Ministry is calling it a day just as industrial music is making a comeback. Given the grasping for relevancy in the lyrics, I suppose Al might as well. Musically the opening track sounds decent, though it's a regurgitation of ideas. It works better on the lead single "Goddamn White Trash", which is aggressive enough, and a well-written song. "Just Stop Oil" has some decent guitar playing that helps switch things up sonically, by steering them in a more My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult direction, that is offset by the more metallic Ministry riffage you expect.
Thematically they touch on a more "Scarecrow" like mood going into "Ayran Embarrassment". Jello Biafra comes in and does what he does. The end result is something less aggressive than Lard. It also sounds like Burton C Bell is chiming in though his vocals sit further in the back of the mix. It's not Jello's most inspired performance. Not sure if we need a reworking of "TV" but that is what we are getting, not sure that is works as well this time around. The guitar to "New Religion" works really well, and the vocals flow effectively over it making it one of the album's best songs for sure.
"It's Not Pretty" is one of the album's most interesting moments, as it incorporates the strum of acoustic guitar while working off a more ominous tone thanks to the apocalyptic lyrics. I prefer when this is his focus, since politics are as real as professional wrestling, and raging for the machine is not a good look. I noticed on the previous album some of the sounds that would normally be relegated to a Revolting Cocks album are leaking over into Ministry, so he might be done with Ministry but maybe he has another Rev Co album in him. This more Rev Co feeling bleeds over into the "Cult of Suffering".
The last song finds a more new wave sound that looks back in the direction of their first album which I can appreciate. Expect to hear it spinning on "goth" nights near you. This album might take some time to grow on me I will give it an 8.5 for now and see how it grows on me, there is a great deal of recycling going on here and it is one of Al's less inspired moments, as raging for popular narratives, seems like he was just going with the flow since that is what he thinks the kids want. I would not say this album is a good entry point for kids first hearing Ministry.
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