Ministry go out in a blaze of industrial metal glory on politically charged new album.
★★★★
Al Jourgensen has called quits on Ministry before, only for the frontman and founding member to eventually reconvene when he felt he had something left to say about our geopolitical hellscape.
But now it feels like he actually means it. He’s been tying up loose ends, be it re-embracing his synth-pop roots on his own terms or making peace with former bandmate Paul Barker. And perhaps after decades of preaching about the dangers of fascism, Jourgensen is weary that things feel like they’ve gotten worse, not better.
With that in mind, the band’s 17th studio album Hate to Go (Take Out or Delivery) (Oct 30, Cleopatra) has a sense of finality. It features the current lineup (Jourgensen, guitarists Monte Pittman and Cesar Soto, bassist Paul D’Amour, keyboardist John Bechdel and drummer Pepe Clark) at their aggressive best, as heard on opener “Crickets”, where Jourgensen screams into the void about the advancement of American authoritarianism over a serrated groove metal riff and a diffuse Wax Trax-era beat.
“Voices of Hate” recalls Ministry classics like “The Missing” and “Just One Fix”, a relentless industrial thrash workout warning of extremism over a jackhammer beat before erupting with a furious solo, while “Clown Car” is an aural battering ram highlighting the Trump administration’s continued incompetence.
“We Hate” features a caustic list of grievances against the president, with Jourgensen opining “Well, who could even listen to this man? An 80-year-old orangutan. His soul is rotten to the core; he’s a grifter and a whore” over a relentless machinated beat and squalling guitars.
First single and standout track “Burned Out” speaks for all of us who are utterly exhausted from the 24-hour doom scrolling news cycle, while “Delete”, a sequel of sorts to 1992’s “TV Song”, illustrates the frontman’s disgust over social media’s corrosive impact upon our collective psyche.
“Singularity” examines fears of AI going full-Skynet, with an automated voice intoning “you are no longer useful to us/we have decided you’re better off dead”, over a bludgeoning riff and a kickdrum-driven beat you feel in your chest.
“Grifter” takes a sonic change-of-pace, with a slower, hypnotic, doom-laden groove that creates an atmosphere both oppressive and cathartic with Jourgensen taking on the POV of our president (“My life has been rough/mommy and daddy didn’t hug me enough!”).
The album’s biggest left turn is “The White Man Lied”, which offers an unholy fusion of 70’s glam and 80’s post-punk. Lyrically it takes a brief detour from the Trump diatribe to an examination of the atrocities brought upon Native Americans.
The album ends with its strongest song: “We’re Still Here”, an anthem of perseverance through all the political shitstorms and sonic musical shifts Ministry has guided us through over the years, not to mention his various health scares and loss of several former bandmates. Flecked by a neoclassical synth arrangement and a mix of screamed and crooned vocals, it’s chill-inducing, and the appearance from the aforementioned Paul Barker is a fitting nod to the band’s history.
If this is truly the end of Ministry, Hate to Go: Take Out or Delivery is a fitting, final statement, while also leaving the door ever slightly open for an encore, lest we need his services again. But whether this is the end, or a hiatus, it cements the band’s legacy as one whose political furor is matched only by the searing industrial sonics they pioneered.
Buy ‘Hate To Go: Takeout or Delivery’ on Amazon
