As we near the collapse of mankind and the imminent doom of our political system, a perfect stage has been set for the outspoken rebels to flood the airwaves with dissident upheaval bathed in musical bliss. With the end looming, no greater landscape could welcome the reemergence of the enigmatic Al Jourgensen and company with their latest release, HOPIUMFORTHEMASSES, via Nuclear Blast Records. Scheduled for a March 1st 2024 release, Uncle Al, along with guitarist Cesar Soto, Paul D’Amour, formerly of TOOL, on bass, John Bechdel on keys, Roy Mayorga (ex-STONE SOUR) on drums, and newly added guitarist Monte Pittman, form the current incarnation of the long-lived Ministry.

This album is an open-book commentary on our American society at large, bathed in slow-burn angst and distortion injected with punk rock/thrash riffs and samples galore.

Within the opening seconds of track one, a female voice proclaims, “What was once forbidden becomes fringe, and what was once fringe becomes mainstream.” Soon Al’s vocals take over with a distorted and effect heavy declaration of “horny little boys filled with hormones and hate, waging war on women ‘’cause they can’t get a date,” thus laying the groundwork for the entire album. As “B.D.E.” (Big Dick Energy) continues, a heavy yet simplistic guitar riff drives the song forward while increasing the energy level and tempo. Al’s vocals continue with his immediate, recognizable attitude and tone, stating, “No one can justify the toxic behavior.”

“Goddamn White Trash” is perhaps the most accessible and rythematic song on the release. It has hints of the Psalm 69 days of the band. Chants of “USA, USA” ring out along side screeching guitar noise reminiscent of Mike Scaccia’s playing style.

Track three is titled “Just Stop Oil,” and it dives into yet another realm of political advocacy. Jourgensen delivers, “Dehumanization at a cellular level. Policy set by the corporate devils, There must be resistance, we cannot be silenced, There is the existence of possible violence” in a growled whisper.

On the track “Aryan Embarrassment,”  we are treated to a none-more-fitting guest appearance from what I believe is activist and Dead Kennedys front man Jello Biafra, who delivers a rap-style series of vocal lines backed by a driving rhythm. Jello wails, “How on Earth did all this happen? Plagues of militantly stupid” Followed by “Scamming on the punk scene.  Oi, oi, oi. Ain’t proud of you boys at all.”

Another standout track is “New Religion” which starts with a classic industrial riff and buries itself in the repetitive, slow-burn heaviness that has become the Ministry standard as of late. Followed by “It’s Not Pretty,” which opens as a haunting acoustic piece that I imagine being set in a post apocalyptic landscape with the reverberating lyrics “It’s not pretty. This is the end of the world to me. This is the end of society.”

“Cult of Suffering” strays from the format of the balance of the album and could be firmly placed on an Alabama 3 album, and it may feel at home on a Surgical Meth Machine release.

Rounding out the album is a little ditty called “Ricky’s Hand.” This is a synth pop throwback to the early days of Ministry and leaves us longtime fans eager to hear the longtime teased rerecording of some of the very early Ministry material. This track has a Devo, Information Society, and even Depeche Mode feel to it and is a perfect bookend to a solid release from an iconic band.

Ministry will be on tour throughout the summer with Rob Zombie, Alice Cooper and Helmet.

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Josh Drespling

Josh is the Publisher and creator of Empire Extreme and it’s sister publication Kingdom Extreme Magazine. He is an accomplished writer, photographer and graphic designer. He is always conjuring up new ideas and has a amazing passion for the music industry and all the things that surround it.

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Candlebox is back to say good-bye with their swan song album entitled The Long Goodbye. This release is touted as the last album from the band before they call it quits. With that said, you would have expected a phoned-in, half-assed attempt by a tired band trying to fulfill contractual obligations. However, this is the farthest thing from what is contained on this album. It is chocked full of well-produced, mature, well-crafted songs that have grimy parts coupled with melody, punk-rock, and faint hints of their grunge roots.

If I were to wrap this album up into one neat package of words, I would say that it has the musical prowess of the incredibly remarkable King’s X, married to the influential sound of Jack Black and the White Stripes, with Muse taking the lead on production and arrangements.

The 10-track, Don Miggs produced album kicks off with “Punks”, a high-energy rock track that opens with the hard strum of an acoustic guitar and then blasts off into a bass-heavy Green Day-style rhythm. This track showcases lead vocalist Kevin Martin’s abilities, especially the scream that is buried in the mix around the two-minute mark. Not to be outdone, there is some noisy grunge guitar squeal at 2:30 as the chorus kicks back in that made me rewind the track three or four times just to hear it again.

“What Do You Need” is the second track on the album; it is built on swagger and groove with a mid-song break of guitar noise and dissonance that would have made Kurt Cobain proud.

Next up is a track called “Elegante”, which has a lush and, dare I say, morose feel. It is followed by “I Should Be Happy”, a catchy track where the guitar should have been thrust forward in the mix. The fifth offering is a track called “Nails on a Chalkboard”, and it stands apart from some of the other songs as it takes you in a bit of a different, more mellow direction as it drops the tempo with a clean piano running throughout.

“Ugly” is another standout selection on this release, where we find the lyrics proclaiming , “Ugly people saying ugly things to pretty people doing the same. It’s pretty easy to go insane when you see the ugly in everything. The track “Maze” follows as an emotional acoustic ditty.

“Cellphone Jesus” is track eight of this collection, and it is a quirky adventure of a song with lyrics such as “Pick up your cell phone, Jesus. You got a world full of need ya’s.”

Rounding out the album is “Hourglass”, a fitting departure for a band whose youthful aggression and urgency saw them tackle the music industry in the early 1990s while still teenagers. Their songs “You”, “Change”, and the huge hit “Far Behind” became staples on rock radio. Those songs and more will live on in infamy long after the band plays their final note. Kevin Martin, lead vocalist and songwriter, said, “Our legacy is being a band that followed our own path and did what we chose to do the way we wanted to. We did it on our own terms.”

In addition to the release of The Long Goodbye, Rhino will spotlight Candlebox’s early years with a 7-LP vinyl boxed set, The Maverick Years, due out September 22nd, featuring newly remastered versions of all three studio albums released on Maverick (Candlebox, Lucy, and Happy Pills) as double LPs, plus a single album with more than a dozen previously unreleased recordings only available in the collection.

About Author

Josh Drespling

Josh is the Publisher and creator of Empire Extreme and it’s sister publication Kingdom Extreme Magazine. He is an accomplished writer, photographer and graphic designer. He is always conjuring up new ideas and has a amazing passion for the music industry and all the things that surround it.

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Mudvayne made their way through Pittsburgh with a stop at The Amphitheater at Star Lake as part of The Psychotherapy Sessions tour with four other bands who chose not to let media outlets cover them without individual clearance, which is an extreme rarity in the business when you are covering the tour.

The first opening band, which is fronted by two female vocalists, played their set to what could not have been more than a hundred people in a pavilion that has a capacity of near 22,000 people. Much of the same scenario played out for the second support act.

The venue was upgrading every person who had a lawn ticket to seats under the pavilion. They had people stationed around handing out the tickets, and the employees at the gates were telling everyone to go get their free upgrades at certain tables. The word was that they were handing out free tickets a few nights before at the Pantera and Lamb of God show.

The third opener finally had a sizable crowd, as they are typically a club and mid-size venue band, but their brand of blood and gore fell flat in the large space and the daylight. Though they sounded better than I have heard them sound, the energy was lost in the distance from the crowd.

Up next was the “co-headliner”. They sounded decent with their revamped line-up, and the songs brought back some nostalgia for that late 90s nu-metal sound. The lead vocalist seemed like a “Fiend” with an “I O U Nothing” attitude. “Something Told Me” the entire band was “Loco”, and probably “Drove” a “Big Truck”. Nothing is going to “Sway” me, as I know these are “Dark Days” for the industry, and perhaps it’s just “Another Nail in The Coffin.”

Finally, the headliner, Mudvayne, took to the stage and sounded amazing. There has been some trepidation and clamoring that vocalist Chad Grey was not performing well live. I’m here to say that Chad and the rest of the band were on point, sounded tight, and were well rehearsed. I don’t know if they were out of sync at the onset of the tour, but tonight in Pittsburgh, they were on top of their game. They opened their set with the hit “Not Falling”. They followed up with “Under My Skin,” which is a off-the-beaten-path song from their L.D. 50 release from over 20 years ago. They also performed “Internal Primates Forever,” also from the L.D. 50 release, as part of the six tracks from that album.

The band changed direction with another hit track “World So Cold”. Following in order were “A New Game”, “Severed”, “Death Blooms”, and “Fish Out of Water”. Chad screamed, “All work and no play makes me a dull boy, as the band tore into the track “Dull Boy” from the 2008 album The New Game.

“Determined” and “Nothing to Gein” preceded an energetic encore of the definitive “Dig” and crowd favorite “Happy?”.

Overall, a great performance and a selection of songs that spanned their entire discography. Here’s to hoping there is a new release in their future, and you should get out to this show; it was super entertaining. Who knows? You may just get upgraded to the front row.

About Author

Josh Drespling

Josh is the Publisher and creator of Empire Extreme and it’s sister publication Kingdom Extreme Magazine. He is an accomplished writer, photographer and graphic designer. He is always conjuring up new ideas and has a amazing passion for the music industry and all the things that surround it.

See author's posts