Down, but not out.
Perhaps it's Al's "hatred" for With Sympathy that sometimes makes me obsessed with that era. I just came across this randomly, and it's also a lot clearer than I expected it to be.
@staleincense - I don't have the balls to post this on his Facebook account, but I have a feeling that you would. He really does seem to be VERY into it.
Last edited by Halo Infinity; 11-07-2013 at 06:01 PM.
Throbbing Member
Ok, here's hoping he'll reply to this...Originally Posted by Kris
Perhaps it's Al's "hatred" for With Sympathy that sometimes makes me obsessed with that era. I just came across this randomly, and it's also a lot clearer than I expected it to be.
@staleincense - I don't have the balls to post this on his Facebook account, but I have a feeling that you would. He really does seem to be VERY into it.
Throbbing Member
Yeah, he looks beyond into it there, I'd even say proud.
Throbbing Member
Deep down Al knows this is better than all of his post-90s material.
House Always Wins
Let's be honest, any artist or actor that dismisses their root and initial works are only kidding themselves. If it weren't for those releases and works they wouldn't be where they are today. I'd piss off Mr. Jourgensen by saying I'd rather listen to Early Trax and With Sympathy on repeat, loudly before I listen to Relapse and the very semi-decent From Beer to Eternity.
House Always Wins
Active Member
Maybe they're brainstorming on how to make good albums again.
Throbbing Member
Hey now, KMFDM isn't that bad yet.
(I haven't actually listened to Kunst, but WTF wasn't that bad)
Active Member
WTF is probably the best thing they've done post-reformation. Kunst is awful, almost. Sascha could do better, if he tried. Same goes for Al.
Active Member
WTF is indeed good enough, couldn't stand Kunst, sooo limp, no edge, nothing.
Active Member
The two guys who weren't allowed / invited to perform at Retrospectacle. They're all they have left from the old days.
Down, but not out.
Do you also suspect that Al is either burnt out or making an attempt to take a safe route, or perhaps both? That's what it sort of looks like to me. I followed the Piss Army forums and then what later became PB4PB and it was speculated that he probably saw albums like Filth Pig and Dark Side of the Spoon roping in that many fans, so he tried Houses of the Mole, and just stuck with it ever since, after seeing how much more fans those albums attracted compared to his 1996-2003 output.
http://pb4pb.boards.net/index.cgi - I think they'd really have some fun in this thread, and that seemed to be a very good observation/speculation to me.
Down, but not out.
Do you also suspect that Al is either burnt out or making an attempt to take a safe route, or perhaps both? That's what it sort of looks like to me. I followed the Piss Army forums and then what later became PB4PB and it was speculated that he probably saw albums like Filth Pig and Dark Side of the Spoon not roping in that many fans, so he tried Houses of the Mole, and just stuck with it ever since, after seeing how much more fans those albums attracted when compared to his 1996-2003 output.
http://pb4pb.boards.net/index.cgi - I think they'd really have some fun in this thread, and that also seemed to be a very good observation/speculation to me.
Last edited by Halo Infinity; 11-12-2013 at 12:35 PM.
Active Member
He's trying to make a quick buck. Try to attract to teenagers. Instead, he makes a fool of himself. The hideous tattoo on his forehead, the piercings, and the color by numbers metal albums.
And he's definitely a burnout. You can't be a junkie for as long as he was and not be. Amazing he's still alive though.
Last edited by Piko; 11-11-2013 at 02:50 PM.
Active Member
Pure speculation/could be talking out of my arse, but there's a lot more money to be made for culty band if you can appeal to the metal crowd - the various festivals in europe (some of which are pretty huge) will book you if you have a new album out & a bit of a name/fanbase. As a paycheck and a subculture metal is absolutely huge compared to industrial/ebm/whatever. Also not much of a pain to perform live. I don't think al is being entirely cynical - he does like that kind of music & has reached the point in his career where it makes sense to do it
Active Member
I don't think he likes metal. Years ago, in an interview, Al and Barker flat out said they didn't. You cannot deny, though, that there's the potential profit with the rebellious teen. Al being the metal "tough guy" with the tattoos, piercings, stories, and his promo pics. The old fanbase is mostly alienated, except for the few who "like everything".
Playing a festival is a payday. So, in the end, he's still getting paid. Interesting enough, you can find the live show from wacken on youtube. Starts off with a pretty good crowd, and it thins out alot as the show goes on.
Active Member
hmm, not convinced he doesn't actually like metal - why has every album since land of rape and honey had at least 1 or 2 metal songs? Why would someone who doesn't like Metal record "Psalm 69" "Filth Pig" (metal albums for the most part). Why did they cover supernaut and S.O.D, etc etc. Maybe Barker didn't like metal and Al was pretending to be to cool to like it, but TBH it would seem he obviously does like metal at least a bit. Latterday cynicism and pandering I can believe, but he's been pretending to like that stuff since the late 80s? dunno
Also it's not just the rebellious teen - there's the adult with disposable income stuck in a protracted teen rebellion phase. megabucks
Throbbing Member
I think he likes creating metal music, but honestly I think he continued the metal sound due to the declining interest in the band when Filth Pig and Dark Side were released. Pretty much every album (starting with Animositisomina in 2003) is either "Psalm 69 2.0" or "a more intense Psalm 69" or hands down "the best album I've ever done." His favorite bands (going off of interview consistency over the years) are The Rolling Stones, ZZ top, Roxy Music and Front 242. If I'm remembering correctly, he played nothing but Roxy Music as the pre-show music on the Filth Pig tour.
Throbbing Member
Al and Paul in the 90s did not like to be called a Metal band, i think they found it limiting, they liked anything hard or powerful, punishing overwhelming etc, they did use guitars like the Metal bands to create their dark heavy trippy music.
Even with stuff on Psalm 69 like Just One Fix the production techniques are so bizarre it would be weird calling Ministry a Metal 'band' the chopped up repetitive guitar Loops, samples, drum machines etc.
Active Member
I've talked a lot of shit about al in the last few years. But decided to give his book a read. I'm four chapters in.
Let's just say, the dude is a survivor. That's for sure.
So far it's entertaining. Not sure Ive gotten to the debauchery yet. Will probably have a different opinion later into the book.
Down, but not out.
That's definitely me. I'm not an old fan, but I'm able to like With Sympathy and Twitch, and Houses of the Mole and Rio Grande Blood just to give you an idea. It's also easy to see why Twitch to Psalm 69 from the looks of it are still his most loved works, along with Filth Pig for some fans, since some fans even though that Filth Pig was a let-down.
Down, but not out.
That's what I was also think in a way. Ministry's industrial metal and alternative metal were still some types of metal nonetheless. (Assuming that whoever put it in Wikipedia got it right, since there can be errors on Wikipedia.)
And I've also never completely ruled out the idea that there might have been fans that were children and teenagers around 1983-1992 that might've followed Ministry until now. Some of the fans I've seen at the Ministry concert I've attended last year looked like they were old enough to be fans since 1981-1985, or anywhere around 1986-1992. And even though there are fans of The Land of Rape and Honey, The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste, and Psalm 69 that didn't like Houses of the Mole, Rio Grande Blood, and The Last Sucker, I've noticed that there's just as many fans that seem to like the Bush Trilogy from 2004-2007, just as much as their output from 1988-1992.
(I've noticed that on the Piss Army forums before they got shut down, and it still seems to be that way on both Ministry accounts on Facebook in spite of the backlash the Bush Trilogy still received.)
Last edited by Halo Infinity; 11-13-2013 at 04:12 PM.
Active Member
Good article about early Ministry: http://intonarumoron.wordpress.com/2...n-of-ministry/
Active Member
Al is going to rehab to kick the sauce. Thank God. I'm amazed the man is even alive at this point.
http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/min...tion-facility/
Down, but not out.
I also hope that he actually means it and sticks with it. I'm also amazed as well.
House Always Wins
From Beer to Eternity
Still a fitting name for that last album.
Active Member
Kinda weird that he's waiting until the 3rd. But, I guess he wants a final hooray before checking himself in... Then again, that could all just be talk. Good for him though.
24.24.2.2866
Hell if a crackpot like Al actually follows through with sobriety maybe there's hope for Manson yet.
Active Member
If Al can do it, anyone can.
Active Member
I wish there was going to be some Paul vocals on this, but I am greatly looking forward to this:
http://<a href="https://www.youtube....uyoypTBc2I</a>
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