Surgical Meth Machine - S/T (2016)

My relationship with Al Jourgensen is... kind of a odd one. His work in Ministry is extremely uneven, ranging from amazing, head banging industrial metal, to pure nonsense, and the last two albums the band did after their comeback ("Relapse" and "From Beer To Eternity") made it obvious that Al should probably just go into rehab and calm down. Did he do that? Obviously not, since he is presenting us with a new project that produces methamphetamine with surgical precision. I am not saying that I am surprised over this, but it feels like a disappointment that he disbands Ministry to create Ministry 2.0.

This self titled album is Al Jourgensen to the bone, it is fast, heavy, industrial, and absolute bonkers. It is 35 minutes of complete insanity, and 5 minutes of the exact opposite in the ending track "I'm Invisible". At first, it is really hard to take it all in because you are busy trying to comprehend it all, understanding what is really going on, and unfortunately, once you do get the hang of it all, it still makes very little sense. To me, it seems like Al was more focused on being high than creating actual music.

Throughout this album, Al is complaining about whiners on Facebook, the problems of being rich, and how he is allergic to tap water. It does give me a good laugh or two when hearing these lyrics, but that is really all. I remember Ministry as a force by nature that points out all the corruption and wrongs of this world, Surgical Meth Machine just whines and cries here and there. And it does not get any better on "Unlistenable", a song that has the perfect title, because it literally is unlistenable, having no structure at all and focuses more on calling bands like Iron Maiden, Lamb of God and Ministry (!?) pussies.

Not surprisingly, it is the songs that are closest to the glory days of Ministry that works the best on "Surgical Meth Machine". "Tragic Alert" has a crazy beat to it, and a simple sing along part that should make everyone scream execution in no time, and the following song "I Want More" contains a speed that is insane, and the riff work here are not to bad either. But these two (and the calm "I'm Invisible") are the only good songs in this album, the rest are pure gibberish.

To put this simply, Surgical Meth Machine deliver what it is promised, because when you are listening to this band's self titled debut album, it literally feels like you are on drugs. I am glad that this album is only 40 minutes long, because it is hard enough to last through it as it is. Most of the album is just cut outs from various speeches, movies, or Al Jourgensen speaking. The actual music part is a hit and miss, but mostly miss. If you like Ministry, you might want to give this a try, but beware, this is more of 10's Ministry than it is 00's Ministry.

Songs worthy of recognition: Tragic Alert, I Want More

Rating: 4/10 Smash And Grabs