Sunday, April 20, 2008
A+E, Music, Reviews
Ministry and Co-Conspirators
“Cover Up”
(13th Planet Records/ Megaforce)
MINISTRY
w/Meshuggah, Hemlock
Friday, April 25
Heaven at the Masquerade
$35
404-577-8178
www.masq.com
As Ministry’s alleged “final album” (I’ve followed the Who and Roger Clemens long enough to remain skeptical), “Cover Up” ends things with neither bang nor whimper. As a collection of cover tunes, ranging from the Rolling Stones’ missive to misogyny “Under My Thumb” to Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World,” delivered in three versions (fast, slow, and fast/slow) with the “irony” intact, “Cover Up” plays out Al Jourgensen’s Ministry exactly as you’d expect. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that he would take his favorite records and find ways to make them louder and more abrasive. It’s also not odd to discover that by turning the knobs further to the right, dynamics are flattened and everything sounds like mid-’90s industrial metal when it doesn’t sound like ’70s hard rock being vaguely tweaked.
Golden Earring’s “Radar Love” loses a bit of its charming boogie chug-a-lug in favor of a steamrolling metal rhythm and a “scary” vocal that sounds like something Rupert Pupkin might have dreamed up had he chosen metal over becoming the King of Comedy. For laughs, Jourgensen sends out the cowbell for Deep Purple’s “Space Truckin’,” a tune you can neither improve (Purple defined it) nor truly screw up. The old-blues holler “Black Betty,” Mountain’s “Mississippi Queen” (more room for cowbell) and ZZ Top’s “Just Got Paid” sound about right ramped up to 100 mph. Black Sabbath’s “Supernaut” falls flat, however, as a boogie riff, and the “reportage” vocal effect during the instrumental breaks hasn’t been a novel idea since the first Bush was in the White House. Really, Al—is this really any way to say goodbye? 2.5 STARS—Rob O’Connor