Mindless Self Indulgence - Straight to Video

Label: Metropolis
Catologue Number: 80409
Format: CD
Date: 2006
Style: Industrial, Punk, Electro
Rating: 2/10
Reviewer: Wilhelm Stroker

In their own words “MSI's music is a hybrid of Atari driven electronics with a venomous splash of A.D.D Punk Rock. They are the breath of fresh air that is sure to offend your p.c. restrained, category demanding, humorless peers.” For those of you who are not a spotty 16 year old with issues and who can see through record company marketing speak: A third rate Marilyn Manson clone who are severly lacking in talent.

Their latest release Straight to Video (they should have called it straight to the trash bin) is a remix album of the song Straight to Video. And you’ll get 15 of them. That’s right, 15 remixes plus an acapella song and an instrumental version. Which clever person decided it was a good idea to put 15 remixes of the same song on one album? That’s self indulgent indeed and Mindless. Why shove on an accapella version? Some words of wisdom: if you depend heavily on distortion and shouting for your vocals, do not attempt an acapella version. It doesn’t work.

But that’s not all that’s wrong with this album. Whoever decided on Funker Vogt, Combichrist, Ass23 and VAC as remixers? My worst nightmare has just come true. Luckily, the Noise Unit (Bill Leeb and Jeremy Inkel, and it wasn’t supposed to be called Noise Unit apparently) and Front Line Assembly (Rhys Fulber on his own, we’re still trying to find out if his beard helped him) remixes stick out like a sore thumb between the boring 4/4 trance or evilllll techno remixes done by most of the others.

The only other listenable remix is the KMFDM one, purely because of the heavy guitars. Not even Front 242 or Haujobb were able to turn this shitty song into something listenable. Oh and the song contains possibly the dumbest lyrics I’ve heard in ages: hideho here we go.

Mono - Gone (A Collection of EPs 2000 - 2007)

Label: Temporary Residence Ltd
Catologue Number: TRR121
Format: CD
Date: 2000
Style: Alternative / Post Rock
Rating: 7/10
Reviewer: Sidney James

For of those of you who don’t know Mono are a Japanese post rock band and a rather fine one at that. Gone is a collection of rare tracks and is really geared towards the hardcore fan rather than the new listener.

Although pretty much a band within a genre rather than pushing the boundaries, Mono still have the edge over their rivals. There is none of the haphazard fumbling of Explosions in the Sky or the post metal grunting of Isis and Red Sparrows. Instead Mono seem to manage to pull off a tight and well constructed balance of glacier shimmering guitars and a strong but not overbearing rhythmic undertow producing an ebbing almost religious intensity.

This approach is best highlighted on the tracks such as Black Rain which never bores in its 9:15 glory. The purely cello based Rainbow is another highlight showing the Mono can do beautiful and epic without relying on a host of effects pedals.

If there is a weakness with the album is that the earlier material is pretty much by post rock by numbers and indistinguishable for other bands of their ilk. Neither is any of the material particularly groundbreaking but Mono get away with it as they do a damn good job of expressing some emotion in an usually expressionless genre.

Ministry - Cover Up

Label: 13th Planet
Catologue Number: 02028611712
Format: CD
Date: 2008
Style: Industrial Metal
Rating: 7/10
Reviewer: Sidney James

Cover Up continues Al Jourgensen’s fascination with cover versions which began with the Revolting Cocks demolition of Oliver Newton John’s (Let’s Get) Physical, and saw various projects do covers of Rod Stewart, Bob Dylan, Black Sabbath, The Doors and Magazine. Cover Up is also meant to act as the book end to his music career and the final chapter or should that be epilogue in the 28 year existence of Ministry.

The first thing that struck me about Cover Up is the number of 70’s rock numbers the album features, which strikes me at odds with a someone who released a track called 70s rock must die. Then again as anyone who has followed the circus that is Ministry, nothing is ever as straight forward as it appears.

Kicking of proceedings with a superb cover of the Stones Under My Thumb that uses some excellent string and horn arrangements, Cover Up is a blast throughout. This is Ministry having fun and being free of the anti-Bush rhetoric that has consumed the last three releases. The heavy use of guest vocalists including Burton C Bell and Josh Bradford also adds some thing fresh to the industrial grind thrash that has become the band’s hallmark.

The album never again hits the peak of the opening cover but is still makes for an adrenalin fuelled ride throughout. The further highlights being a thrashed up but still groove heavy cover of Golden Earring’s Radar Love, which should keep the Dutch contingency of this site happy and a two part take on What Wonderful World which nicely surprises with its gentle opening before ripping into something a lot heavier in the second half.

All in all Cover Up isn’t going to make anyone radically change their views of Ministry, but as an example of how a covers album should be done it’s up there with the best of them.

Ministry - Twelve Inch Singles 1981-1984

Label: Wax Trax
Catologue Number: WAXCD035
Format: CD
Date: 1985
Style: Synthpop / New Wave / EBM
Rating: 5/10
Reviewer: Sidney James

Compilation albums are either normally greatest hit collections or odds and sods collections of rare and unreleased tracks. Ministry’s 12” collection falls into the later and in no way would ever fall into the former. The collection spans the period between Ministry’s debut album ‘With Sympathy’ and their second ‘Twitch’. If you know what these albums sound like then you’ve got a fairly good idea of what to expect. For those not in the know the sound is a cross between early 80’s synthpop and harder European dancefloor sounds. With the emphasis being more on the synthpop this time around. Imagine later Depeche Mode meeting Howard Jones in a dark alleyway and your half way there.

The album starts off Cold Life, which was actually released before With Sympathy. It has all the hallmarks of synthpop but with a slightly funky new wave bass line. The song comes across as a mix of Magazine and Fad Gadget. Both, big influences on early Ministry. The later Dub Version adds a bit more echo and strips down the lyrics making the track marginally more interesting, but still does not really cause any great excitement.

Next up is (Everyday is) Halloween and I must admit that although it is another slice of cheesy synthpop, there is something I really like about the track. It just has a classic hook and the lyrics just make me smile every time I hear the song. It’s one of those songs that you know you should never really admit to liking. I can imagine a thousand Ministry purists ripping me to pieces for this admission. The track also appears as remixed version where the rhythm is beefed up for the dancefloor. It’s not a bad remix but lacks the charm of the original.

The final two tracks are All Day and the Nature of Love; both are closer to the darker synthpop of Twitch than the rest of the album. Harder synth lines and beats marks form the core of the two tracks.. Both tracks are okay, but really lack the cutting edge of the best tracks from Twitch. All Day actually turns up as a stronger reworked version on that album. Again we are also treated to stripped down remixes o f these two tracks which also again don’t do much to add or detract from the original versions.

This collection really is of curiosity value only and probably should be avoided by any that prefers the harder guitar orientated sound of later Ministry. It has been a while since I have listened to this album and it will probably be a lot time until I dig it out of the library that is my record collection. One for the collector and the obsessive, rather than as an essential musical purchase.

Ministry - Filth Pig

Label: Warner Bros Records
Catologue Number: 9362-45838-2
Format: CD
Date: 1996
Style: Industrial Metal / Alternative Rock
Rating: 7/10
Reviewer: Sidney James

Ministry after the release of Psalm 69 seemed destine for mega stardom on a level with their other industrial rock peers Nine Inch Nails. The crossover than Ministry had achieved had left in its wake a thousand wannabes armed with a sampler and rock hard guitar sound. However with the release of Filth Pig, Al Jourgensen and Paul Barker decided to move away the sound they had created with A Mind is a terrible thing to taste and Psalm 69 and move Ministry away from the copycats and into less commercial realms.

The first thing you notice about Filth Pig is that it all seems a lot slower and heavier than previous Ministry releases. Where as the bulk of Psalm 69 seemed to be about how fast and controlled Ministry could play, Filth Pig replaces this with a slow low and heavy grind. The over riding influence on the sound is that of Black Sabbath, a band that Al Jourgensen had paid tribute to with the 1000 Homo DJ’s cover of Supernaut. In fact most of Filth Pig could be seen as a cybernetic remake of the classic Black Sabbath sound, heavy groove bass and controlled riffing.

The opening track Reload is the closest we get to classic Ministry, the stop start nature of the track reminds me of tracks like Thieves and TV II. The rest of the album comes as a shock to those expecting more cyberthrash. The second track Filth Pig manages to fit a harmonic into the slow motion sound that dominates the album and probably creates the most memorable moment on the album. The problem for me is that the majority of the rest of the album sounds amazingly similar to itself and it’s very difficult to distinguish most of the tracks from each other.

It’s not that Filth Pig is a bad album, it’s just lacks enough variation in it’s structure and Sound. The Highlights are the already mentioned title track, the Fall a piano driven track (originally recorded for the WELT Side project), Lava which manages to add some prime Killing Joke into the Sabbath stew and Brick Windows a track which sounds closer to the Pailhead project (a collaboration between Ministry and Ian MacKaye of Fugazi) which is dominated by more punk like guitar lines. Again out of some kind of perverse nature Ministry leave us with another deranged cover this time it’s Bob Dylan’s Lay, Lady, Lay , which is mildly amusing but no where near the genius of previous Jourgensen cover versions of Oliver Newton John’s Let’s get Physical and Rod Stewart’s Do you think I’m Sexy (Both covered as the Revolting Cocks).

Filth Pig to me, was a move by Ministry to distance themselves both from the bands mimicking them and also away from the fame they had gained with Psalm 69. It is not a bad album and had been released by any other band it would probably be counted as a classic. However fans of Ministry are aware that the potential of the band is so much more. The only people really smiling about this release are Ministry themselves. Knowing that they have achieved their aim of disenfranchising a large amount of the fan base they picked up with Psalm 69. It seems that Messieurs Jourgensen and Barker are interested in fame, and want to keep their underground status. With the release of Filth Pig they achieved this aim.

Ministry - In case you didn’t feel like turning up. (Live)

Label: Sire
Catologue Number: 7559-26266-1
Format: LP
Date: 1990
Style: Industrial Metal / Alternative Rock
Rating: 7/10
Reviewer: Sidney James

Why is in when I hear the words Live album, I shudder and want to hide away in the darkest alcove. It’s probably due to the fact that most Live albums are normally terrible and leave a terrible feeling of being fleeced by Mister record label. In Case.. however is one of those albums which is an exception to the rule.

Recorded on the 1989 Ministry tour, in archives a bans at the height of their powers. The Ministry live set up was greatly expanded over the studio core of Al Jourgensen and Paul Barker and included Martyn Atkins (One time PI.L drummer), Nivek Ogre (Skinny Puppy) and the seemingly omnipresent Chris Connelly (Revolting Cocks, Fini Tribe). The addition of the additional members means that Ministry were able to produce a sound that is a remarkable facsimile of their studio sound. Not an easy thing when you realise that the studio material of Ministry is heavily based around sampled loops and sequences.

In Case.. also acts as a greatest hits package for the earlier Ministry material, featuring as it does the six best of the early Ministry tracks, The Missing, Deity, So What, Burning Inside, Thieves and Stigmata. All of them come over as powerful as their studio counterparts, with The Missing and Deity sounding stronger than they do on Land of Rape and Honey.

The only disappointment is that the album does only feature six tracks as I’m I know there is a great deal more material recorded from this tour. A live version of Skinny puppy’s Smothered Hope appears as a B side on the difficult to find Burning Inside 12” so why not include it here . Add to this the fact that the Video version of the album features Breathe and a stunning Version of the Land of Rape and Honey featuring Jello Biafra and you can’t help but ask why these aren’t included as well.

In Case… is a superb live recording, but you just wish there was more too it. Buy it if you can find t cheap, or if you can find it get the video instead as it gives a longer example of the godlike genius that is Ministry.

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.