Ministry - Undercover

Release Date: November 26, 2010
Label: 13th Planet

TRACK LISTING

1.  Iron Man
2.  Stranglehold
3.  N.W.O.
4.  Stigmata
5.  Purple Haze
6.  Paranoid
7.  Thunderstuck
8.  Sharp Dressed Man
9.  Jesus Built My Hotrod
10.  Rehab
11.  Every Day is Halloween
12.  Paint it Black
13.  Khyber Pass

Total playing time:  65:20

Ministry may prove to be one of the strangest bands in the history of music.  They started out aping Depeche Mode before basically creating the Industrial genre.  If that drastic shift wasn’t enough, the band spent the later days of their career teetering between Industrial Metal and Death Metal while endlessly whining about ol’ W. Now defunct, the band has been releasing a steady stream of remix and compilation albums. Undercover appears to be the sequel to 2008’s post-mortem release, Cover Up, but nearly identical to the recently released Every Day is Halloween: The Greatest Tricks. 

Those unfamiliar with Ministry’s cover work; the band usually turns classic rock songs into noisy, Industrial mayhem.  Right off the bat, the Ministry spin on “Iron Man” is a rather drastic shift.  The song is now sped up with a higher pitched guitar, beeps and squeeks, sythnized drums, jarring starts and stops and Al Jourgensen’s processed wail.  “Stranglehold” follows the same hasty formula, as does “Paranoid,” “Paint it Black,” and “Sharp Dressed Man.”  While those songs were sped up and Industrialized, “Purple Haze” is slowed down.  The song is more traditional with the processed vocals being the only true Ministry-sounding aspect. “Thunderstruck” on the other hand is the only cover to actually sound like a well crafted Ministry track. Surprisingly instead of speeding it up and slapping it together, the band actually morphs the song into their own style and it comes off rather classy and fun.

One of the most unfortunate songs on the disc is the stunt cover of Amy Winehouse’s “Rehab.”  Instead of mocking Jazzy Pop, Ministry delivers an Industrial Speed Metal cover that just sounds awful. It’s obvious the song is meant to be a joke, but it isn’t very funny or even good. Anyone with a guitar and a drum machine could have done better.  Plus Winehouse is so 2008.  Ministry’s take on something from Katy Perry or Justin Bieber would have been much more interesting. 

What is left on Undercover is covers of Ministry songs. These aren’t remixes either, but brand new re-recordings.  Did “N.W.O.” need a heavier riff? Nope.  And that is the only difference between this version and the original from 1992.  Actually, the club and extended remixes from 1993 are much more interesting.  And since Ministry spent three albums attacking George W. Bush, why this version features the original samples of his father is unknown. Talk about a severely missed opportunity. Jourgensen could find all kinds of W. samples before, but doesn’t even bother to get creative here?  Pathetic.

Then there is “Stigmata.”  The original song had the distinction of moving Ministry into harsh territory back in 1988.  This version has the distinction of showing Ministry sounding tired.  Again, like “N.W.O.,” “Stigmata” has limited tweaks. The only noticeable difference it the thicker drum production and the dub rhythms and breakbeats that briefly appear. Again, the original remixes from the Box collection and even the live version from In Case You Didn’t Feel Like Showing Up are much more engaging.

“Jesus Built My Hotrod” now features Jourgensen on vocal performance and the processing makes him sound identical to Gibby Haynes, who sang on the original.  Even with the new drum pattern and audio samples, this song totally lacks the character of the original and makes for a rather poor revamp. The only noticeable difference between the original version of “Kyber Pass” and this one is that chaotic guitars from the beginning of the song have been dropped.  So that leaves “Every Day is Halloween” as the Ministry song to get a true revamp.  The synth-pop has been replaced by guitars and a hurried pace.  Surprisingly Jourgensen keeps the vocal style the same as the original and retains the “Be Bop Be Bop Bop” chant.  The only time Jourgensen tries on Undercover, he succeeds. Too bad it’s far too late.

But where the real insult of Undercover comes that the only difference between it and Every Day is Halloween: The Greatest Tricks is the inclusion of “Paranoid” and the exclusion of the remix of “Every Day is Halloween.” Really?  Al Jourgensen, who spent the last three albums of his career and a handful of songs throughout inveighing against evil, greedy capitalist, has released the same album under a different name?  Actually, Cleopatra released Every Day is Halloween while Jourgensen’s own label released Undercover. But that still doesn’t make this okay. So take a rather poor covers and rerecording album, rename it, repackage it and resell it?  Al Jourgensen, you brilliant capitalist, you! How are your shares of Halliburton doing?

So there you have it. Undercover sucks. Well, “Thunderstuck” is pretty neat, but overall the album becomes even more worthless when it’s clear it has already been released under a different name.  Hopefully Ministry will stay dead and the 2pac-esque release schedule will quickly come to an end.  Avoid this rip off!

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Reviewer: Rottenbucher

December 6, 2010

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