Al Jourgensen is still angry.
Ministry returns with their first studio album since 1999’s Dark Side of the Spoon, and it was worth the wait. Militant and abrasive, Animositisomina is pure gristle to chew on.
This is not an album for the feint-hearted. The distorted wash of Al Jourgensen’s vocals lingering about like a poorly recalled nightmare. The guitars hacking away at the binary doors of your central nervous system. The relentless forward movement of the drums. It’s all tension with no release.

But what did you expect, With Sympathy?

The first few tracks of the album were hard to stomach without the aid of something to throw, or someone to slam into. There’s no breaks here, just straight-ahead aggression. The aural bric-a-brac thrown into the production adds some layered variance, but otherwise the first half of Animositisomina is a dense tapestry of controlled chaos that just keeps getting faster and faster.

The centerpiece of this album is the cover of Magazine’s "The Light Pours Out Of Me" which hard-core fans may remember from Ministry’s live shows. The production is de-emphasized on this track so much that it sounds like a completely different album. A good nostalgia piece, the vocals are at the forefront on this song and it changes the mood from the thrashing wall of guitars to the more minimalist workings on the rest of the album.

Which is really what the big deal is about on Animositisomina. Al Jourgensen actually sings without much electronic aid on the second half of this sub-apocalyptic freakfest. (It must be said, however, that it sounds very similar to Skinny Puppy frontman Nivek Ogre’s attempts at the same sort of vocalizing a few years back.) It works, though. It sounds different and it’s nice to get a new Ministry album instead of a mutant strain of old gimmicks.

Animositisomina strikes a good blend between the speed-metal Ministry of Filth Pig and the more conceptually oriented Ministry of Land of Rape and Honey. The sheer stamina on this album leaves no doubt that Ministry is very much alive and very much kicking. There’s something on Animositisomina for everyone, with the exception, perhaps, of your neighbors.

For more info check out www.animositisomina.com