Well Big Al, has said this Ministry album, their 13th, will be the last Ministry album…We’ve heard that before and my only question is WHY??? This is one of the strongest Ministry albums ever and one of the most extreme the band has ever done. From Beer to Eternity features a variety that encompasses the legendary band’s sounds, spanning through 30 years of their existence. Album opener “Hail To His Majesty (Peasants)”, could have been off The Land of Rape and Honey, seriously with the thumping bass lines and you will notice the industrial influence, throughout the album has increased with the drum machine really making a prominent mark on the album. “Punch in the Face” is an awesome industrial thrash metal song with amazing samples and Al’s vocals are in top form. Some nice heavy bass bomb drops are thrown in too. If you have a subwoofer, you wanna crank this track-it will blow out your neighbor’s windows! “Perfect Storm” is a heavy groove number featuring some great samples, until the 3.50 mark when the song breaks into a furious industrial thrash attack with killer screaming guitar solos and Al sounding angry and really pissed off, as he growls along-pretty intense… I can go on and on and I will for a bit longer. “Fairly Unbalanced” is one of the best songs the band has ever done with it opening with an amazing memorable guitar riff that eventually breaks into an industrialized galloping thrash attack.
But nothing and I mean NOTHING, especially if you love Ministry, will prepare you for what boils down to the most extreme song the band has ever done and that would be “Side FX Include Mikey’s Middle Finger (T.V.4)”. And do you want to know why?? Well of course you do and that is because the song gets into Grindcore territory. I kid you not! The opening can best be described as Brutal Truth meets Ministry and the two had some angry rotten child running around with a freakin’ chainsaw. Noise influence as well as drum machine blasting, makes this really ferocious. Unreal!! The majority of the album is really fast, but the band does slow down from time to time and this is a better album, by far, than their last album, a year ago, Relapse. This is more cohesive/balanced and really a brutal and amazing album.
This review is also for the limited edition version of the CD that includes two bonus tracks “Permawar Remix” and “Thanx For the Dub Remix”. Both are brutal, includes a lot of industrial samples and are definitely not throwaway bonus tracks, simply killer sounding. This album with earphones on is also amazing. The production is top notch and hearing the samples/ music pan from L to R at certain points really immerses you into the album. The digipack is exceptionally layed out and the booklet features female models, that have been altered to show the 7 deadly sins. I have to make special mention of the female model that is depicting Wrath. This is one of the most disturbing pictures you will see; gross, evil and wicked to look at. It took me by surprise, but goes along with the overall viciousness of the album. So Mr. Al Jourgensen-where do you go from here?? All I can say is I have enjoyed Ministry in all its inceptions and if he is truly folding the band, my God, what a way to go out. From Beer to Eternity is an absolute beast of an album!! A must have for 2013!!
RIP.
on Oct 9th, 2013 at 08:18“… and my only question is WHY??? …”
Time for Uncle Al to retire Ministry. We’ll all miss it, but it’s better to go out on top than to keep making a few more albums that just slowly get worse and worse (as they’ve done before).
on Oct 16th, 2013 at 07:52