Ministry Relapse Album Review

Ministry returns with  their new album ‘Relapse’. Was it worth the wait?

So when he announced that he was reforming the band, it was met with enthusiasm by myself and Ministry fans across the world.

Let it be known right off the bat that this is a biased review. I’m a die-hard fan, not a lazy journalist who thinks the band was hiding under a rock ever since Psalm 69 ‘s release in 1992. Before I get to the review proper, let me explain what this band means to me.

Fewer bands have made such a drastic about-face in musical style and benefitted from the change than this band. Ministry started off as a more sinister sounding Soft Cell or Human League. A little darker, but still very synth pop driven. And anyone could’ve been fooled into thinking that Al was British, given his faux-cockney accent. Being that I was into that scene at the time, I loved this incarnation, goofy as it may sound to current ears.

Then he started listening more to bands like Killing Joke and Skinny Puppy, both of which influenced the groundbreaking album, “The Land of Rape and Honey”. I remember how shocked I was in 1987 when I picked up the cassette from a crappy mall music store and popped it in my car stereo. When “Stigmata” kicked into full gear, my jaw dropped. I looked over at my high school buddy  and he looked slightly terrified. It was disconcerting, but powerful. We knew that this was a game changer, and that the new wave stylings were going bye-bye.

Combining metal guitars with dance beats is one of the best “you put your peanut butter into my chocolate” moments in music history. It seems a cliché now, but back then, it was mind-blowing. Trent Reznor has attested they were the primary influence for Nine Inch Nails, and countless other bands borrowed heavily from their style. Other more esoteric bands started the “Industrial” rock movement, but they were the band that put the word  into the lexicon.

Next came  even heavier metal efforts with “The Mind is a Terrible Thing To Taste” and  the aformentioned “Psalm 69”.

A much delayed follow-up album, “Filth Pig” wasn’t well received. It took their tempo from machine gun speed metal down to behind the beat Black Sabbath stomp. For whatever reason it didn’t connect. I highly recommend giving it another listen if  it’s just collecting dust in your cd rack or if you’ve never listened to it at all. (Don’t believe me? Check out “Dead Guy”, or the most unlikely Bob Dylan cover that you’ll ever hear).

Then another long delay due to Al’s continued battled with drug addiction and 2 albums of mixed quality followed; “The Dark Side of The Spoon” and “Animositisomina”.

After that, long time band member Paul Barker departed. Oddly this seemed to reinvigorate the band  as they entered their most prolific musical period with 3 solid thrash metal albums that appeared in quick succession: “Houses of The Mole”, “Rio Grande Blood” and “The Last Sucker”. They were concept albums in a sense, as they all dealt with the turmoil of the Bush administration. They weren’t breaking any molds or selling millions of albums, but the music was classic aggressive Ministry.

And now we have “Relapse”. How does it stack up to the rest?

I have to say overall, this is the most uninspired lyrically of any of their past work. With George W. Bush out of the White House, Al seems to have lost his muse. His biting, humorous lyrics, which are much more refreshing than songwriters who are so overly serious  in their political diatribes that it can belittle their sentiment, isn’t quite up to par here.

His attempt at rallying battle cries “99 Percenters” or ” “Git Up Get Out N’ Vote”, lacks bite.. The former is victim of the lazy lyrical conceit of counting off digits and name dropping cities (the video ain’t so hot either), and the latter sounds like a PSA for “Rock The Vote”. While I applaud him for encouraging us  to exercise our voting rights, it’s too perfunctory for my tastes. And while “GhoulDiggers” boasts an excellent title, it’s burdened by an overly long, boring intro of Al bashing the music business. In it, he claims a record exec said they can make more money off him dead than alive, “cause when you’re dead we’ll sell you off in pieces”. Singing about the evils of an already hobbled industry just sounds a bit dated. This isn’t the 90’s anymore.

His old drug habit is the subject of songs like “Freefall”, “Bloodlust” and the title track. Again, post 90’s, this seems like well treaded ground. Someone wallowing in their drug addled past, long after it could be cathartic for some or revelatory for others, becomes a weird form of bragging, and isn’t too illuminating. Although the title track does have a good one liner “I love life to death, but I also love crystal meth”. Also I find it strange that Al’s spoken word bits sound like a goof on George W’s vocal patterns. Guess he just can’t  let him go.

Okay, so lyrically Al’s off his game, but how’s the music? While nothing’s groundbreaking, it’s certainly solid metal riffing and helps make up for the lack of lyrical heft. In addition to his reliable rhythm guitar skills, It’s anchored by 2 other great guitarists; old school Ministry alum the late Mike Scaccia, and one of the most underrated players of any genre, Prong’s Tommy Victor. Former Static-X bassist Tony Campo fills in on bass, as does Casey Orr. And the drums are all programmed  (by Sammy D’abrusso), which helps bring back the vintage synthetic Ministry sound.

Once “Ghouldiggers” does kick in after the rambling monologue (the guitar hammer on riffs are nice though), it’s slamming old school thrash, with palm muted guitars and jack hammer drums. It’s follow-up “Double Tap” is very reminiscent of the trebley, staccato riffs of “Mind is a Terrible Thing To Taste”. And “99 Percenters” has a nice textural riff reminiscent of Killing Joke. “Git Up Get Out N’ Vote” has some great thrash riffing & whammy bar squealies by Victor.

“Relapse” takes a page out of the “Psalm” playbook and seems lyrically and musically like the sequel to “Just One Fix”. Musically it’s probably the strongest contender here, followed by “Bloodlust” which fuses their brand of metal with a slight nod to their new wave past when the chorus kicks in. It’s got some nice pinched harmonics courtesy of Victor, and the verse riff sounds not too dissimilar from the title track of that same album.

The bottom of the barrel is “Kleptocracy” which has a very grating harmonized vocal chorus, and “Weekend Warrior”, with guest vocals by D’Ambruoso , which sounds like a bad parody of Mike Muir from Suicidal Tendencies.

Al likes his covers, and this time it’s “United Forces” by 80’s thrash supergroup the Stormtroopers of Death. While I know the band, I wasn’t familiar with this song, but it sounds like Ministry, which shows how great they are at making someone else’s song their own.

So all in all, can I wholeheartedly recommend this release? If you’re unfamiliar with Ministry, this is not where you want to start. Any of the earlier releases I mentioned in high regard are superior. But If you’re a diehard and can appreciate some good riffs behind substandard lyrics, then you’ll find some things to love on “Relapse”, even though it’s a mixed bag. Let’s hope they relapse into a more cohesive album next time around.

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