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[MUSIC] THE SAVAGE ANIMAL
"First Impression of Ministry pt.1" |
10.12.11 |
BY MIKEY MIGO
Yes. It's that time again. For those who are new or just stumbling upon this column, every few weeks I'll take the time out to listen to a band's complete discography. Like anyone, there is stuff that I miss out on. Everyone has their favorites and their "range" so to speak. This, coupled with the fact we only have so much time in a day, makes it impossible to hear every band or artist out there. Some bands you just miss out on. It happens, but it's easy to correct. Listen.
What I do is listen to a band's complete studio discography. I've had some great luck exposing myself to acts like Simon and Garfunkel, The Stooges, The Smiths, Regina Spektor, Arcade Fire, and The Black Keys. At the same time, I've punished myself with Kings of Leon, Breaking Benjamin, Portishead, and other groups that were torture to endure.
The point is that I'm listening with an open and hopeful mind. Sure making fun of something is fun at times, but not for an entire discography. I genuinely want to enjoy myself and find something new and different to add to my own personal musical lexicon. Whatever the opinion, I'll share it with you written in real time as I listen and form my own first impression.
Why Ministry?
Why not Ministry? I’ve made October of this year, and maybe future years at this rate, “Industrial Month”. I’m a big fan of the genre, but I don’t feel I’m caught up on it as much as I should be. I have my fanboy music snob standards and I feel like I’m a “poser” so to speak unless I educate myself. The best way to do this is to go back and read up on it and study the history and listen to the main bands.
As much of a fan I am of industrial rock, I’ve never really had my time with Ministry. I’m close enough to Chicago to know about Al Jourgensen and his acclaim. I know for sure I’ve heard a few key singles, but I’ve never really listened to Ministry. I typically do these “First Impression” columns on bands with four to six albums and get it all out there in one week. In Ministry’s case there are eleven studio albums. I just don’t have the time to sit here that long, but I can do half that. So for the first time I’m going to do a two parter. I’m going to listen to the first five albums of Ministry this week and then next week the more recent six. I’m going to go track to track and take them in with an open mind. I’m optimistic because I am in an “industrial” mood lately, their cred is strong, and I’ve liked what I’ve seen and heard over the years.
Eleven albums. I really hope they don’t suck.
With Sympathy
(1983 – 38 minutes) - This album was released a few months before I was born. The debut album starts off with "Effigy (I'm Not An)". It’s more “new wave” than industrial. It reminds me of “Pretty Hate Machine” by Nine Inch Nails, but a little more dated sounding. Lucky for me, I enjoy me some good new wave. So far, so good. Just not what I expected going into this. "Revenge" is next. It’s got a good beat and is pretty catchy. I’m thrown off because Al Jourgensen is singing with a British accent. That’s not Chicago-like at all. Things get really cheesy on "I Wanted to Tell Her". It sounds really lame and generic. It’s a audio version of an 80’s cliché. Yikes. In the UK this album was called "Work For Love" and so is the fourth track. It’s got some playful 80’s electro-funk to it, but other than that it’s pretty underwhelming. I don’t know what the hell they were going for on "Here We Go", but it’s pretty fun for what it is. The erratic horns and the droney and repetitive chorus got me sorta hooked on it. I think they go the more reggae/Jamacian route in "What He Say". It sounds like one of those familiar singles that VH1 Classic plays at 5 AM once every five years. The vocal delivery is really weird, but it’s at least different from what I’m used to from what I know of “new wave”. I really like the sound scape created at the beginning of "Say You're Sorry" until the saxophone kicks in. Sadly, the song would go back to the weird new wave cheesiness of droney female vocals and euro-pop. I enjoy "Should Have Known Better". It’s still in the same realm of new wave cheese, but I like it. The vocals work and the music is fun. It sounds like something ahead of its time. The brooding base drones in the background are the really the first signs of what’s to come. The album closes up with "She's Got a Cause". It’s more of the same. I read that this album was in fact more of a new wave album and they’d change their sound drastically in short order. I know I need to keep in mind this was 1983 and things were a lot different. I’d bet die hards would even say this one doesn’t count or something. I know from being a Nine Inch Nails fanboy that there’s that “Purest Feeling” and “Twist” era right before “Pretty Hate Machine” and we typically don’t talk about those tracks in public. This just wasn’t what I was expecting from the pioneers of industrial. Between the fake euro-voice and the cheap Casio sounding synths I’m not impressed. I want aggression. Give me aggression…
Twitch
(1986 – 57 minutes) - I asked for it and I got it. I don’t even think this album was considered “industrial” at the time of its release. The term “EBM” is used a lot in terms of genres like this at this point. The first track "Just Like You" is sort of what I was expecting all along. It’s darker and takes over my brain. "We Believe" takes things up a notch. It has the gargled vocals, a solid beat, and drones. In the bridge it sounds A LOT like a lot of Rob Zombie’s songs. Rob’s vocal delivery has to be influenced by this. Awesome. "All Day Remix" has more of what I’d consider to sound like “hard new wave” to me. It has a bit too much of that “cheap Casio” sound to it for what I’d hope at this point. It’s also a bit long at over 6 minutes. It’s good for what it is, but it’s not industrial. I really like "The Angel". I’d even go as far as saying it’s the best track I’ve heard so far except for this one tone they keep using over and over. It’s too jarring and makes it hard to fall into the trance. "Over the Shoulder" is a really intense track. The first thing that comes to mind is techno-speed. It’s almost too much to take and the vocals are just really weird. It’s hard to describe the vocals, but I’ll try with “dainty, euro, old timey”. Yeah? The tempo is really fast on "My Possession" too. The vocals are less comedic here and actually remind me a little of Trent Reznor’s at times. This one is better than the last and has a few more layers to be found in there. For some reason there is a three part twelve minute track on here with the title of "Where You at Now? / Crash & Burn / Twitch" (Version II). This is more like it. This is some clear cut industrial and it sounds cooler than anything I’ve heard in awhile. It’s a blend of danceable harder stuff and some all out industrial sampling. It’s three tracks morphed together. Kind of cool. I’ve heard bands do stuff like this on their remix albums, but here it’s like they just cut out the middle man. Next is "Over the Shoulder" (12" Version). It’s just about the same song, but extended and with more of an industrial clang-clang. The vocals seem even weirder on this one. Almost reminds me of a bad Prince impression."Isle of Man" (Version II) gets really dark and droney for the finish. It has a really cool brushing of samples and noise in it. It’s actually one of my favorite songs so far. I hear a lot of what I like about bands to come after in it. I really appreciate this album. You can hear the band evolve. They had the euro-pop thing going on in the first album and then this one goes far into the darker direction. It becomes a bit more brooding, a bit more droning, less cheesy, and gains a crazy amount of edge. Still, there are some clear new wave clichés here and as awesome and groundbreaking as some parts are you’re still reminded it’s 1986. I’m not sure if that’s a bad thing though.
The Land of Rape and Honey
(1988 – 47 minutes) - The third album opens with "Stigmata". The primal screams at the beginning make me jump for all the right reasons. Then we’re treated to some actual guitar riffs, a beat, distortion, and chaos. I’m already digging this. This sounds more like what I thought Ministry sounds like and close to the songs of theirs I know I’ve heard. "The Missing" is metal and does some bad ass blending. It makes me want to mosh at my desk. The industrial metal continues with "Deity". It’s loud, it’s noisy and aggressive as shit. Underneath the pulse of noise is some bad ass guitar work too. "Golden Dawn" is almost too solid for a song from 1988 to be. The melody, the layers, and build it takes are extremely awesome. I like the music on "Destruction" a lot, but the vocals are merely screams of “destruuuuuctioooon!” and it takes me out of what could have been awesome. "Hizbollah" has a cool melody and music, but the distorted chanty vocals are unsettling in a “I’m going to skip this next time” kind of way. The title track is next. "The Land of Rape and Honey" is an interesting, but good track. It has a throbbing synth melody layered with samples, a drum beat, and distant and distorted vocals. It’s like everything they’ve done so far in one well crafted track. The first thing that came to mind when I read the track title of "You Know What You Are" was “doesn’t NIN have a track called that?” It’s not related, but it’s awesome. The sonic melody is bad ass, the samples are weird, the vocals are distorted like a mofo(see Psyclon Nine’s of today). It samples the movies “Aliens”, “Platoon”, “A Fist Full of Dollars”, and “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly”… and it’s all sorts of awesome. Off the bat, I like the bouncy tempo of "I Prefer". The vocals are weird, but it’s only just over two minutes long so my interest doesn’t go away. "Flashback" is one of those violent songs you just want to dance to. It samples “Platoon” too. The album closes out with "Abortive". I don’t know how to make a witty observation about the song without tastelessly referencing abortions. It’s a weird tune. It has a throb synth beat but in the background is somewhat of a funky groove. It goes awry and statics out at the end. Interesting end. This album is way more in the industrial direction. A lot of what I heard on this album is what makes up what I know of as “industrial”. It’s only 1988 and there is a lot more metal to go. We’re three albums in and we’ve still not hit their biggest album or even a song I knew before hand. Impressive evolution thus far. You can hear the trails being blazed.
The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste
(1989 – 51 minutes) - Ministry’s fourth studio album, and their last of the 80’s, starts off with "Thieves". The melody and loop they use is pretty pimp. I’m surprised it’s not been sampled by a hip hop act at some point, but then again how many hip hop acts are listening to Ministry? Eh, I’m prolly stereotyping there a tiny bit. Prolly not. "Burning Inside" is more in your face. It’s a really excellent industrial rock track. I’m a big fan of the guitar work in it. The chaotic synth at the start of "Never Believe" is cool. It blends into guitars and a really bouncy tune. It’s almost industrial rodeo-rock. I suppose a better description would be “punk”. The synth wins it over for me though. Really dig the opening of "Cannibal Song". It reminds me of Rob Zombie’s stuff and then the vocals hit. It’s not like much else out there. It’s really its own thing, but I have to say it’s pretty amazing. The groove here is enough alone to make this my favorite Ministry song thus far. The bad ass-ness continues with "Breathe". Despite it being close to 6 AM I still find myself head banging to this. It’s over eight minutes long, but I found myself adrift into the music of "So What". It’s a pretty violent song in tone, but the tempo has that “fuck the world” groove to it that’s just bad ass. "Test" is more erratic and hectic. It has more of a punk vibe than anything. It’s not horrible, but it’s the worst track on this album. I really loved the music of "Faith Collapsing". There just aren’t any vocals though. They use samples, but great vocals to accompany the great music could have made for some really cool. The album closes out with a surreal track, "Dream Song". It’s droning and hard pounding at the same time. It’s like angels singing in the presence of heavy machinery. It’s trippy as hell. This was another solid step forward for Ministry if you ask me. Their last album might have been better overall, but I really really liked “Cannibal Song” and “So What” and the direction it sounds like their going is making me excited to hear more.
Psalm 69: The Way to Succeed and the Way to Suck Eggs
(1992 – 45 minutes) - The fifth studio album and the last we’ll be listening to this week is reportedly their best and most successful. The album starts off with "N.W.O.", a song that I’ve heard a lot before and have seen the video of on JBTV on Chicago access. It’s a great track. It has that steady bad ass beat, refined growl-like vocals, and it’s everything it needs to be. This is one of their most famous tracks for a reason. I’ve heard "Just One Fix" too. I remember the video being on Beavis and Butthead and being enthralled by it. Al was really getting his shit together in the catchy melody department here. It’s rare to find catchy industrial grooves. Probably because bands are afraid of competing with this display of being the shit. "TV II" is intense and shouldn’t be as cool as it is. For the first time, I really take notice of the drumming. Great drumming in this one. I am reading the track listing and info along with this and I see that "Hero" has “many samples” from the cartoon version of G.I. Joe. How can that NOT rock? The band’s most famous song is "Jesus Built My Hotrod". I’ve heard it, but I’ve never really listened to it. The vocals are provided by Gibby Haynes of Butthole Surfers fame. It’s like he’s almost scatting over speed metal. It just works and it rocks. The video was always cool to come across and it represents the best of the non-flannel portions of the early 90’s in music. It’s over 8 minutes long, but the steady strut of "Scare Crow" carries well. It’s an intense, but melodious instrumental. The vocals show up a little, but only to add a little flavor to the already dominating music. I suppose you could call "Psalm 69" the “title track”. It starts off with someone speaking in church and then goes into a marching choir of angels. It goes on like this for awhile with samples looped in. Then it breaks into a kick ass guitar riff and then the best metal song of the entire bunch so far. Angry head banging is a confirmed side effect of this song. When "Corrosion" starts you think this is going to be the track that starts to wind us down a little but then it tricks you. A full on metal assault ensues and head banging continues. The album wraps up with "Grace". It’s a swirling collage of evil noise. Eventually it fades into nothing. I had to take a deep breath after that one. Wow. How I’ve not listened to this entire album before is sickening. I can imagine younger me loving the hell out of this album. This has to be one of the best industrial albums I’ve ever heard and I’m saying that after one listen. There will be many more listens to come in the near and distant future. Albums and surprises like this is what makes doing these columns worth it. Great shit.
THE VERDICT…SO FAR!
(1983 – ) - I’m only half done with the discography of Ministry, but I can already tell that I should hate myself for missing out for so long. I know this kind of music isn’t for everyone, but it IS for me. I enjoy the electronic grooves, the metal guitars, noise, and distortion. On the later albums, like third through fifth, there are layers upon layers while still managing to be balls out metal. The early stuff was a little lame with the 80’s new wave thing going on. Some of it was catchy, but it lacked any real hook or edge to it. The second Al Jourgensen got more aggressive and dark the better. Then the second the guitars were featured it opened up the music completely. I can see why so many people I respect and enjoy respect and enjoy Ministry. I don’t want to sound too much like a gushing new fan, but I can’t wait for next week!
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