Ministry
The Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Taste

THE REVIEW

The unstable mind of Al Jourgensen is well known, and his band is one of the most loved and hated/criticized. The journey of Ministry is entirely incomparable, outside the box. The initial synth pop, dance rock, and then the boom, the turning point of 1988 with "The Land Of Rape And Honey" that established them as pioneers of industrial. The latter, however, is invigorated by the drum machine coined with the maximum saturation of the guitar and the avalanche of samples, EBM sequences, and film dialogues.

There is always a need for an original idea. (Otherwise, no way would Ministry have become Ministry… with all the industrial, noise, shoegaze bands...)

Their atypical approach and daring moves are the fruits of the next step. In 1989, "The Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Taste" was released, a title that already foreshadows the scenario one witnesses... The sound persists with that of the debut but certainly there is greater prominence of the guitar. It is the work that sits in the middle ground, as with the third "Psalm 69" there will be even less air with those trivial panzer at full throttle of "N.W.O.", "Jesus Built My Hotrod," and "Just One Fix."

We are welcomed, in fact, by the quintessential shredding riff of "Thieves," five minutes of pounding, android choirs, and scornful lyrics. It borders on metal, but the industrial cadence of the drum machine excludes clear contamination with Bay Area thrash, for example. In short, we face the brazen cornerstone track typical of a Ministry album.

Another rage is spat out with the following "Burning Inside," the second heavyweight track. A position that inevitably makes us assume in front of the oppressive "mechanized" riff. The multi-effected voice of the damned Jourgensen is a tornado that establishes itself in the wild land of the rhythm.

Obsessively square tracks and cyber fury in bunches. Yet it's all so "alive," "human." Because the album is permeated with euphoria, suffering, shock, and jolts. Sensations that we also experience with more "timid" tones. We therefore find as another feature the tribalism stuffed with "high-tech" electronics. Beyond the two initial missiles, we come across the bizarre dances of "Cannibal Song" and "Breathe" and the blend of hard rock riffs and shouted slogans of "So What."

We travel relentlessly through the short films of the human psyche.