Sorry! I would have given it 5.2 or something. It’s pretty unoriginal and covers no new ground. It’s faster sure, but wears out its welcome after a dozen listens. It’s formulaic and lazy. After twenty odd years in the business Jourgenson knows what works and what doesn’t. And this new ‘metal’ offering with it’s juvenile, polital rants just screams “SAFE!!” at the top of its lungs, if you ask me.
Hey, it worked in 1992, right? So why not in er…ah…oh dear…
(sigh)And no matter how hard I try, I just can’t get past the INSIPID govt conspiracy behind 9-11 fucking bullshit of 'LiesLiesLies’or the lame ass Full Metal Jacketisms of ‘Gangreen’ or the tired Bush samples on the title track or the fact that ‘Khyber Pass’ goes absolutely nowhere and takes 7 or 8 minutes to do so. And then there’s the childish, punk ethos of the album artwork with it’s desperate attempts to offend someone, ANYONE!!
ker-ching, eh? The record store I work at received 90 of the new Tool, 34 of the new Pearl Jam, and 3 copies of RGB for new release day. ker-ching my arse.
Yeh, I somehow doubt ministry are much of a cash cow. In the lull after Dark side, most of the cd stores I’ve been too pulled their ministry sections. Probably added “of sound” to the end of the tags and moved them. Although I must say bigger stores that have a “metal” section have a few choice ministry items every now and then. never multiple copies though
Yeah Ministry isn’t exactly a cash cow these days…
C’mon now…
But I get what you’re trying to say. I mean the recent material is indeed quite “safe” for Ministry standards.
I’m glad the reviewer on Pitchfork acknowledged the greatness of Filth Pig whereas most reviews seem to concur that Ministry “desintegrated after Psalm 69”…
The guys seeemed to have some knowledge of Ministry’s work and I feel his rating and review were pretty well thought out. Although I don’t know how much drum machine there is on Rio Grande Blood…
The track “Khyber Pass” sounds intriguing though…
Olsen, are you a hater of tracks like “Leper” too??
Cuz I find a lot of Ministry songs that people perceive to “go nowhere” to be highly enjoyable.
ker-ching, eh? The record store I work at received 90 of the new Tool, 34 of the new Pearl Jam, and 3 copies of RGB for new release day. ker-ching my arse.
Actually, what I meant was that he’s milking this ‘Bush is evil’ shit for all it’s worth and making a buck out of it.
“Gimme some money and I’ll tell ya what a hideous criminal our president is” natch!
ditto Michael Moore, who seems to be doing rather well out of all of this 'Hypocrisy and Injustice".
[:|]
“Hmmmm…War For Oil! Corruption And Lies! Government Cover ups! I smell opportunity!!”
Also, if Jourgenson didn’t keep rehashing the same ol same old, then comparisons with Psalm would garner no merit. He only has himself to blame y’know.
But on the positive side:
Senor Peligro
Palestina
Ass Clown
Yellow Cake
Rio Grande Blood
are all pretty decent tunes. Flawed sure. But decent enough.
Ah, Pitchforkmedia. “Home of the over-indulgent music review”. I never really dug this site at all. Seems really faux-intellectual to me.
Anyway, 6.4 is actually pretty high for this site. The reviewer obviously doesnt know much about Prong though since then he’d know Victor isnt known for his “quick fingers”.
Looks like Ministry bashing season has begun again. I really dig the new record. You know why? Because its inspired protest music. Who cares if its not another Filth Pig?
i still think they should shut down ministrty after animositisomina and fornicatour. and shut down revco too. and release all following material as different project monikers.
Didn’t take long for the backlash on this album to kick in, did it?
Well, it is [i] released today [;)]
I think the main thing bugging people is that this stretch of Houses/Rantology/Rio is probably the most stagnant musical period. The stretching out of new directions isn’t there. Even if you hate WS to Psalm 69, atleast the branching out and absorbtion of different influences was there.
Psalm 69 got me into Ministry, because I was in a metal phase at the time. What struck me at the time was that they were using methods and techniques to make some of the tightest, heavyest stuff out there (not death metal level brutality, but still…)
The current line-up is kind of a 90’s industrial rock supergroup in my eyes, which also kind of disappoints me as far as the output.
Well, I got it. I was right - to these “untrained” ears (I was a DJ, remember?) it sounds EXACTLY THE SAME. This isn’t a bad thing, just making a point about the sound quality…when you’re blasting it that loud, it doesn’t really matter. Anyway, I like this album. It flows together just as well as Houses (which I also liked, so fucking sue me), much better as an overall album than the new Revco. Which, thanks to that interview, I now understand was a piecemeal effort assembled over several years, which explains a lot.
Anyway, I mostly agree with the reviewer’s assessment, except I would give it a seven point something, rather than a six. It’s true that this is all derivative metal at this point, but the fact is that Al is just kind of ripping himself off. And since it’s Al’s music I like, I don’t really mind if he borrows from himself. I care tremendously for what he’s “stealing” from, so of course I’ll like it. It’s sad, but the days of “The Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Taste” are over, and you can all thank the brown devil for that. Fucking heroin ruins everything, I swear…but whatever, I like this album, and I want to give a somewhat positive response. This shit is fucking HEAVY, and I can’t wait for the show!
P.S. Tacobomber - I’ve been on Slsk for weeks now, but haven’t seen you around. I keep it on “away” status at all times, so you may be mistaking that for offline. Or, if you are having trouble accessing my files, which happens for some reason, just pm me with your email. If you have a vague idea of what you’d like, I can hook you up. (In case anyone hasn’t noticed by now, this kind of goes for everyone here - I have no problems hooking up a fan. Just let me know what you need!)
Peace n’ shiz,
Chriz-ta-da-nitz
I really wouldn’t call too loudly for Al & Paul to kiss & make up, especially seeing as it’s not going to happen for any reason (even $). Remember, there are now 4 albums out there that are devoid of Paul–two “early” ones and the two most recent ones.
In my opinion Twitch still best (sonically & lyricall) represents the “Jourgensen ethos” of the time—a touch of danceable pop but mostly brutal electronic noise collages with a variety of samples & influences. Twitch was nearly entirely Al & Adrian Sherwood–no Paul anywhere in sight (until the tour).
Just look/listen to the lyrics of “We Believe” for a much better way of presenting political commentary in a song-it’s not going to sound immediately dated like the tired Bush-bashing & 911isms.
If I were Al, I’d toss the entire gang to the curb and lock myself in a studio with ONE talented producer and no emerge until something truly innovative was produced.
I don’t know what the problem is but RGB/13th planet are having some major distribution issues. I went to the nearest chains that should stock it–Best Buy ,Circuit City, and Borders. No sign of it anywhere in sight, no displays and no placement in the new release wall up front. BB had a “New Release!” tag in the Ministry section but no RGB discs. I’ll head to the local indie places today to snag a copy. Not a good sign either way–ESPECIALLY considering how BestBuy had Cocked & Loaded out with plenty of copies on release day.
BB had a “New Release!” tag in the Ministry section but no RGB discs. I’ll head to the local indie places today to snag a copy. Not a good sign either way–ESPECIALLY considering how BestBuy had Cocked & Loaded out with plenty of copies on release day.
They probably just sold out, then.
My Best Buy only had three copies. I don’t know about the other stores, but Best Buy orders stuff automatically based on how well similar stuff sells. So if a lot of heavy music, or previous Ministry albums sold well at that particular store, they’ll order more. If all that store ever sells is Kelly Clarkson and Jessica Simpson, they may not order any Ministry at all.
i still think they should shut down ministrty after animositisomina and fornicatour. and shut down revco too. and release all following material as different project monikers.
Yeah I mean for me Ministry was consistently great from Land of Rape and Honey all the way to Animositisomina.
I mean sure there are one or two duds on each album but to me it’s just this subtle magic that Paul added to the mix I guess.
I mean I like parts of Twitch, Houses, and RGB…hell even With Sympathy is fun music in its own way, but I just love the wierdness that Ministry consistently brought to the table from LORAH all the way through Animositisomina.
the pepsi sanctioned stylings of boy bands with 7 string guitars?
sure, there’s an immature element to this album, but if anything it’s ‘old metal’. it’s fun it’s cool, and i love how people would rather attack someone like Al for trying to inform the kiddies rathere than have an opinion or belivie in something themselves…
i think Al is wearing this bush thing into the ground more than annyone, but christ, at least he belives in something…
better than Korn’s great contribution to society; “i want to fuck my step mom, buy addidas”
oooh we’re all grown up and intelligent so we don’t have to rebel annymore. no lets just except it all…
because it’s not cool to listen to bands who are legitably angry about something other than being young and fucking rich and fucking popular…
give me a fucking break…
RGB has at least given us metal again, where metallica have been dropping off and linkin park have no fucking right being…
I agree Barend, this Ministry bashing is getting old, not Ministry.
It’s old metal, yeah, but it’s good, I don’t like a whole lot new music, the reason I still like ministry, is that they are doing what other bands try to do ie. “oh, fuck yeah, this next album will be HEAVY”, but they do it right. IMO anyway. Not that it’s about “being the heaviest” but thats where Al is at the moment, and seems to be enjoying himself doing it.
Like I said in another post, go and listen to old boots or the old albums if you want to, but dont say that MInistry/ReCo should have shut down, just because you dont like the new stuff. many do and appreciate what they are putting out.
it’s not good metal, it’s pretty mediocre and boring. seems like they were ripping off slayer and sepultura. besides no innovations, concurrent tired out bush theme, the other ministry problem is the mixing - it’s became really ugly since houses of the mole.
its just not minsitry anymore. sort of. seems like more of al jourgensen’s solo albums.
