Ministry - Houses of the Molé (2004)Release ID: 1599
Of all the metal genres, the one I know the least about is industrial metal, the one genre in The Sphere, the least popular clan in Metal Academy. I think the only two industrial metal bands I, along with my brother and father, have the slightest knowledge of are Ministry and Rammstein. Yet here I am, settling another DIS vs. DAT debate between two albums, each from one of those bands. One thing about industrial metal I don't care for is the lyrics that occasionally attack politics, like in this album Houses of the Molé which is the first part of Ministry's trilogy of hatred against President Bush. I'm not one to judge a certain wonderful president, so your feelings on that theme are up to you...
I've heard that this is Ministry's turn into higher aggression in the music and lyrics. Nothing obscure as their earliest metal albums, just straight message attacks with greater thrash/speed metal elements that would dominate other albums in this later era before and after this album, while having more of their usual industrial synth. Though the obscure vocal methods are a bit lacking.
"No W", originally released as a single, has wonderful aggression with pounding drums and lightning-fast guitar speed as vocalist Al Jourgensen shouts his distorted lyrics that battle politics. An excellent song to open the album! "Waiting" kicks a** with its killer guitar tone and the intro bringing back fragments of their late 80s metal era. "Worthless" has the right to exist on this album, but it just doesn't stand out. That song is indeed worthless! I thought things would get better in the next song "Wrong", but boy was I wrong!! When will they improve in this album?!
Fortunately, this album does get better with the h*ll of a catchy song "Warp City" (at that point, it's clear how the band likes the letter W). It follows the first track's fashion of relentless metal aggression as part of the Ministry identity. Continuing the industrial aggression is "WTV", which has the hyperspeed chaos of the band's iconic album Psalm 69. It's basically a total mindf*** of half shrieking lyrics of hearing voices, half TV soundbites of stuff like Nazi henchmen and mayo/peanut butter sandwich. I think I heard the Law and Order jingle at one point! Nothing but a cacophony of madness in that song! Then it leads to "World", an industrial metal anthem about how everyone is making the world as bad as it already is, complete with a lovely drum march worth stomping and clapping to even without noticing.
"WKYJ" is another throwaway track worth almost nothing. The last song before the hidden tracks, "Worm" is my favorite song here, though it's probably the least heavy one, sounding closer to Faith No More. Jourgensen unleashes some of his best hooks in the album. Everything synth and rock is mixed together with lyrics of how life is just pathetic sh*t. Then the song fades out as a final chant repeats, "And all is well in our world." Then there's an extra minute of silence to bring the length up to 9:11 (in reference to the tragic event that happened 3 years before this album). In the original edition, there are blank tracks before each hidden track. Don't bother listening to those hidden tracks, they're just boring novelties. The first hidden track, "Bloodlines" (originally track 13), is awful with vocals that practically rip off Godsmack. "Walrus" (originally track 69) is a brass reprise of "Worm" with the message "Paul is no longer with us" repeated backwards to callously celebrate the departure of longtime member Paul Barker.
All in all, I can see how interesting Houses of the Mole is, though I agree that it's not the best album by Ministry. I guess I enjoy it because of how metal-orientated it is, and I'm sure some heavier fans might like it too. But for anyone else, I suggest listening to an album that doesn't have the message of "George Bush is a motherf***ing tool"....
Favorites: "No W", "Waiting", "Warp City", "WTV", "Worm"
