OK, so here’s an attempt at rating/discussing the covers and packaging of all the Ministry albums. I’m only going to go over full length releases. No singles (although some of them have cool covers) or side projects because I don’t want to spend the rest of my life doing this. Also, I won’t be talking about the music itself much, since we’ve already gone over that stuff ad nauseam in other threads.
Ready? Then let’s begin.
With Sympathy - Very atypical Ministry cover (like the album itself). Very much a product of the early '80s, but a little bit darker and gothier than some of Ministry’s synth-pop counterparts at the time. I like it, but it’s probably the most dated looking cover in the catalog.
12" Singles - This is pretty typical of the Waxtrax singles. Big, boring monotone slabs. Distinguishes itself only in its indistinction.
Twitch - A good transition from Waxtrax’s dull covers to the Ministry that is to come. It’s got a big block of orange, but it’s also got a scary looking guy (did we ever figure out what exactly is going on in this pic?) that advertises aggression. A transitional cover, but not a bad one.
Land of Rape and Honey - I like abstraction, but for my taste this one’s just too blobby and indistinct. I understand it’s a dead body or something, but like a difficult magic eye picture, I’ve never been able to see it. Reminds me a lot of something pink Floyd would have done pre-Dark Side of the Moon.
The Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Taste - Now we’re getting somewhere. The x-ray image says “scary,” but in a more fundamentally disturbing way than the metal albums of the time were attempting. Additionally, there’s finally something cool going on INSIDE the jacket, with its gothic font and occultic rune symbols. This is a package that helped to define Ministry for me.
In Case You Didn’t Feel Like Showing Up - The crash test dummy is a great way to point out the brutality of the live show. Did anybody actually cut out the parental advisory and mail it to their congressman like it says to do in the jacket?
Psalm 69 - This is a nightmare of a cover. Indistinct, scratchy, dark. This look became a industrial and metal cliche eventually, but Ministry was one of the first to do it, and one of the best. It’s probably my favorite cover.
Filth Pig - Man, I got no idea what the hell happened here. “Yeah, let’s put a young Republican looking guy, and have him with meat on his head! And we’ll make it bright red! And there’ll be a mushroom inside!” Yeah, real good idea guys. This is also the first appearance of the God-awful, painful on the eyes, block letter all-caps font. Ugh.
Dark Side of the Spoon - OK, between the nude morbidly obese woman on the outside, and the chunk of rotten whatever the fuck it is on the inside, I’m just going to say what the fuck, man? I’ve seen more aesthetically pleasing images on a Cannibal Corpse record. Seriously, who (besides maybe Voidhead) is going to look at this cover and say “Hey, now this looks like it might be a cool album!” Also, that fucking block letter font is back. At least this time they remembered to use the spacebar every now and then.
Greatest Fits - Eh. I like the baby on the Black Sabbath album better.
Sphinctour - Yawn. Looks like the cover to a bootleg.
Animositisomina - Kind of a return to form. Back to scary from goofy. I like the multi-religious symbol. But there’s something about it that kind of bores me. And that stupid font is still here. This is also the last Ministry album whose title isn’t a fucking pun.
Houses of the Mole - I like this one. It’s got a scratchy, punk look to it, and I’ve always been a sucker for eye in the pyramid imagery (which makes its return from an old Psalm 69 t-shirt). Again with the orange. What’s the deal with Ministry and orange?
Rantology - I sure hope Al didn’t actually pay anybody for this.
Early Trax/Side Trax - Nothing special here. Just Ministry in a (almost literal) plain brown wrapper.
Rio Grande Blood - I like the cover, but the Bush imagery means it’s already dated. The evil nun picture inside is cool, but reminds me a bit too much of an old Evil Mothers album. This is also the first in a series of booklet-free digipacks. They’re cheaper to produce and more environmentally friendly, I know, but there’s something less satisfying about not having an actual booklet.
Rio Grande Dub-Ya - This one’s clearly just a goof. Still, something about it makes me giggle every time.
The Last Sucker - The Bush image weakens the overall cover, but lenticular paste-on front and the pop-up supper image are pretty cool. It’s also the return of the occult imagery that we haven’t seen since Mind, which I really dig. Gets major points for sheer ambition, at least.
Cover Up - Very DIY punk looking. Mildly amusing, even if the front was recycled from the Reload video.
Adios Put Madres - Ugh. What a fucking mess.
Last Dubber - OK, so Rio Grande Dub-Ya makes me giggle. But it’s time to let the joke die.
So that’s it.
Your turn.