PLEASE HUG IT OUT, INDUSTRIAL METAL GODS
Friday, March 13th, 2009 at 1:00pm by Gary Suarez
Let’s face it: Ministry without Paul Barker just isn’t the same. Nothing on Houses Of The Mole, Rio Grande Blood, or The Last Sucker offered the thrills and low-end chills of albums like Psalm 69 and Filth Pig. As a longtime industrial music fanatic, I am sick and fucking tired of being let down every time Al Jourgensen puts out new music. His latest outing, the positively plebeian cash-in Sex-O Olympic-O, should never have been released under the Revolting Cocks name. Enough is enough! The time has come for Hypo Luxa and Hermes Pan to hug-it-the-fuck-out!
While Al defiantly clung to the Ministry name until last year, Paul recorded some mighty fine shit since his departure. His U.S.S.R. collaboration with Jesus Lizard / Tomahawk guitarist Duane Denison came out of nowhere and effortlessly blended the respective talents of the two veteran musicians. Paul’s latest project Flowering Blight revives the coveted grimy bass sonics of Filth Pig and overlays them with comparatively cleaner vocals. Released late last year, The Perfect Pair featured contributions from Josh Freese and some former Ministry sidemen. Without getting too hyperbolic, the record kicks the living shit out of Al’s recent stinkers.
Al needs Paul like a burger needs bacon. I mean, a burger can be OK on its own, but a few strips of crispy pigflesh transforms it into the type of sandwich you drool over after a night of serious drinking. Yeah, there was that little “tortious interference” lawsuit, but nobody even knows what that shit means and it got dismissed in the end anyway. Surely the duo that defined industrial metal can find it in their (now heroin-free) hearts to rekindle their bromance and fucking resurrect Ministry.
Tune in next week as I try to smack some fucking sense into KMFDM.
-GS
[Gary Suarez sincerely hopes that Bernie Madoff becomes the ultimate "bottom bitch" of the American penal system. He also writes for Brainwashed and mismanages the consistently off-topic No Yoko No.]
I don’t know, I rather enjoyed the last two outings by Ministry. When I had heard that Houses of the Mole was a supposed return to form, I was severely let down because the whole record was just a big ol’e ‘meh’. Now one record that is highly underrated and never spoken about is ‘Animositisomina’. When that record was released I was in industrial heaven! Why doesn’t anybody ever talk about that record? When Revolver did a special discography section just for Ministry from past to present, they totally forgoe any mention of that record other than just a photo of the album cover. What gives?
“like a burger needs bacon”
Am I at a food review site? Disappointed that even you guys are hopping onto the bacon bandwagon. If Ministry re-unites, it’ll be awesomer than a bacon weave!11!
“Rio Grande Blood” wasn’t all that exciting, but “The Last Sucker” was surprisingly good – granted it wasn’t up to “Psalm” or “Mind..” levels, but good nonetheless. And I agree about “Animositisomina” – that did come out of nowhere, and was wayyyy better than it should have been.
jourgenson’s a scumbag, so barker’s much better off without him anyhow…
The problem is drugs. You can’t just do a bunch of drugs and make some brilliant music when you are in your fifties like you could in your twenties. It just doesn’t work. So my advice, Gary, besides quit being a goddamn hipster, is to find some twenty year olds who can take a bunch of drugs and rockout some industrial metal. http://www.myspace.com
Um… It’s U.S.S.A., not U.S.S.R. And they pretty much destroy anything Ministry has done in over a decade.
No even gave a shit about Ministry when Al and Paul were still together! Why would they reunite? People trashed brilliant records like ‘Filth Pig’ and ‘The Dark Side of the Spoon’ for failing to conform to the successful formula perfected with ‘Psalm 69′. They didn’t want the band to evolve. They wanted them to churn out the same shit over and over.
‘Animositisomina’ is a great record. But no one even gave a shit. Since Paul left, Al has desperately been trying to capitalize on the success of ‘Psalm 69′…almost 20 years too late! His music has become increasingly cheesy and formulaic to the point of self-parody.
Paul may have some tricks up his sleeve but he’s no frontman and the vocalist of USSA was shit. People who are into the weirder shit should give his project Pink Anvil a shot. It is creepy instrumental Industrial with loads of samples and other weird shit.
These guys will never reform. Al accused Paul of stealing and unsuccessfully attempted to sue him! Paul is nothing but a class act, but Al is a complete joke at this point! But the only reason you give a shit is because they broke up in the first place. The novelty of a reunion excites you.
You didn’t say one word about ‘Dark Side of the Spoon’ or ‘Animositisomina’, two of the band’s greatest albums. You probably thought they were shit when they were released…