The Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Taste - Ministry

With the Mind, Ministry began to fix the elements that would become their trademark. The formula was one part thrash guitars, one part snarling vocals, one part thumping drum lines finished off with a nice underlay of buzzing electronics and samples. The album begins with another couple of Ministry classics (I’m getting tied of writing this, no matter how true it is) Thieves and Burning Inside. Thieves is one of the fastest thrash outs I have heard, and it’s surveillance camera buzzes and spasms of speed still make it sound as fresh and vital as it did ten years ago. Burning Inside only slows down the momentum by a very small margin, but instead ...

This is Ministry's finest hour. The music is fast, aggressive, driven by beats. If I think of one record that epitomises industrial dance or industrial metal it's this one. The music ranges from fast thrash to rap to noise. The obvious points of reference are Nine Inch Nails, Revolting Cocks and so on, but the style is distinctly Ministry's own. Later Minsitry releases saw the sound losing its edge and verring closer and closer to fast heavy metal - a process that Nine Inch Nails also seem to be following. ...