Houses of the Mole'

As i've said many times before, music plays a big role in my life. Nothing beats driving down the road on a beautiful, cool morning and hearing a song that takes you back to the days of being beaten up in the locker room during gym class. Ah, Mike and the Mechanics, David Bowie and the Cars. there's one group that holds a special memory in my mind, not just because they've consistently put out great music for 20 years, but because i relate it to getting poked for the first time. Yeah, i'm a romantic.

Christine was my first and our first date ever, she took me to a Ministry concert. All emotions aside about Christine, Ministry was one of the best concerts i've ever seen. 3 hours of sampled, ragining, angry industrial metal. this wasn't my first time to ever hear Ministry before, as their first album, 12" singles was one that was played every weekend my freshman year in college. I just never knew that Ministry was who i was listening to. But year after year, Al Jourgenson has redefined Ministry's sound and aside from a few strays, Ministry has been the backbone that groups like Nine Inch Nails, Skinny Puppy and KMFDM model their music after.

Ministry is realeasing a new album today and based on the reviews i've read, Al has not let us down, once again. Houses of the Mole' seems to be, as usual, politically fed showing Al's contempt for a particular individual in the White House. So much so, that every song, with the exception of 1 starts with the letter 'W'. 11 songs (60 tracks) of pure industrial contempt is what makes Ministry's sound worth going back for time and again. I'll pick this up today and hopefully post a review on it soon, but if Houses is half as good as Psalm 69 or Filth Pig, Al's got another hit on his hands.