ALBUM REVIEW: Ministry, "AmeriKKKant"

By: John Reppion

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 09/03/2018

Label: Nuclear Blast Records

“AmeriKKKant” CD//DD//LP track listing:

1. I Know Words
2. Twilight Zone
3. Victims of a Clown
4. TV5/4Chan
5. We’re Tired of It
6. Wargasm
7. Antifa
8. Game Over
9. AmeriKKKa

The Review:

“This isn’t the future we were promised. They said there’d be jet-packs, and flying cars, and hover-skateboards, and self tying shoe-laces, and, and, and…” Yes, the films, and the TV shows all lied. As it turns out, our timeline is less Back to the Future II, more Orwell’s 1984. You know who, in a weird way, seems to have known exactly what the 21^st Century would be all about, though? Al Jourgenson and Ministry, that’s who.

Ever since their 1992 anthem “N.W.O.” sampled the then president, George H. W. Bush, Ministry have been pedalling an anti-authoritarian, anti-right-wing American message. And ever since “N.W.O.”, they’ve been hacking up the words of US presidents, and incorporating them into their patented brand of drink and drug fuelled industrial-metal. This approach culminated in the band’s early 2000s anti-Bush (junior) trilogy of albums: “Houses of the Molé” (2004), “Rio Grande Blood” (2006), and “The Last Sucker” (2007). Ministry officially split in 2008, but continued to release re-mixed and previous recorded material fairly steadily. Then Uncle Al came back with all new material for 2012’s “Relapse”, which was soon followed up with a definitely, absolutely, unequivocally, final album (their thirteenth studio album, in case you were wondering) entitled “From Beer to Eternity” in 2013. And that was Ministry done. Over. Dead.

Then, on the ninth of November 2016 it was announced, much to the amazement of many, many people in the world that Donald J. Trump was going to be the next president of the United States of America. Trump the king of the idiotic sound-bite. Trump the liar; the “lets’ build a wall around Mexico and make them pay for it” guy; the ex-reality TV star; Trump the alt-right’s leader of choice.  Had Al Jourgenson somehow tragically lost his life post 2013, I feel there’s a genuine chance Trump’s presidency would have resurrected him. His deadlocked, leather-clad corpse clawing its way through the earth, bursting forth from the grave screaming “GET ME TO THE FUCKIN’ STUDIO, NOW!”. 

“AmeriKKKant” is the album that brought Ministry back from the dead. Again.

Trump’s infamous words “we will make America great again” – suitably warped and fucked with – are the first thing we hear on opening track “I Know Words”: the ominous, middle eastern influenced, instrumental (save for all the Trump samples) introduction to the album. “Twilight Zone” is a weighty, plodding industri-stomp, very much in the “Scarecrow” mould. It too, features plenty of Trump samples, and a good dollop of that harmonica which crops up in more Ministry tracks than you remember.

When the bass comes in on “Victims of a Clown”, you could be forgiven for thinking you were listening to something off of 1989’s “The Mind is a Terrible thing to Taste”. This is very much classic Ministry, with the scratching of new member, turntablist DJ Swamp, the only real indicator that this isn’t some lost pre 90s off-cut.

Eight minutes(!) or so in, we get a final blast of the higher BMP industri-thrash stuff more associated with latter Ministry (and with much of the output of Al’s most recent side-project Surgical Meth Machine). That Burton C. Bell fella out of Fear Factory (remember them?) growls “Hey! What he say? Vomiting conspiracies. God damn the racist blind. Anti social impotence ignites”.

“TV 5-4 Chan” continues the tradition of short, sharp, “TV” titled tracks which have graced their albums since the early 90s. This time guns, racism, and white nationalist are the targets. It segues into “We’re Tired of It” which is an up-tempo thrash diatribe against “Fucking insane Christian Hypocrisy”, with Bell on vocals once again. “Wargasm”is more very classic sounding Ministry, with a chorus reminiscent of 1996’s “The Fall”. Samples talking about “the people’s war” and “the mother of all bombs”… you get the idea. “Antifa” is a chug-along anti-fascist anthem “Brown shirt little snowflakes never want to admit, Terrified of the red and black flag, Antifa's the shit”. Enough said. Oh, you want to know which old Ministry song it sounds like? A bit like “Just One Fix”, I suppose.

Closers “Game Over”, and title track “AmeriKKKant”, are a pair of mid-paced, somewhat more reflective songs. The rage of earlier tracks turned to despair at the inevitability of  just how fucked we, America, and the world as a whole actually are. There is a nice brass section in “AmeriKKKant” to offset that slightly, though. “It's like the Nazis back in '39, Like the Romans on the verge of decline. Like the Russians back in '68, How is this supposed to make America great?”

Jourgenson has referred to “AmeriKKKant” in recent interviews as “Pink Floyd on meth”. Yes, it’s a concept album, and yes several of the tracks do have rather excessive running times, but ultimately this is a Ministry album. I’m not going to say “just” a Ministry album, because that would be doing Al and company a disservice, but it’s 100% a Ministry album. Have you heard previous Ministry albums and enjoyed them? Good, then this is another one of those. Yes, some will argue that not much has changed musically in the Ministry camp for some twenty-odd years, but what’s even weirder is to think that US politics has somehow become more regressive in that time. If it feels like you’ve heard this all before, then maybe that’s just because Al Jourgenson has been right all along.

“AmeriKKKant”is available here

Band info: facebook

BAND PROFILE: Crushing noisecore crew Canvas reform for one-off Ritual Festival appearance

By: Andy Price

 

Picture the scene… it is 1999, record stores still exist in a real way, everyone was very excited about the Y2K bug, and I was a gangly and uncoordinated youth working a shitty temp job in Nottingham. This was great because it meant I could go walk into the town at lunchtime, go to Selectadisc, my favourite record store, and spend the tiny amount of cash I was making on awesome music.

So, back in ’99, I was finding my way in extreme music. Like a blind man at an orgy, I was carefully feeling my way. I’d done the Nu-metal thing (I’m not ashamed. Well, I’m a bit ashamed), and had pushed into more extreme waters, albeit mostly still pretty mainstream ones. Fear Factory, Machine Head et al were lighting my candle, but not quite fulfilling me. I’d formed a friendship with one of the owners of the store and then one fateful Wednesday lunchtime he beckoned me over and placed a CD in my hand saying ‘Andy, you’ll like this. Trust me. Give it a listen and if you like it, you can pay me then. If not, no harm, no foul’. That album was the self-titled early retrospective by Canvas. I put the CD on for the walk back to work but never made it back; I got half way there, turned around and went and paid the man. The album was a revelation, a desperate, urgent, strangled scream from the underground; a mangled noise of instruments that made no sense and yet also made perfect sense. It was absolutely beautiful in its twisted rage.

I never looked back; I picked up the two splits that followed, even the 7”, despite not having a record player. I bought the follow up album, the masterpiece ‘Lost in Rock’ on the day of its release, and revelled in it. Canvas opened my eyes to the underground; both in terms of metal and hardcore. They are the gateway that got me to Converge, Botch, The Dillinger Escape Plan and significantly my eyes were opened to the UKunderground, and bands like John Holmes, Medulla Nocte, Iron Monkeyand Hard to Swallow… I devoured all of this music mercilessly; it influenced me massively and still does. I can honestly say that without that first Canvasrecord, I may never have found the music that I know and love today. 

This is one of the reasons why Canvas were important; they started out in that hardcore scene and bridged the gap between metal and hardcore, and kind of opened up everything, especially when they started picking up real media coverage. They were important because they led hardcore kids to metal and vice versa; they are important now because their recordings are seminal. They feel as fresh, exhilarating and powerful as ever, with a level of invention that is still staggering, especially on ‘Lost in Rock’. In hindsight that record started shaping my love for diverse and technical music like Meshuggah; just listen to the groove and dizzying rhythms of the opening track and you’ll see what I mean. If the band had been able to hold it together a little longer, that record would have been huge, and might have helped them break out of the scene they found themselves in. As it was it seemed to sink a little, almost without trace, which is criminal. It’s a labyrinthine and almost uncomfortable listen, but thoroughly compelling and a constant well-spring of inspiration.


It was not long after Canvas split up that I started playing music, and looking back even my earliest bands reflect the influence that Canvasexerted on me, albeit filtered through the prism of the other musicians I worked with, and my own lack of ability. Experimentation, a lack of compromise in sound and wilful abuse of time-signatures were a good example of this; that has never left me and is still very much part of the sound that I bring to Conjurer.


To say that I’m excited that Canvas have come back together for Ritual Festivalin Leeds is a massive understatement. Canvasare in the shortlist of bands that I really have never stopped listening to since I bought their records. Some bands fall in and out of favour as tastes change, but that never happened to Canvas. I only caught the band live once, at a show in Londonat the Water Rats for the “Lost in Rock”release show but it’s a show that still lives in my memory in terms of the sheer chaos of their live aspect. In hindsight, the setlist was perfect although I didn’t know much of the new material that well. The crowd were up for movement and the band were on fire. It’s in the list in my head of formative gig experiences that influences the way that I play live, along with shows by The Dillinger Escape Plan and The Chariot; the energy and, for the want of a better word, the sheer fearlessness of their performance was exhilarating, and I’ve always used that as a template for what I want to bring to the stage.


I’m excited to see how 15 years has tempered the band and their performance; we’re all older and creakier, but the level of experience on that stage now is fantastic. I’m used to the records now too; I expect the live experience to be heavier and darker. That we get to share a stage with them is mind-blowing to me, I’m so excited to be playing the same bill as them. I’d love to see them do more shows, although I’d completely understand if they want to keep it as a one-off. I think that there’s a whole generation of music fans that should hear these songs; especially given that so much of the hardcore / post-hardcore scenes have converged onto some of the same ground that Canvas stamped down back in the day. I hear traces of the Canvas sound in other bands that are around today; chaotic rhythms, progression and naked experimentation has become far more normal. While we’re making a wish list though, I’d like some merchandise and if we’re really shooting for the stars, a pressing of some kind of discography on vinyl. Chaps, if you’re reading this, make it happen please!


I’d be fascinated to hear new music from this line-up too, but I suspect that might be too much to ask for.  I’ve been sharing about my love of the music the band created since the announcement – I’ve had a lot of people ask questions about where to start with the band. Obviously the answer is ‘all of it’ – especially since the band have been good enough to put their back catalogue up for free download on their bandcamp. That said though, ‘Womb Plague’ from the split with Hard To Swallow is an excellent place to start, or ‘Black Shape of the Nexus’ – both versions of that are great but I love the intro of the version from ‘Lost in Rock’. ‘Unworthy of Perfection’is great too, all grinding rhythms and brutal vocals. I give up on trying to narrow this down; just go and get the whole lot. Your MP3 player and your ears will thank you for it.

The funny thing is that at the time I didn’t really pay attention to individuals in the band – I was never really that interested in musicians at that time, that’s only come after I started playing music myself – and it’s been surprising to find that I’ve actively followed some of the bands that some of the members created after Canvasended, including Humanfly, Kings and Amplifighters; I’ve spent time with John and Albert, and Paul across various shows and events. Someone actually had to point out that the Sutcliffe brothers were the same ones that drove my favourite underground band; I nearly fell off my proverbial chair. I have only mildly fan-boyed since. Well, probably a bit more than mildly, but I think I got away with it

In the summer of this year I got the logo for the band tattooed on my leg. Partly this stemmed from a conversation with Dan from OHHMS – he’s a big fan as well and got the same tattoo in the same session. We were playing a show together in Leeds and had gotten talking about Canvas, what the band meant and how much they had inspired us – it seemed a natural conclusion at the time. For me, the tattoo serves as a reminder of how I should strive to create with music, to plough a musical furrow that interests me, but also that I should not hold anything back. These are the lessons I’ve taken, and this is the reason that Canvas remain special and a massive inspiration to me.

No pressure lads.

The Canvasdiscography is up on bandcamp as pay what you want/free here and Ritual Festival tickets are still up for grabs here with the full line up of the festival included below. 

ALBUM REVIEW: Meshuggah - "The Violent Sleep of Reason"

By: Chris Markwell

Album Type: Full Length
Date Released: 07/10/2016
Label: Nuclear Blast

Trying to describe Meshuggah’s sound is a challenge.  The only way I can put it is that they’re a musical cascade: a never-ending barrage of sound and heaviness pounding down upon you.  Don’t expect or ballad or moments of levity here, this is a relentless tide which you will not escape from.  Tracks like ‘MonstoCity’ and ‘Our Rage Won’t Die’ are pummelling tracks of new material which can easily be slotted in to their live setlist and not seem out of place.  In fact, the same could be said for any of those songs on display here: like a chain forged by Vulcan, there’s not a weak link present.  It all hits, and hits hard.

“The Violent Sleep of Reason” CD//DD//LP track listing:

1. Clockworks (7:15)

2. Born In Dissonance (4:34)

3. MonstroCity (6:13)

4. By The Ton (6:04)

5. Violent Sleep Of Reason (6:51)

6. Ivory Tower (4:59)

7. Stifled (6:31)

8. Nostrum (5:15)

9. Our Rage Won't Die (4:41)

10. Into Decay (6:32)

The Review:

In all honesty, there is one band that should spring into the mind of every metalhead when the word ‘djent’ is uttered.  In fact, if you believe there is a hierarchy among prog and djent bands, then Sweden’s Meshuggah is king: hell, the term itself was coined from the sound made by these guys.  Irrespective of whether you like or loathe the term, you can’t help but marvel at the uniqueness at which these people decided to create music.  Innovative, gifted, heavy, these guys make heavy music like ordinary people make toast.  Seriously, it’s almost annoying how easy they make it all look.  2012 saw the release of Meshuggah’smost commercially successful album to date (“Koloss” and, seriously, get yourself a copy if you haven’t already); October 7^th, 2016 sees their return to your speakers with “The Violent Sleep of Reason”.  Best warn those things in advance, because it is going to get heavy. 

Trying to describe Meshuggah’s sound is a challenge.  The only way I can put it is that they’re a musical cascade: a never-ending barrage of sound and heaviness pounding down upon you.  Don’t expect or ballad or moments of levity here, this is a relentless tide which you will not escape from.  Fans of earlier releases like “obZen” and “Nothing” will find themselves comforted by the fact that Meshuggah’score groove has not been changed, which gives a good foundation in the familiar, but is then built on with track after track of great and vibrant new music, building something you can truly marvel at. 

Considering 2017 will be the 30^thanniversary of Meshuggah’sinception, their sound feels more contemporary than classic.  Their rabid desire to explore and create means each album seems to advance upon the previous album, rather than rigidly stick to ‘safe’ boundaries and go no further.  Tracks like ‘MonstoCity’ and ‘Our Rage Won’t Die’ are pummelling tracks of new material which can easily be slotted in to their live set list and not seem out of place.  In fact, the same could be said for any of those songs on display here: like a chain forged by Vulcan (the Roman God of metalworking, not the Star Trek dudes), there’s not a weak link present.  It all hits, and hits hard. 

Meshuggah released ‘Nostrum’as a preview for listeners and, personally speaking, it was a great bit of bait to put onto the hook.  Once you took a bite of that dissonant, eerie, polyrhythmic slab of raw sound, that was it.  Reel you in, gut you, cook you, eat you.  Meshuggah had me on a plate.  “The Violent Sleep of Reason” is made by a band that is the same age as me, yet shows no sign of strain or weakness.  Their sound has never been a more vital alternative to the mainstream than now, and this latest offering will no doubt be hailed as one of the pivotal albums of 2016.  Wake up and get yourself a copy as soon as you can. 

“The Violent Sleep of Reason” is available here

Band info: official|| facebook

FFO: Gojira, Fear Factory, Strapping Young Lad, Xerath