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THE REVIEW
As my first review on DeBaser, I have chosen an album that has profoundly marked me on an emotional level for several reasons. My reviews are long, so I'll warn you right away, if you want the telegraphic review it is: wonderful album but certainly not for everyone. Now I'll move on to describe in detail what makes this album special.
"Dark Side Of The Spoon" was created by Ministry during a period, 1997/8 (and released in 1999) of profound depression for the two masterminds of the project (namely the singer and guitarist Al Jourgensen and the legendary bassist and programmer Paul Barker, the true cornerstone of Ministry's songwriting from 1988-2003): the sludge/metal turn of a wonderful album but rejected by fans like "Filth Pig" and an exhausting tour left both exhausted and at the mercy of addiction to substances like heroin, alcohol, and cocaine. Add the disappearance in 1997 of two figures from the counterculture dear to Ministry also on a personal level, such as the legendary writer William S. Burroughs (who acted in the splendid single of "Just One Fix" at the time of psalm 69), and that in 1996 of the LSD guru Timothy Leary (who even participated in an album by Revolting Cocks), to whom the album is dedicated, add the talent of drummer Ray Washam (who previously played with Scratch Acid, and later with Steve Albini's rough Rapeman) and songwriting that truly doesn't care about sounding "mainstream" or "radio friendly" (just like the production, although the song "Bad Blood" will end up in the soundtrack of "Matrix"), and an abundant dose of bile with a touch of black humor, in addition to the already mentioned ingredients, and you will have an album that instead of breaking bones (the prerogative of Ministry of always)... will break your stomach and a little bit your heart.
It starts with "Supermanic Soul", industrial metal at its simplest and most captivating, but already from the next "Whip And Chain" the atmosphere becomes layered, the keyboards are present again in the Ministry sound, and the drums bastardize Jourgensen's filtered singing. "Bad Blood", as mentioned, is a single to give breath and that helped Ministry not to shut down during this period, while the next "Eureka Pile" is the first delightful surprise of the album: incredible rhythm section, where Barker's bass and Washam's drums grind hypnotic notes with a backdrop of Middle Eastern samples while a cynical Jourgensen sings with a "Stigmata" tone (meaning not shouted, more mocking and defiant), for minutes and minutes this song becomes a true musical description of a trip. A trip that passes with the comic/tragic "Step": a bit of jazz and swing combined with the industrial sound of Ministry and Jourgensen's lyrics never so comical, despite everything ("I just want to thank/All my fabulous fans/For being loyal to me during these troubled times/I love you all, really/ I wish I could take you all to the Betty Ford Center with me!!!") - enjoyable, the right breath between two strange and disorienting rock formations like the just-past "Eureka Pile" and the following track 6, "Nursing Home": saxophone samples mistreated on another 10-star base created by Barker and Washam, with Jourgensen continuing to declaim in his tone of the previous songs, without screaming, but clarifying, arguing, exorcising in his way the shit he felt inside. A difficult track if you don't like challenges and if you are satisfied with the industrial metal of KMFDM (I mean the one done by Konietzko without Esch and Watts, as that would be another story)... difficult to digest as much as it might sound "fun", in reality, Ministry will admit to having recorded the album in lousy mood conditions, and if you look under the sardonic smile, it is clearly seen.
The "classic" Ministry returns with the dark and sad "Kaif": bone-crushing bass and guitar, loud band in full force for a slow and angry nocturne, with a rarely so expressive Jourgensen. "Vex & Siolence" instead passes the mic to Paul Barker, the primary author of the track, which with his cerebral manner sounds heavy but again, as in previous tracks, perhaps too cerebral to be enjoyable for just a light listening to the album. And so is the last track "10/10", instrumental with tortured sax and band in the background. Ultimately, at the end of the journey, this album, paradoxically created by an industrial metal band (and which should therefore sound only "evil" to many), is in reality bound to a much more cerebral conception of sound and songwriting: it requires commitment from the listener, both for the lyrics and the production, going through the lucubrations or paranoias expressed in the lyrics or in the obsessive repetition of a riff to physical exhaustion. A wonderful album, deeper than it appears on the surface: a highly underrated pearl, and unique in the world of Ministry: give it a chance.
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Summary by Bot
This review explores Ministry's 1999 album 'Dark Side Of The Spoon,' created during a difficult period marked by addiction and loss. The album offers a complex, cerebral industrial metal experience far from mainstream sounds. Key tracks showcase hypnotic rhythms and a blend of black humor and deep emotion. Though challenging, the album remains a highly underrated and unique masterpiece in Ministry's discography.Tracklist Lyrics Videos
02 Whip and Chain (04:23)
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Ministry
Ministry is an American industrial rock/industrial metal band led by Al Jourgensen, known for a shift from early-’80s synthpop toward abrasive, sample-heavy industrial metal in the late 1980s and early 1990s.14 Reviews
