Musings on the past and present state of music, film, and pop culture. Get off my lawn.
Concert Review: Ministry Revisit Their Synth Pop Origins at Emo’s, Austin: Al Jourgensen and bandmates, flanked by openers Die Krupps and Nitzer Ebb, gave their ’80s new wave output an industrial makeover in a bucket list show for die-hard fans. Austin loves Ministry. The band, helmed by Al Jourgensen, who lived briefly in the Texas […]
Ministry ‘The Squirrely Years Revisited’ Review: Al Jourgensen Makes Peace With His Synth-Pop Past over 40-years later on new album. “I think I’m the only person that could probably say that they sold out before they started. I’ve hated that record for years, just on the simple principle that it’s not my record and that’s […]
Concert Review: Ministry, Melvins, Corrosion of Conformity at Emo’s, Austin: ‘Industrial Strength’ tour pulverizes rabid crowd. The last time I was at a concert was January of 2020. I have avoided shows since COVID reared its ugly head. And even once lockdown was eased up and bands began touring again, I was still reticent to […]
Ministry ‘Moral Hygiene’ Review: Al Jourgensen and co. expertly target our dystopian present while offering sonic catharsis on new album. How concerned are you? That’s the sampled repeated question on Alert Level, the ominous churning opener to Moral Hygiene, the latest album from Ministry (October 1st, Nuclear Blast). Over seismic beats and scalding power chords, […]
Beauty in Chaos ‘Finding Beauty in Chaos’ Review: guitarist Michael Ciravolo’s new album brings together an intimidating group of guest vocalists and musicians for remarkably consistent début. ★★★★ Beauty in Chaos’s guitarist and mastermind Michael Ciravolo has amassed connections to some of the most sought-after musicians in the industry thanks to his role as CEO for […]
Ministry ‘AmeriKKKant’ Review: Al Jourgensen wages musical war against Donald Trump on band’s most unusual album to date. [rating=3] Al Jourgensen’s creativity has always thrived during Republican presidencies. It’s his muse, fueling all the best albums from his industrial juggernaut Ministry. The band’s 1992 magnum opus Psalm 69 pilloried George HW Bush’s singular term, and […]
Ministry ‘Trax! Rarities’ Review: Compilation of rare Ministry recordings from their 1980’s Wax Trax! era. [rating=4] Though most fans of industrial metal pioneers Ministry associate them with the sonic assault that brought them notoriety in the late 80’s and early 90’s, there’s a subset of listeners who pine for a return to the early 80’s synth-pop […]
‘Surgical Meth Machine’ Album Review: New project from Ministry’s Al Jourgensen acts like a sampler of his varied musical history. [rating=3.5] Al Jourgensen has been involved with many musical projects over the years: in addition to his bread and butter industrial juggernaut Ministry, there’s his rotating supergroup Revolting Cocks, Pailhead, Lard, 1000 Homo DJ’s PTP, […]
Al Jourgensen Talks New Project Surgical Meth Machine: Ministry frontman discusses new solo debut album, his synth-pop past, 2016 presidential election and other new projects in our exclusive interview. Al Jourgensen announced that Ministry’s 2013 album From Beer To Eternity would (possibly) be the band’s swan song after the death of guitarist Mike Scaccia. But be […]
Ministry ‘From Beer To Eternity’ Review: Ministry’s (supposed) swan song is often hit and miss, but the late Mike Scaccia’s guitar work still impresses. [rating=3] If there’s one thing we’ve learned over the years about Ministry frontman Al Jourgensen, it’s that he’s often prone to exaggeration. His new tell-all book surely benefits from colorful embellishments when […]
