I first heard this album when I was a little metal dude a couple of years after it came out, and it blew me away. It was released in 1991 and I had not heard anything like it before. For the uninitiated, Ministry could be described as industrial metal. This album is probably their most accessible, as those before are from the 80’s and synth inspired monsters, and all which has come after is slower and harder to swallow. For me this was their summit, and what a high point… There is plenty happening in the music with simple yet pounding drum beats, blazing guitars, mad random samples scattered thoughout, and coming over the top like a freight train is Jourgensen’s vocals. On with the music;
The immediate draw to this album is the first two songs. NWO, standing for New World Order, starts with big drum rolls backed by the heavily distorted guitar and bass. It then settles into the beat and bassline, which flow through the entire song, a siren, and some guy grunting “huh, huh, huh” with the beat. All of a sudden two guitar blast enter your ears, “DAH DAH”. Its simple yet very effective. This goes on, with simple guitar or sampling variations visiting to become the focus briefly. It is very gritty and dirty, and creates the mood for what is to come. Just One Fix is next and there is some voiced samples and some snare hits in a beat. Then this distorted voice croaks “never trust a junkie”. A loud opening with guitar and drums ensue, and we are introduced to how this song will sound. It is similar to NWO, in that it is repetitive and simple but very effective. The vocals a more distorted in this song too, being almost a gurgle, like he’s singing underwater. It provides an interesting mood, in that it feels claustrophobic and intimidating. The climax of the song is the final build up with a wailing guitar over the top of the track, then it levels out to the last verse/section.
The more you listen to this album the more it reveals itself. The next layer of songs I found I liked was TVII, Hero, Jesus Built my Hotrod, and Corrosion. TVII is THE FASTEST SONG, ever. I don’t care what you listen to, you will be blown away. It consists of bursts of speed, then the instruments stop for some inspired yelling. “CONNECT THE GODDAMN DOTS!” It is a little short, but is an amazing track. Hero is almost a thrash metal song, in that has a traditional metal beat and song structure unlike the rest of the album. There is still a little bit of sampling of crowd-like yells and some other stuff, but it is very much guitar driven, and even has a shredding solo! The vocals in this one are more like modern metalcore vocals too, so it may push some away. Overall though a very catchy song with some good individual performances from the band. Jesus Built my Hotrod features Gibby Haynes from the Butthole Surfers. Now, I have not heard much of the Butthole Surfers, but from what I had it seemed like a strange choice for a Ministry album, but it works. It starts with a bit of a speech about music and Jesus or something. Then the speaker, who sounds strangely like Jack Nicholson, says “so there was only one thing that I could do, was ding-a-ding-dang-my-dang-along-ling-long”. I’m like WTF? The song fades in and Haynes starts his almost constant vocal performance, which is consisted of variations of the phrase at the end of the speech. This is almost rock and rollish in its sound, being very guitar and drum driven (has another solo!), but the muffled style vocals bring something else to the table to keep the industrial feel. It finishes with the speaker back again to give some closure to the first five tracks. Corrosion is the second last track on the album, has no vocals, and is a pounding affair of noises and a rampaging beat. There is plenty of samples and other noises, and is a good one to just lay down, close your eyes, and listen to all that is going on. Or you could turn it up and go nuts in your loungeroom, your choice.
Further to these songs there is Scarecrow, Psalm 69, and Grace. Scarecrow is track 6, straight after JBMHR, and to me marks a point in the album between the fast paced guitar driven songs and the second half of the album where there is more of an electronic influence and the songs a slower. Scarecrow is eight minutes long, so brace yourself. It starts up with the drum beat, some other noises, and… static? Yeh, so then it opens up with the simple guitar, and it is all very slow, grinding, and claustrophobic. The vocals are very distorted but suit the gritty nature of the song. It took me a while to get into this one, but I like it now. Psalm 69 is one of the weirdest songs I’ve heard. It begins with a priest (with a weird ass voice) asking the congregation to open up to Psalm 69. An end-of-the-world sounding song opens up, well that’s the best way to describe it. There is the voice of this guy talking about the Armageddon and “praise Jesus”. Then, bang, a metal hoedown begins. Yes, you heard me, a metal hoedown. The riff is awesome, but the vocals are in a death style and begins with “drinking the blood of Jesus”. It does rock, but then it returns to the congregation, and alternates between these two parts. Not one to play at a wedding reception. The last song on the CD, Grace, is industrial sounding noises with a little bit of drums. It sounds like someones nightmare, but it only goes for three minutes and only serves to round out the album.
For me this album looses its half a point for little bit of filler in Psalm 69 and Grace. Other than that the pros and cons;
Pros
-heavyness
-variety of song type and vocal style
-sampling, not usually a fan but done very well here
-guitar solo in Hero
-atmosphere cast by all of the noises
-listening life (15 years on!)
Cons
-repetitiveness within songs, but it is industrial so it is to be expected
-very basic guitar work, which at times may have needed something more flamboyant
