Wednesday, 14 September 2005
...utterly useless except to either a completeist, or someone who only ever intends to own one Ministry album...
Al Jourgenson and his band continue to burrow into the realms of obscurity with “RANTOLOGY”, an excellently titled, but musically lacking lucky dip of old shit. Sounding more like a random assortment of bonus tracks that should be tacked onto reissues of the old albums, “Rantology” is a mess.
Part Greatest Hits and part remixes of new stuff, “Rantology” strength lies in the music. The concept stinks – two unreleased songs from last years “Houses Of The Mole” are buffed up with pointless remixes and lesser versions of tracks from the previous two albums, alongside four re-recordings of stuff from the early 90’s Warners Years – “Rantology” is a shambles of an album. Quibbles about running orders aside - which see the album sounding like a home made compilation of unreleasable rubbish – it’s also utterly useless except to either a completeist, or someone who only ever intends to own one Ministry album. (And if you are the latter, get “Greatest Fits” instead).
“No W : Redux” opens the album in a catclysm of overdubs, Dubya speeches, and frantic rifferama. Like Phil Spector with dreads and a fetish for industrial metal, it powers along like a steam train, and with the appropriate sensitivity. In case you didn’t get the hint, at least six of the remaining tracks (one would hesitate to call them songs) are similarly brutal and homogenous metal rants against something, someone, anyone. Especially if that someone is George Walker Bush. After a while it all starts to blur into one shapeless mass.
Equally pointless are the undistinguishable “Update Mix” versions of their old Greatest Hits. “Jesus Built My Hotrod” sees Al J. screaming the vocals as Gibby Haynes was off doing something else, but barring that, you can’t tell you haven’t been timewarped back to 1991. Placed in the context of the rest of the album, you can see quite clearly how little musical progression has taken place in the past 15 years for Rob Zombie’s spiritual father. “N.W.O” sounds as if it’s been mastered from an old vinyl copy of “Psalm 69”, which makes one question the point.
The whole sorry miasma is topped off with three live tracks from 2002’s “Sphinctour” live release – and not the ones that were only on the DVD. “Rantology” may have a cool cover, some damn fine music, and more balls than the rest of America’s recent recorded output, but it is ultimately a spacefilling, time-buying stopgap designed to extract cash from your wallet : and that stinks more than the dirty laundry of the Bush Administration. Buy cheap – or not at all. |
cyber journalists suck
Written by fayray on 2005-10-04 11:26:32
goddammnit i hate lazy journalists. did you even bother to READ the credits. gibby haynes does a new vocal on JBMHR, not Al. it's in the credits, dude. were you on a deadline for your ePaper (what'd they pay ya 20 pounds sterliing for this shit review) and did you just google some other peoples' reviews. what do you want from an anthology...this isn't a new release, stupid, it's a collection. At least Al bothered to remix half the record and give us a new track. You are the lame dip old shit...lazy ass journalist. did you even GO to journalism school...or are you a freelance eWriter.
Jourgensen is spelt wrong. Idiot. I guess you can't afford to hire a fact checker. "Rantology's" strength..typo there. You need to spellcheck your review and re-submit it. What a piece of sloppy writing. | Written by markreed on 2005-10-04 11:58:19
There aren't any credits on the promo CD. The 'new' mixes sound exactly like the old ones (excepting a couple of samples on NWO) : whats the point? |
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