Artist: "Ministry"
Album: "With Sympathy"
Genre: Pop
Label: Arista

Reviewer: -RoG-
Posted: 3/27/2008

Review: Al Jourgensen may have described this as an "abortion of an album", but this is easily one of my favorite releases by Ministry. I know that when most people think of Ministry, they think of the insanely heavy guitars on Psalm 69. Believe me, I'm a huge fan of 'em myself and enjoy shouting "Push the button, connect the goddamned doooooots!!!" as much as the next guy, but it's music like that which makes it so amazing to hear With Sympathy.

The second you play the album you'll wonder how the hell this music can even be coming from the same band. How did they go from from a new wave synth pop band to one of the loudest industrial metal bands in existence over a period of 10 years? How did Al go from having those clean euro-accent vocals (he's from Chicago after all) to those menacingly dark, grainy vocals we've come to love in songs like "Just One Fix"?

Well, whatever the case may be, I for one am glad this album exists if for no other reason than I can always point to it and tell anybody: "You want to know what the 80's sounded like? Just listen to 'With Sympathy'. From the very first track, this is the 80's in a nutshell." I know it's a bold claim with so many other shining examples out there, but I really believe this to be one of the quintessential albums when it comes to representing the decade of decadence. From the hilarious group chants of "Wooork?" on "Work For Love" to ultra-cheesy lyrics like "quiet as a mouse, no sound was stirring throughout the house" on "Revenge", if you don't get a kick out of this album, then you take yourself and your music far too seriously. Don't even get me started on the awesomely hilarious wailing saxophone on "Say You're Sorry". To say they don't make 'em like this anymore would be an extreme understatement, but god how I wish they still did.

Overall rating:
(Scored on a 0.5 - 5 pickles rating: 0.5 being the worst and 5 being the best)