The problem with most CD reviews is you only
get the opinion of the one critic doing the review. So we thought it might
be fun to try something new here by giving the exact same CD to two different
critics (or more) and see what they each come up with and just how much
difference a single critic's opinion can make.
Note: due to the nature of this series, the reviews
may tend to be more in the first person than you are used to with music
criticism.
Ministry
Houses of the Mole
Label: Sanctuary
Zane Ewton's review - he gave it a rating
of  
Forget about the philosophical stances
and the political rants, because the strength of Ministrys new album,
Houses of the Mole, is in the music. Loud guitars and pounding
drums are supported by electronic samples to create powerful and relentless
songs. Repetitious but never dull, Houses is a throwback to
furious riffs and solos.
Mike Scaccia replaces longtime guitarist
Paul Barker and the band doesnt seem to miss a beat. Houses
begins with No W, stripped down thrash with complimenting samples from
what is probably the CNN archive. Ministry plays the straightforward
approach through each track, including the rollicking Warp City, until
the latter part of the album that becomes more experimental.
Longest track on the album, Worm, creates
waves of noise that provide a break from the frontal assault undertaken
through the first 8 songs. Secret track 23 begins with a sample
of The Star-Spangled Banner, followed by crushing guitars, George W.
Bush samples, and an awesome solo.
Houses of the Mole is overboard
on the political art at times, and leans heavily on the current trend of
bashing Bush without saying anything new. There is a heavy time-stamp
on this album, which is unfortunate because at the core is simply some
good rock and roll.
Adrian Alfonso's Review - He gave it
a Rating of
I hesitated when
I received the new Ministry album, Houses of the Mole. Well for starters
they haven't kicked ass ever since Psalm 69. The band has gotten rid of
Paul Barker, an obvious absence the moment you hear the album. As far as
a theme for this album goes there isnt any doubt, Al Jourgensen is angry
about the current state of our country.
When you lift up
the cd from the tray there is a picture of George Bush with "X's"
over his eye and the letters E-V-I-L on the top, bottom, left and right
of him. Three of the songs on this album, noW, WTV, and Wrong are about
Bush and his administration. "Ask me why your feeling screwed, and I'll
give you the answer, There's a Colon, Dick and Bush, just hammering away"
He sings on noW. The cover of the album is the famous "Novus ordo seclorum"
pyramid with an anarchy symbol going through it.
How did I feel after
hearing it? Well the first track was great....for about a minute then it
just became repetitive. Interesting enough though if you listen to the
intro after Bush starts talking you hear a voice say "Track 23". Right
away, the song kicks in. A nice headbanging riff. The second track "Waiting"
has a really catchy line "Wasting my time in the USA".
"Wrong" is a lot
slower than the rest of the songs, which is great because your gonna have
a hard time figuring out which songs are which considering most of them
sound alike. "Warp City" is probably the worst song on the album. Al repeats
the chorus "That's Warp City", not very impressive considering these are
the guys who brought you "Jesus built my hotrod."
As I said before
if you fast forward the album after track 9 and go to #23 you hear what
seems to be a muffled stadium version of the "Star Spangled Banner" with
some woman singing it then you are treated to ....noW..... the same song
at the beginning. At first i thought, why would they do this? Then after
hearing it again...yea they put the same track at the beginning again at
the end. Nothing is different.
Keep fast forwarding
all the way up to track 69 (all you Tool fans will know they were the first
band to do that, sorry Ministry you got beat) and you are treated to some
backward voices, ooh scary, considering we are in the year 2004 and backward
stuff isnt cool anymore.
Six smacks out of
ten
Ministry fans will
be happy. As for the rest of us, easily passive. They have done better.
Listen
to samples and Purchase this CD online
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