Written By Jeff Maki of Live-Metal.net
“I’m headed for relapse!” Al Jourgensen convincingly declares in the title track of Ministry’s 2012 comeback album. And this is coming from the man who revealed in a January 2012 interview with Revolver magazine that he had a Nikki Sixx-like near-death experience in 2010. No word as to whether he was floating above looking down upon his body, which had flat-lined, but hasn’t Al always been out of his body and mind anyway?
Is anyone truly surprised by this “relapse?” You wouldn’t be if you have seen this guy lately. We all had our suspicions when Al announced Ministry was over a few years ago, and we all know Al never will rehabilitate himself completely. In fact, this may be selfish, but I don’t want him to. Jourgensen is a lifelong user and the type of musician who just wouldn’t be the same without the drugs—there’s a long list of them just like him. I’m not advocating substance abuse, but Al is the kind of musician that makes drugs cool.
If you believe what Al has said in the press, Ministry truly was supposed to be over after its last studio album, 2007’s The Last Sucker. But during the recording for one of his many side-projects, his finally realized country outfit Buck Satan and the 666 Shooters, collaborator/guitarist Mike Scaccia convinced him the Ministry material they had produced in the sessions was too good to throw away. Yep, Al said, “Fuck it.” He didn’t even want to do the album—now that’s rock ’n’ roll.
I’ve been a fan of Ministry since their classic 1992 album, Psalm 69. But I have to admit, I breathed a sigh of relief after the 2000’s trilogy of politically charged, anti-Bush albums finally came to an end with The Last Sucker. (Shhh … don’t tell Al, but I don’t remember the last time I voted. Sure, I care, but it just seems like a lot of uninformed work to do.) Yes, there were some decent tunes on these albums (“Señor Peligro,” “No W”), but to me, this was a different Ministry.
With Relapse, we mostly get the Ministry of the ’90s, except this isn’t exactly the scary Ministry that recorded stuff like “Scarecrow,” “Reload” or “Lava.” This is more like a pissed off punk band, full of sarcasm and dry humor with only the slightest political awareness. It’s a loose, don’t-give-a-shit type of album from front to back. And all this is a good thing. Songs like “Weekend Warrior” and a cover of S.O.D.’s “United Forces” are proof.
Throughout the album, Al narrates with his sly southern accent, rambling on about his drug abuse and distaste for the record industry. On the opening standout track, “Ghouldiggers,” he claims “he’s worth more to the record labels dead than he is alive,” and later in “Freefall,” he talks about something called “croke” (half crack and half dope) that he seemed to have been hooked on. On “Freefall,” there’s also the eye-opening line that says, “I pissed away over $10 million on dope and crack.” Holy shit, Al. This is the kind of shit that makes Ozzy and Motley Crue’s ant-snorting look like an after-school special. I could have used a lot more of his narration, as up until recent years, Al’s been tight-lipped about his personal struggles. Sure, you would read about him in a drug bust now and then, but that was about it.
Despite the punk attitude, this is still a heavy Ministry album, full of Al’s trademarks, from his screeching guitar abuse (“Freefall”), fast industrial thrash (“Double Tap”) and electronic beats (“Relapse”). Toward the end of the album, “Bloodlust” is what Black Sabbath would sound like if they got totally wasted in a Texas saloon. Yes, there’s a wide variety here, and it’s liberating for the listener to not have an ongoing political theme.
So is this the last Ministry album? If it ends with Relapse, it certainly would be going out on a high note. But like Al said, he’s worth more dead than alive, so seeing that the inevitable relapse certainly already is happening, either way, I assume that means a lot more of Al and Ministry.
