Review by UnhinderedbyTalent for Ministry - The Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Taste (1989)
Whilst far from ignorant of the existence of Ministry, I would not class my path with them as being particularly well trodden. Industrial metal has a limited space in my library, and I have found in recent years that the likes of Godflesh have appealed less when revisited some years after the event. The last Ministry release I reviewed was 2018’s AmeriKKKant which was frankly fucking terrible and showed me that Ministry were a mere shadow of their former selves. In revisiting The Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Taste I guess I am checking to see if even their former selves still appeal to me.
What I struggle with, more or less from the instant that the record starts is that rap/spoken word vocal style. It is not unusual in industrial metal (I am not expecting harmonious vocals here folks) but it is one of the things I find grates nowadays when revisiting the genre. The album is far more intriguing for its musical content as it tracks through various layers of darkwave, post-punk and proto-nu-metal. The interest in the music is a nice distraction from the vocals and their strained and at times maniacal chants that they seem to intermittently reach levels of crescendo with.
The best example of this is probably Cannibal Song. It has a monotonous bass line and overly simplistic beat from start to finish with some almost psychedelic atmospherics thrown in and the repetition of the track is very soothing in a sultry and brooding way. The vocals are almost like interference on this track, like you have caught two radio stations playing at once with the signal for one being stronger than the other. I find my enjoyment levels of The Mind… are higher on tracks where Al is not at the forefront of proceedings or as dominating in sections at least.
The track that follows (Breathe) is an example of where this imbalance is at cost to my engagement with the record. It has a much stronger percussive element, with the tribal drumming leading the charge firmly on that front. However, the repetition of those shouted vocals just detracts away from the music too much and I switch off.
The other aspect to The Mind… that I find dominant is how meandering it is. At times it goes beyond the comfort of repetition and strays far into territory where reiteration becomes procedural and the initial serpentine qualities of a track are somehow caught in a seemingly endless lane of one-way traffic with no slip roads or turn offs insight. Since the album lacks any true industrial punishment levels to appeal to my extreme sensibilities, I get bored of The Mind… quickly. There are no events that shake my attention back to it at any point, no moments in it where I can hold hope for a more intense experience. Instead, I get directionless rap tracks (Test) that go on for what feels like forever and I am left frustrated and thumbing through my library for something else to listen to.