"Finally", that was my first thought when I found out that Ministry would be back with this album, "Relapse".
Uncle Al has finally decided to return after 5 years of break, and it was worth waiting 5 long years to listen to a record like this, so I'd say let's start this review:
just take a look at the album, just at the cover, to understand that it is the representation of total excess, Al Jourgensen presents us with a classic "Ministry" album at the level of "Psalm69" or "Rio grande blood".
This album presents no innovation in the classic Ministry style, maybe older listeners will understand well, in fact, this album is very similar to the already mentioned "Psalm69".
"Relapse", from the very first track, proves to be a violent album, with a 7-minute intro, "Ghouldiggers", with its heavy rhythm and dark sound; this song introduces the second track, released months earlier as a single, I'm talking about "Double tap". This track is one of the best on the album due to its initial power that vaguely reminds me of the style of the Finnish "Turmion Kätilöt".
The third track is "FreeFall" which, after a one-minute vocal intro, kicks off with the usual Ministry sound, and here too, as in many other songs by Al and company, the singer's hoarse but powerful voice stands out.
Then we come to the fourth song of the album, "Kleptocracy", which after a guitar intro à la "Lies lies lies", the voice becomes heavier, leading to a chorus that almost seems to "celebrate" compared to the very dark verse.
Without dwelling too much on each track, the following tracks are:
- "United Forces" – 4:53
- "99 Percenters" – 3:53
- "Relapse" – 5:49
- "Weekend Warrior" – 5:43
- "Git Up Get Out 'n Vote" – 3:59
- "Bloodlust" – 5:37
- "Relapse (Defibrillator Remix)
The last track I want to focus on is "99 Percenters" which, being the most criticized on the album, deserves a prominent place in this review: for those who don't know, a music video was made for this song, which I believe is the source of the disdain towards it because being a "low budget" video, it turned out very trivial with sometimes incorrect dubbing. However, this song has instrumentation and lyrics that shouldn't be overshadowed, and for this reason, I consider it a very good song, one of the best of the album along with "Double tap" and others.
I hope this review has encouraged you to listen to this band that truly deserves it, although you can't really call it a band when reviewing this album, since it was produced by Al plus some guests; in short, listen to this CD and give me your opinion!
Tracklist
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