Ministry

Got a lot of pent-up energy, rage or angst, and nowhere to release it? Ministry will take it, thank you very much. Songs like "Thieves" and "Burning Inside" put you in the center of a mosh-pit full of flailing combat boots and flying fists. John Lydon lends his deranged wail to "Cannibal Song." Borders on psychopathic.

Industrial's edge on metal is anonymity--unlike major-brand sonic barrage, it presents itself as resultant rather than expression, music/noise emanating from a society/culture. It's objective; it doesn't imply a subject. This illusion boosts the music/noise's impact and authority while rendering it virtually indistinguishable from itself (as well as difficult to access from what's human/humanist in our aesthetic sense). The bestselling Chicago version gets faster and purer with every release. Even when Alain Jourgenson raps, or apes (hires?) John Lydon, I could give a f*ck who he is or what he thinks. Which is essential to the intended sensation. (Grade - B+)