There was a time when Al Jourgensen spearheaded industrial-influenced metal and tore apart conventions. There was a time when Uncle Al was teeth-grinding dangerous and mocked the powers that be in such that you could only love him and Ministry. If you aren't familiar with the work of Ministry, do yourself the favour of checking out albums like 'The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste (1989) and the monumental 'Psalm 69' (1992). Since then, Uncle Al and changing cohorts have put out a number of more or less cool albums, where especially 'Rio Grande Blood' (2006) is one I sometimes come back to when I need a bit of industrial.
Jourgensen announced that he'd kill off Ministry in 2007 and made the less impressive 'The Last Sucker' as a farewell greeting. For some reason, Uncle Al decided to revive Ministry, first to deliver a decent gig at 2011's Wacken Open Air, and then to release 'Relapse', an album I never really sucked up. And now the follow-up, 'From Beer to Eternity' stands before being unleashed upon the masses.
I'd love to be impressed by a hard-hitting monster of an album from Ministry. Sad but true; It doesn't really take off. I honestly can't put my finger on one single song that blows me away. Not one. Side Fx Include Mikey's Middle Finger has the intro which it takes, but the song eventually turns into a mess of samples. Lesson Learned has a cool female choir, but is really a bit boring. Album opener Hail to the Majesty is basically a cool, slow affair, but it just drags on for too long. And the list goes on. I'm generally left with a feeling that the 54 minutes this albums lasts could've been cut down to 30 and a massive editing job would have been in place to leave out the fillers.
I've seen worthier returns to the scene. A shame, this.
