You’ve got to hand it to Ministry, and not just because Rob Zombie owes several years of his persona to Al Jourgensen. The band has found itself at the forefront of alternative music on more than one occasion, and in more than one genre, having made its mark on electronic-dance with Everyday Is Halloween and the harder-edged Twitch, then shifting to industrial-punk noise for The Land of Rape and Honey.
Often one step ahead of the game, in the tail end of the 80’s the band ventured out with some hybrid of their own creation, lading their electronics with very heavy rock-oriented guitars for the record The Mind Is a Terrible Thing To Taste. This sound was perfected on their magnum opus Psalm 69, an album that seamlessly combined old school metal a la Sabbath with modern industrial.
This might not seem very innovative by today’s standards, since there are about 5,000 bands that fit the bill, but what this amounts to is that Ministry virtually invented industrial-metal—or at the very least certainly brought it to the masses. Whether you want to kill them or applaud them for it, neither genre has been the same since.
I am getting to the new record, so bare with me.
After such a critical and commercial breakthrough, things turned 180 degrees in the other direction. For the past several years, the band has experienced every problem under the sun—label troubles, legal battles, drug addiction, and a couple releases that seemed to go nowhere. Despite two decent songs featured in movies as recent as The Matrix and A.I., they never really got back into the swing of things.
So, where does a band go next that has defined a new musical-style and influenced countless bands that came after them? And after years of wandering, how does said band go forward and leave their troubles behind?
Animositisomina is the answer, or at least the promising beginnings of one. Present are many elements from the band’s past: chunky, metal guitars; snappy, 2-4 percussion; graveling vocals; little noises and production touches that make listening with headphones most enjoyable… new to the mix is that the record is very vocally and lyrically driven. Some of the vocal lines are beautiful. Long resonating notes drive home choral verses, and it’s interesting to hear more of a melodic style of singing in some places. The lyrics are plentiful, and scathingly go after fundamentalism, capitalism, and a kind of state where they are both present… not at all hard to imagine in today’s times. There is a cover of Magazine’s “The Light Pours Out Of Me,” (note: probably better known for Peter Murphy’s version), a pretty faithful rendition with a straight ahead pop-punk feel. While not too exciting, it sort of fits well with the rest of the record, which displays the energy and social commentary that original punk did.
After several listens, my favorite track is the ending instrumental, a 9.00+ minute chant on guitar, minimally accompanied by bass and those signature, ambient noises, leading up to a final minute of blistering crescendo. Initially, I didn’t like this track at all, and felt the last few songs ended the record weakly. But considering Ministry’s ability to shape music in the past, this track to me looks to the future the most… the fact that there are no lyrics keeps it unwritten, a blank page. I liken this time to the era of Twitch, when Ministry took electronic dance and guided it in a new, darker, more intelligent direction. Animositisomina might be the gateway to a new era of Ministry. |