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Thirty years and 12 albums into a career of euphoric highs and stupefying lows, Ministry have created Relapse, their heaviest, most eclectic and most inspiring offering to date. The brainchild of frontman Al Jourgensen and his experienced wingmen (or is that wingnuts), the record bursts with the turmoil of a violent political rally and the precision of a marksman at a shooting range.
This records really good and I never say that about my own shit, Jourgensen declares. Not only is it the best record Ive ever done, Id put it in the top 50 records of all time. Usually, when I finish a record I never want to hear it again. I cant stop listening to this one, and that says something.
With 16 million records sold worldwide, six Grammy nominations under his belt and kudos from industrial bands that have followed in his wake, including Nine Inch Nails, Slipknot and Korn to name a few, Jourgensen has earned the right and garnered the credibility to judge the quality of his own material. Coming five chaotic years and one near-death experience after the release of the bands The Last Sucker, Relapse is less a dramatic comeback than a climactic return. Unapologetic, confrontational and catchy as an influenza epidemic, the album compiles Ministrys strongest sentiments, riffs and refrains and reconfigures them in a way thats utterly brutal, yet undeniably thought provoking, Relapse incorporates elements of thrash, crossover metal, groove metal, angular prog rock, psychedelia and even classic rock.
99 Percenters, a rally song for the Occupy Movement, weaves echoing, textural guitars around a chugging main riff, and features roaring vocals, whirring samples and a chant-along refrain inspired by Country Joe McDonalds I-Feel-Like-Im-Fixin-To-Die-Rag, while Double Tap, a song about the assassination of Osama Bin Laden is fueled by a savage thrash riff and blindingly fast double-bass drumming and embellished with Middle Eastern melodies, a fleet-fingered melodic solo and gunshots.
The funny thing is I didnt even want to do another Ministry record, Jourgensen says. I was working on my stoner country album by Buck Satan & the 666 Shooters, and [guitarist] Mikey [Scaccia] and I started messing around with these heavy riffs just as a change of pace. And then we realized the stuff we were coming up with were totally Ministry. Mikey was like, Dude, weve gotta do something with this. Weve gotta make another Ministry record. And I went along kicking and screaming.
The voice of protest for generation anarchy, Jourgensen remains madder than hell and unable to stifle the poisons that possess him. Ten years clean and the recent recipient of a complete blood transfusion, the unruly Texan and his nefarious posse have rebounded with a new energy and determination that re-establishes their dominion at the top of the industrial metal hierarchy. Throughout, Relapse resounds with themes of governmental corruption, untempered corporate greed, addiction and the pain and decay that accompanies sociopathic avarice. While Jourgensens messages are blunt, theyre also colored with black irony the words of a bedraggled street prophet laughing as his apocalyptic predictions come to light.
In the past, Ive always been about five years ahead of the curve with my lyrics, Jourgensen says. This time, I think Im right on track and in the present. These songs are about the world we live in today and ugliness of whats out there behind our front doors.
While Ministry have been bucking convention and subverting the masses since their third album the dancefloor apocalypse of 1988s The Land of Rape and Honey, which featured the bands first breakthrough single Stigmata, Ministry really started warning audiences about the dangers of greed and oppression on 1989s Thieves from their landmark disc The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste, the first album ever to combine skull crushing metal with the mechanical grind of industrial.
Ministrys political focus sharpened with time, and along the way the band released such groundbreaking releases as 1992s Psalm 69: The Way to Succeed and the Way to Suck Eggs, which contained the runaway hit Jesus Built My Hotrod (featuring Butthole Surfers frontman Gibby Haynes), as well as Just One Fix and N.W.O, which took aim at President George Bush and the first Gulf War.
Thats when everything really exploded for Ministry, Jourgensen says. I couldnt believe how big we were getting, and the more successful we became, the more everyone wanted from us, which was sickening. I felt like a trained monkey dancing for all these corporate people and I couldnt stand it, so after that I retreated into my own head and didnt come out for a while.
While Ministry were off the road, the band members continued to write and record. In 1996 the band released the bleak, harrowing and less industrial Filth Pig and in 1999 they dropped Dark Side of the Spoon, a gritty, grimy release inflected with dense, distorted guitar and surreal blurting saxophone.
That was an ugly period for the band, Jourgensen says. I was doing too many drugs and no one in the band was getting along. Im just glad those years are behind me.
After one brush with death too many, Jourgensen got clean and returned with renewed vigor and vitality. Finding lyrical focus in the election of George W. Bush, Ministry discovered musical strength and lyrical firepower in the nepotism, greed, militarism, hypocrisy and disregard for the middle class the Bush administration thrived on. Driven by rage over the political climate, 2004s Houses of the Mole, 2006s Rio Grande Blood and 2007s The Last Sucker a trilogy of virulent anti-Bush declarations that had much in common musically with fan favorites, The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste and Psalm 69.
That was a major restructuring time for Ministry, Jourgensen says. I was enraged by what I saw around country and the world, but I was rebuilding my own house as well. The rip-off artists and assholes I had been surrounded by were all gone and everyone I worked with was honest and talented and it was like working on something with friends who are all on the same page, so that tension was just gone.
While the camaraderie was strong and Jourgensen even brought his side project Revolting Cocks back from a 13 year hiatus, the industrial veterans health was on the wane. On March 28, 2010, almost three years after retiring Ministry and performing with and recording numerous bands, including Prong and Front Line Assembly, Jourgensen suffered a ruptured ulcer that nearly killed him.
I felt like shit, all the time, ever since we did The Last Sucker, he says. I was used to throwing up blood on tour. I thought thats just what happens when youre on a rock tour. But when I got home from the tour it didnt stop. It actually got worse. And then I just collapsed and was bleeding all over the place. I lost 65 percent of my blood and died. My wife, Angie, called the ambulance and they came just in time. I was dead. I flatlined and they brought me back. I owe my life to them.
Ordered by doctors to take some time off, Jourgensen heavily delved into tattooing and piercing and then recorded Buck Satan & the 666 Shooters Bikers Welcome, Ladies Drink Free before Scaccia convinced him to kick Ministry back in gear. Jourgensen called up Prong frontman Tommy Victor and ex-GWAR bassist Casey Orr and Static X bassist Tony Campos and reapproached the band by alternatively working with two teams (Scaccia and Orr on one side, Victor and Campos on the other).
Basically, Mike and Casey would come in and do a bunch of stuff and then wed have the other guys in, Jourgensen says. Having the two teams gives the music a fresh feel because everyone has their own style and is doing something slightly different, and at the same time everyones on their A-game because they know they know the other guys are going to be at their best as well.
The collaborative approach leant Relapse much of its character and diversity. Bloodlust, oozes with bloozy southern groove, sounding like a cross between Black Sabbath and ZZ Top then drifts into an atmospheric pre-chorus saturated with airy melodic vocals, Kleptocracy begins with a technically complex rhythm shift before kicking into a four-to-the-floor chorus and peaking with a hammering thrash riff and face-shredding solo. Weekend Warrior is composed of serrated riffs, a blazing solo and vocals reminiscent of Suicidal Tendencies Mike Muir (courtesy of Als engineer Sammy DAmbruoso) and the band include a modernized cover of S.O.D.s United Forces, one of the first 80s crossover songs to win over metal audiences.
Weve never done a record like this that takes on so many different styles of music, Jourgensen says. But whether its slow or fast or technical or whatever, its all totally Ministry.
In addition to being more sonically variegated than past Ministry albums, Relapse exudes a spirit and vitality that comes from fighting for the system instead of against it. In an unprecedented move, Jourgensen is actually siding with those in power and screaming for unification instead of annihilation. Git Out Get Out n Vote is a crushing, trenchant public service announcement (on previous tours, Ministry has had voter registration booths installed next to the merch stands), Ghouldiggers — which opens with Angus Young-style guitar tapping and features one of Ministrys most entrancing tech-thrash riffs — is about the destructive power of corporate America and 99 Percenters is a call to action that Jourgensen hopes will inspire politically apathetic fans to wake up and take a stand.
Kids today are so influenced by what the media feeds them, Jourgensen says. They need get off their ass and realize that places like Fox News and CNN have a political agenda because theyre funded with money from companies that have vested interests. If I could teach my fans anything it would be to think for yourself, follow your heart and be aware of whats going on around you. And dont forget to fucking vote.
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