Rating:
Genre:
Rock
Release Date: 09/18/2007
With
The Last Sucker Al Jourgensen not only brings his anti-
Bush Jr trilogy of albums to a close, but he also shutters the
Ministry band/project/death machine for good. Of course
Ministry has always been a free-flowing thing -- a dark
synth pop outfit that eventually morphed into an aggressive, guitar-heavy beast with a few genre jumps in-between.
Jourgensen's side project
Revolting Cocks could have been mistaken for
Ministry on their 2006 album
Cocked and Loaded so there's a good chance that whatever this crazed Texan throws his name on might as well be
Ministry, barring any future side projects that are as far out as
Acid Horse or
Lard.
Ministry fans are really
Jourgensen fans, but it's the name recognition that gives the announcement some weight, especially in the U.S., the country that re-elected "that guy." With that in mind,
The Last Sucker is a jettisoning of all that was big and in-your-face-American about
Ministry with little of the hot rod worship or unabashed gluttony of earlier albums. They still sound huge, they still sound like
Jourgenson on a rampage, but gone is the ironic redneck idiocy -- too close to home, maybe -- and even the balls out cover of
"Roadhouse Blues" is announced with "All I wanna do is get my kicks before this whole sh*thouse goes up in flames."
Jourgensen's covers are usually all-party time, but this album holds no hope for and finds no joy in America and expresses it brilliantly. Samples lifted from
Bush Jr speeches had been a staple for seven years by the time
The Last Sucker rolled around, but
"Death and Destruction" takes a cackle from the President and sonically manipulates it into one of the most unsettling laughs on record. Many more effective moments come from the lyrics and their delivery as
Jourgenson screams out tales of young men dying for nothing (
"No Glory") and a President out of touch with not only the average American's experience, but also the human experience (
"The Last Sucker"). Book ending this pummeling set of bleak songs are two of the best
Ministry efforts to date. First is
"Let's Go" which is
"Jesus Built My Hotrod" remarkably amped-up with
Jourgensen absolutely shredding on guitar. At the end is the epic
"End of Days, Pt. 1" and
"Pt. 2" featuring
Fear Factory vocalist
Burton C. Bell along with a lengthy sample of
President Dwight D. Eisenhower's farewell speech -- the "Military-Industrial Complex" one.
Jourgensen is exiting with his greatest idea ever and the most layered
Ministry moment on record, but thinking about the loss of the band is nearly impossible when listening to this world unto its own. Within these walls there's only mourning for the better America
Jourgenson sees as just about gone. It may slowly be stolen by corporate, Bush-supporting thieves in the night, but with
The Last Sucker,
Ministry goes out in a blaze of glory.
~David Jeffries, All Music Guide
;)
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