METAL PULP AND PAPER
SURGICAL METH MACHINE
Review by Geoff D. Stephenson
©Courtesy of Nuclear Blast Records
If you’ve been pacing the floor back and forth after September 6th 2013 hoping for more new Ministry or something relating close to it, then Surgical Meth Machine (SMM) is a step in the right direction. So stop pacing and go get this self-titled new release by Ministry frontman Al Jourgensen. Then prepare to have your ears pummeled with a ferocious fast paced adrenaline barrage of industrial metal music noise. Like a junkie with a needle full of meth, get SMM, and quench the fix.
Surgical Meth Machine, Al Jourgensen’s newest industrial metal project of the same name was released April 15th on Nuclear Blast Records. The album was a tribute to the late guitarist Mike Scaccia, who Jourgensen called "probably the best shredder guitar player who walked this planet" Scaccia who played with Ministry for many years, and was also a part of Ministry's ground breaking 1992 release, Psalm 69: The Way to Succeed and the Way to Suck Eggs; passed away on December 23rd, 2012.
Surgical Meth Machine, Al Jourgensen’s newest industrial metal project of the same name was released April 15th on Nuclear Blast Records. The album was a tribute to the late guitarist Mike Scaccia, who Jourgensen called "probably the best shredder guitar player who walked this planet" Scaccia who played with Ministry for many years, and was also a part of Ministry's ground breaking 1992 release, Psalm 69: The Way to Succeed and the Way to Suck Eggs; passed away on December 23rd, 2012.
©Courtesy of Nuclear Blast Records
In an October 2015 interview with In The Loop magazine, Jourgensen stated about how the idea for Surgical Meth Machine came about: "You know, [guitarist] Mikey [Scaccia] died a couple of years ago, from Ministry, and I just figured, like, nah, it's time to quit. I don't want to have John Bonham's kid playing drums for us and having replacement parts forever; that's just not my scene. So I just figured, 'All right, let's stop this. Let's do some other stuff.' And not only that. I found that it was really unburdensome to not have the Ministry moniker or expectations and just do something like whatever the fuck we want. I mean, the band's name is SURGICAL METH MACHINE. It's not like we're gonna be on Top 40 radio and on 'The Voice' and 'American Idol'. [Laughs]"
"I understand it's not a real commercial project for us, it's not gonna put bank in my wallet, but it was a lot of fun to do, in that sense — of just not having the constraints of the expectations of what you've done for twenty years. So this is… It's kind of new stuff. It's pretty cool. It sounds like kind of Ministry, but it's a different level. It's like I literally just put my foot on the gas pedal for this record."
And foot on the gas pedal is right. Surgical Meth Machine is a race car burning pure nitrous racing fuel redlining the engine with the apocalypse in the rear view mirror. Jourgensen said, “The first five songs on this are a speed metal listeners wet dream.”
The rest of the SMM release could easily compare to Ministry's earlier music, With Sympathy or Twitch. A time when Ministry was a pop, electronica, dance motivated band to some.
"I understand it's not a real commercial project for us, it's not gonna put bank in my wallet, but it was a lot of fun to do, in that sense — of just not having the constraints of the expectations of what you've done for twenty years. So this is… It's kind of new stuff. It's pretty cool. It sounds like kind of Ministry, but it's a different level. It's like I literally just put my foot on the gas pedal for this record."
And foot on the gas pedal is right. Surgical Meth Machine is a race car burning pure nitrous racing fuel redlining the engine with the apocalypse in the rear view mirror. Jourgensen said, “The first five songs on this are a speed metal listeners wet dream.”
The rest of the SMM release could easily compare to Ministry's earlier music, With Sympathy or Twitch. A time when Ministry was a pop, electronica, dance motivated band to some.
©Courtesy of Nuclear Blast Records
©Courtesy of Nuclear Blast Records
From the opening track, "I'm Sensitive", the band gets right to the point in telling you they don't “fucking care” what you think. It's a jab at the social media about everyone being so sensitive on Facebook. "Tragic Alert", this song sounds like it could be a B-side track from the Psalm 69: The Way to Succeed and the Way to Suck Eggs recording sessions. Fast guitars, double bass pounding drum machines. Various voice samples. Ministry at its prime played at 666 mph. "I Want More", and "Rich People's Problems" are both jackhammer fast songs with "Rich People's Problems" having some comical lyrics. "I Don’t Wanna (w/Jello Biafra)". Imagine Dead Kennedy’s meeting Ministry for the first time. A fast punk song with a little industrial metal twist. If you’re an Iron Maiden, Lamb Of God or even a Nickelback fan, you might want to skip over the song song, "Unlistenable". An outrageous metallic diatribe against what he considers bad music.
This is where things take a left turn and slow down, almost like the radio station was changed while you weren't looking. "Gates Of Steel", a cover song done by new wave/synth pop band Devo. Surprising enough, SMM actually do a better version. And then this is where things take a really sharp right turn, making you wonder how that radio station found a signal out in the middle of nowhere.
"Spudnik", is a fast electronica keyboard song with sound and voice over samples about the Sputnik satellite. *The Soviet Union launched it into an elliptical low Earth orbit on 4 October 1957. It was a 58 cm (23 in) diameter polished metal sphere, with four external radio antennae to broadcast radio pulses. It was visible all around the Earth and its radio pulses were detectable. It marked the start of the space age and the U.S.-U.S.S.R space race.
"Just Go Home", and "Just Keep Going", are mainly just keyboards, electronic noises with digital samples. Both are danceable songs one might hear at a rave or even a small club. Songs you might easily compare to early Ministry.
Finishing out the album is a very slow melancholy crooning style of song called "I'm Invisible". Something you might not have expected from Jourgensen. If all these songs were like this particular one, SMM actually might make it on a Top 40 radio station.
If you like synthesizers, keyboards, tape loops, jackhammering drum machines, dialogue excerpted from movies, unconventional electronic processing, and, in parts, heavy distorted electric guitar and bass; then this will fulfill your palate of musical taste.
In an interview with Noisey in March 2013, Jourgensen announced that Ministry would break up again, explaining that he does not want to carry on without Scaccia. "Mikey was my best friend in the world and there's no Ministry without him", he said. "But I know the music we recorded together during the last weeks of his life had to be released to honor him. So after his funeral, I locked myself in my studio and turned the songs we had recorded into the best and last Ministry record anyone will ever hear. I can't do it without Mikey and I don't want to. So yes, this will be Ministry's last album." The album, titled From Beer to Eternity, was released on September 6, 2013. Jourgensen stated that Ministry would tour in support of From Beer to Eternity, but would not record any more albums. In an April 2016 interview with Loudwire, however, Jourgensen mentioned the possibility of making another Ministry album "if the circumstances are right."
Whether or not Al Jourgensen actually puts out another Ministry album in the near future, at least he still has the industrial metal music flowing through his veins and will continue to release music like Surgical Meth Machine.
Metal Pulp And Paper gives this 4 stars. It easily could have gotten a 5-star rating, but the songs Unlistenable, Spudnik, Just Go Home, and Just Keep Going took that last star away.
Metal Pulp And Paper gives this 4 stars. It easily could have gotten a 5-star rating, but the songs Unlistenable, Spudnik, Just Go Home, and Just Keep Going took that last star away.
Al Jourgensen's SMM is a glimpse into his incredible talents, and to what his
mind can create. As a fan I feel we have been deprived of this level of creativity from Al for far too long. SMM is a refreshing album for my ears.
-----Burton C. Bell (Fear Factory, Ascension Of The Watchers)
mind can create. As a fan I feel we have been deprived of this level of creativity from Al for far too long. SMM is a refreshing album for my ears.
-----Burton C. Bell (Fear Factory, Ascension Of The Watchers)
Metal Pulp And Paper gives Surgical Meth Machine:
Editors side note: If you haven’t already, every Al Jourgensen/Ministry fan must read his memoir, Ministry: The Lost Gospels According to Al Jourgensen. A very good read. It’s amazing he is still alive.
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