Ministry - The Mind is a Terrible Thing To Taste

Label: Sire
Catologue Number: 926004-1
Format: LP
Date: 1989
Style: Industrial Metal / Alternative Rock
Rating: 8/10
Reviewer: Sidney James

With the Mind, Ministry began to fix the elements that would become their trademark. The formula was one part thrash guitars, one part snarling vocals, one part thumping drum lines finished off with a nice underlay of buzzing electronics and samples.

The album begins with another couple of Ministry classic (I’m getting tied of writing this, no matter how true it is) Thieves and Burning Inside. Thieves is one of the fastest thrash outs I have heard, and it’s surveillance camera buzzes and spasms of speed still make it sound as fresh and vital as it did ten years ago. Burning Inside only slows down the momentum by a very small margin, but instead the song builds itself in a trance like epic of grinding guitars and thundering rhythm. Both songs still create the urge in me, to grow my hair long again, and headbang like a woodpecker on speed.

After the opening demolition, a thing Ministry are very good at. The pace of the album slows down a few notches, firstly with Never Believe, which introduces Chris Connelly as a secondary vocalist to Al Jourgensen. The trademark sound is there again, but the lighter vocals and Doorsian lyrics of Connelly give the song enough variation. Whilst the final track of side one, Cannibal Song comes across as a atmospheric drift including as it does saxophones and a down tempo beat, a lull in the storm compared to the rest of the cyberthrash that dominates the album.

Side two (Oh the joys of Vinyl) opens with Breathe another typical Ministry number, with the lyrics asking the listener to breath (umm didn’t The Prodigy do something similar a few years later). Next up is So What which in my eyes still remains one of my favourite Ministry tracks. The song is dominated by a rumbling bass line, which drives the song. Add to this some stunning vocal samples, grinding guitars and some of the most memorable lyrics and you’ve got one large mother of a song.

This is quickly followed by Test, a sing that predates the whole sports metal carbuncle by a good few years. Its combination of scorching guitars and rap vocals make it stand out as another ground breaking track, equal to the Anthrax and Public Enemy collaboration on Bring the Noise. The album closes with another strange atmospheric track Faith Collapsing. This again leaves the listener bewildered, which is typical of Ministry.

The Mind is another great Ministry album, released and the height of Jourgensen and Barkers creative period. (See also lard’s Last Temptation of Reid and Revolting Cock’s Beers, Steers and Queers). Not as ground breaking as Land of Rape and Honey but stronger than Psalm 69, the fact that you can buy it a discounted price nowadays makes it a necessary purchase.