good old riffage. It's a damn shame that the upcoming Ministry album will be, even if enjoyable, more generic thrash. If Filth Pig had been given time it would undoubtedly be a classic of the genre.
