Surgical Meth Machine (Album Review)

Ministry, Revolting Cocks and 1000 Homo Dj’s mastermind Al Jourgensen has a new project dubbed Surgical Meth Machine. The band’s self-titled debut album is due on April 15 on the Nuclear Blast label.

To anyone who knows Al Jourgensen‘s previous music I am pretty sure you will have an idea of what to expect. I, personally, was a huge fan of 1000 Homo Dj’s and especially the early Ministry albums, my favourite being Psalm 69. With Ministry calling it a day in 2013 and not being sure if we would ever hear anything more from Uncle Al I was very excited to discover that this album was coming out, so let gets on to the review.

Surgical Meth Machine opens with “I’m Sensitive” which is nothing but lots of profanity being hurled around, crazy fast guitars and a true drumming assault as you may expect from Jourgensen. “Tragic Alert” is a much better song in general, the riffs much more what I like with lots of vocal inserts that you may recognise. The craziness continues on “I Want More” with Al taking all the vocals on this crazy fast tune that as a fan you can imagine this one going down well live. “Rich People Problems” follows in the same vein, the sarcasm in his lyrics has to make you chuckle to yourself as you realise Al doesn’t care what you think. I love the lyrics in this one. “I Don’t Wanna” and “Smash And Grab” are both extremely fast songs bludgeoning you into submission. On we go to “Unlistenable”, another great song with a speed that is simply incredible and done as only Al could. “Gates Of Steel” is a fantastic song loaded with elements of punk and a real bouncy song that I like a lot. “Spudnik” carries on with great guitar work and lots of samples obviously all based around the space mission. “Just Go Home” is very similar to the last song, as we go into some oddly mellow territory. “Just Keep Going” and “I’m Invisible”, like “Just Go Home” all sound like they are from a different album, very much slowed down from the majority of songs on Surgical Meth Machine.

The Surgical Meth Machine album which was recorded at Jourgensen‘s home studio in Burbank, California with his longtime engineer Sam D’Ambruoso, is typically what you would expect from Al although to me the last three tracks spoil this album and leave me feeling a little let down after all those brutal songs before. On a whole, I would say that Surgical Meth Machine would be a great choice for and Ministry/Jourgensen fans. Al has produced a record filled with lots of industrial metal and huge amounts of sampling, just as you would expect.

Mark 7 out of 10

Starchild

BUY: Surgical Meth Machine – Surgical Meth Machine