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Ministry: Houses of the molé

24/06/04 || Statik Majik

Well, it’s a new fucken Ministry album. Although the album itself doesn’t offer that much “new”. In-fucken-dustrial. Heavy ass guitars. Al Jourgensen screaming his lungs off. Catchy riffs. Neat little samples here and there. Good fucken production.

Productionwise, “Houses of the Molé” falls inbetween “Psalm 69” and “Filth pig”. Fine by me, “Filth pig” has a killer production and there’s nothing wrong with the “Psalm 69” production either. And yes, I know this album IS a kind of continuation of “Psalm 69”. Fucken 69 tracks, quotes from “El Presidente”, you name it.

So, the point being: I was more than positively surprised when I laid my hands on this new release of Ministry, which is named after a Mexican sauce. A sauce that looks a bit like oil (and yes, the oil can also refer to the real oil, which certain people say has an important role on what’s happening down there – You know, not Louisiana, but more down, and far further east). Ok, back to the sauce issue. It’s much more interesting than what we pour into the tanks of our cars, ain’t it? Food is always more interesting. On the other hand, I’ve never been that much into Mexican food, and I sure as hell haven’t tasted molé. But was more than eager to spend one fucken paragraph for discussing about it. I rule. Now that we got that sorted out, let’s move along, shall we?

Each and every song on this album starts with a “W”. Except the first track, which is named “No W” (wasn’t this song previously released on some compilation album as well?). You do know what “W” they’re talking about here, right? Dontcha worry, boy, once you hear the opening intro of the first track, it’ll be more than clear to y’all.

Anyway, I am not going to talk about the lyrical content of this album that much, mainly because I ain’t that much into politics, and that certain “W” doesn’t affect my day to day life that much. It might, if I’d watch more news, but I don’t. I hate news. There’s only murder, violence, catastrophy, shitty weather and dull reporters there. News. Fuck the news. Even reading the fucken Nighwish-forums, where elves complain about some reviewer not liking their favourite artist’s latest album, is more interesting than news. Not to mention the entertaining aspect of it. Ok, back to the murder, violence and chaos issues. If I want those, I’d put the “World wide death” by God Among Insects into my cd player. At least that’s aggression and death (death… you know, as in “death metal”, or as in “death” in general – fuck me, I’m a fucken genius and verbal acrobat, if ya will) I enjoy listening to. Oh yes, the Ministry. Sorry. Forgot that “World wide death” hasn’t even been released yet.

The first song is fast and furious, the samples mix in quite well. You can’t go wrong with the “Carmina Burana”. Vital Remains used it, so why can’t Ministry? Exactly. The next song is so fucken 1992 Ministry that it’s not even funny. Except for the double guitar/bassdrum intro, which is too heavy to be anything more than this year’s production. I’m sucker for double bassdrums, just so you know.

“Worthless” reminds me of something from the “Filth pig” era warped through a time machine to 1992 and then dragged to 2004. I fucken like. I like it so much that I wanna get my cock out of my pants and start to jerk off to the riff of this song. Well, it would be useless (Didn’t they have song titled “Useless” on “Filth pig”? See, I’m on a fucken roll here today, ladies and gentlemen), cos then I wouldn’t be able to write this review. I’ll do the jerking off later. I promise.

“Wrong”... well, this is pretty basic stuff. Except that the intro and chorus basically… well, suck. Vocal wise it sounds so fucken much out of place. Well, the verses inbetween make up for the crappy choruses. Should I continue this track by track approach with this review, or is it enough if I say that “Warp city”, “WTJ” and “WKYJ” are so fucken Ministry, that even Ministry couldn’t sound more like themselves? The only song that differs a bit is track number 7, “World”. It’s more melodic than a general Ministry song usually is. That’s why it stands out from the other songs so well. It also could be categorized as “radio-friendly” material.

I’d like to point out the last song (I refuse to count the hidden tracks – so sue me) of this album, “Worm”. It is damn good one. I dig the melody and general feeling of this song. A lot. One of the best songs from “Houses of the Molé” without a fucken doubt. Kind of like “Brick windows” on the “Filth pig”. This song is nine motherfucking minutes that present the slightly slower part of Ministry. Don’t get me wrong – it’s just not as fast-tempo as the usual Ministry songs are, but the heaviness is definitely here. Couldn’t find better song to end this album myself.

The guitar sound on this album is damn good, to say the least. It’s not The Project Hate’s “Hate, Dominate…” but it doesn’t pale in comparison too much. One thing they do have common with The Project Hate is killer, heavy and simple guitar riffs. Fuck me, I managed to say something about TPH in this review too… Did I manage to pull some kind of Nighwish joke yet? Oh yes, I did. All’s good in fairyland then, and you’re allowed to proceed to the last paragraph of this review.

Overall, I’d say Ministry managed to get a kind of refreshed “Psalm 69” vibe with this album, which was probably their intention from the beginning. So far, I’ve listened to this album less than 10 times, but it already had a stronger impact on me than “Psalm 69” did so many years ago. I hate to review album this soon after hearing it, but hey, it’s a dirty job and somebody had to do it. I just hope that you managed to read the actual point between the lines, which was: this album kicks fucking ass. If you’re a long time Ministry fan and if the early 90’s groove Ministry had gives you a hard-on, then I’m sure you won’t be disappointed.

7,5 fucken filthy “W”‘s out 10 hotrods built by Jesus.

Information
Released: 2004
Label: Mayan Records
Website: www.ministrymusic.org
Band
Alien Jourgensen : vocals, guitars, bass, de-programming
Mike Scaccia: Lead guitar, bass, guitars
Max Brody: programming, drums
Mark Baker: drums, percussion
John Monte: bass

Tracklist
01. No W
02. Waiting
03. Worthless
04. Wrong
05. Warp city
06. WTV
07. World
08. WKYJ
09. Worm

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