RhoDeo 1625 Aetix

Hello,


Today's artists are an industrial metal band founded by lead singer and only original member Al Jourgensen in 1981. Originally a new wave synthpop outfit, Ministry changed its style to become one of the pioneers of industrial metal in the mid-1980s. Ministry found mainstream success in the early 1990s with its most successful album Psalm 69: The Way to Succeed and the Way to Suck Eggs (1992) and touring as part of the Lollapalooza festival.. ....N'Joy

xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx

Alejandro Ramírez Casas was born in Havana to Cuban parents on October 9, 1958. Soon after, he relocated to the United States to live with his mother and his Norwegian stepfather Jourgensen.  Al  began Ministry in Chicago, Illinois in 1981. His first band prior to Ministry was Special Affect with Groovie Mann (of My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult), drummer Harry Rushakoff (Concrete Blonde) and bassist Marty Sorenson. After that was the short-lived Silly Charmichaels, with Ben Krug, Tom Krug and Tom Wall (all of The Imports).

The original line-up of Ministry consisted mainly of Jourgensen (vocals and guitar), Stephen George (drums), Robert Roberts (keyboards), and John Davis (keyboards), although with a few personnel changes, the band's image would begin to focus more on Jourgensen and Stephen George. Ministry's original sound was essentially new wave synthpop that was more melodic and stylized than the aggressive music for which they would become known. Ministry released four 12" singles on Wax Trax! Records from 1981 to 1984 (anthologized on Twelve Inch Singles (1981–1984) that featured the club favorite "Everyday Is Halloween").

Their first LP With Sympathy, was issued on Arista Records in 1983 and hit the upper 90s in the Billboard 200. The LP was well received by college radio fans initially and became common in many new wave album collections at the time. The music in With Sympathy and the singles Arista issued in association with it were a melodic type of synthpop and part of the new wave sound growing in popularity in the early 1980s, the band was well received by the large arena audiences. Jourgensen has subsequently expressed extreme dislike for Ministry's With Sympathy-era output. He was not trying to come off as British. The Stones used a southern accent and no one crawled up their ass for it.

By the mid-1980s, Jourgensen parted ways with George and signed to Sire Records. Jourgensen performed mostly solo for Ministry's next LP, Twitch (1986), which sold well, but was still considered to be "underground". The music was danceable electronic music, but was not pop music, and the sound was harsher and more aggressive than what Ministry had recorded before. According to Jourgensen, "Twitch was stuff that I was doing before With Sympathy came out. Some of that stuff was already four or five years old, but the record company didn't want to use it, so...". Much of the new sound was created with the use of digital sampling and the input of producer Adrian Sherwood.

After Twitch, Jourgensen made the most significant change in Ministry's history when he resumed playing electric guitar. Jourgensen also brought bass guitarist Paul Barker of the Seattle band The Blackouts into the Ministry camp; Barker would remain Jourgensen's bandmate for many years when he was the only person credited as a member of the band other than Jourgensen. With the addition of The Blackouts drummer William Rieflin, Ministry recorded The Land of Rape and Honey (1988). The album continued their success in the underground music scene. The Land of Rape and Honey made use of synthesizers, keyboards, tape loops, jackhammering drum machines, dialogue excerpted from movies, unconventional electronic processing, and, in parts, heavy distorted electric guitar and bass. The album was supported by a tour in 1988 and the singles and music videos for "Stigmata" and "Flashback".

The follow-up, The Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Taste was supported by a tour from 1989 to 1990. Due to the complex nature of the album's drumming, a second drummer, Martin Atkins, was used. In addition to Atkins, a ten piece touring line-up was formed, consisting of Chris Connelly (keyboards and vocals), Nivek Ogre (vocals and keyboards), Joe Kelly (vocals and backing vocals) and guitarists Mike Scaccia, Terry Roberts, and William Tucker, with Jourgensen, Barker and Rieflin serving as the group's core members. This tour was documented on In Case You Didn't Feel Like Showing Up. Three singles, "Thieves", "Burning Inside" (for which a video was made) and "So What" were released from the album.

Throughout the late 1980s Jourgensen and Barker expanded their ideas beyond Ministry into a seemingly endless parade of side projects and collaborations. Many of these bore Ministry's signature sound and the duo's "Hypo Luxa/Hermes Pan" production imprint. (These side-projects were also responsible for the delayed release of Ministry's next album.) Foremost of these was Ministry's alter ego, the Revolting Cocks. "RevCo", as it is often referred to, essentially became the same band as it had originally featured Belgian musicians Richard 23 (of Front 242) and Luc Van Acker. Jourgensen and Barker also formed Lard with Dead Kennedys lead singer Jello Biafra, Acid Horse with Cabaret Voltaire, 1000 Homo DJs (which featured Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor doing vocals on a cover of Black Sabbath's "Supernaut"), PTP with Chris Connelly and Pailhead with Ian MacKaye of Minor Threat and Fugazi.

Ministry broke into the mainstream in 1991 with "Jesus Built My Hotrod" (co-authored by Gibby Haynes of the Butthole Surfers and Michael Balch of Front Line Assembly affiliation). The music video was a hit and the band scored second billing on the Lollapalooza tour. As the single had indicated, the sound of the following LP, Psalm 69: The Way to Succeed and the Way to Suck Eggs (1992), was the most metal-oriented Ministry had put to record at that point, the focal point of the sound shifting almost entirely from synths to Jourgensen's and new members Mike Scaccia's and Louis Svitek's electric guitars.

ΚΕΦΑΛΗΞΘ, which is printed on the record, is a concatenation of "κεφαλή" (Greek for "head" or "leader") and "ΞΘ" (the number 69 in Greek numerals). The title was borrowed from Aleister Crowley's work: The Book of Lies (Chapter 69, "The Way to Succeed—and the Way to Suck Eggs!"). Psalm 69 became Ministry's biggest hit, including in addition to "Jesus Built My Hotrod", the singles "N.W.O." (a protest of the Persian Gulf War and attack directed at then-President George H.W. Bush) and "Just One Fix" (a collaboration with poet/novelist William S. Burroughs). The single "N.W.O." was used in the 1992 live-action/animated movie Cool World. Later, "N.W.O." was used in Need for Speed: The Run video game.

Ministry was one of the headlining acts for Australia and New Zealand's Big Day Out touring festival. In spite of their growing success, Ministry was nearly derailed by a series of arrests and drug problems. The band did not issue their next album, Filth Pig, until 1996. For Filth Pig, Ministry stripped all synthesizers and most samples from their style and made the music almost entirely with ultra-noisy guitars, heavy bass and real drums. The songs were played mostly at slower tempos than the very fast ones that were used for the compositions on their previous three LPs, giving it an almost doom metal feel.

Ministry recorded their final studio album for Warner Bros. Records, Dark Side of the Spoon (1999), which they dedicated to William Tucker, who committed suicide earlier that year. For Dark Side of the Spoon, Ministry tried to diversify their sound by adding some melodic and synthetic touches to their usual electro-metal sound, along with some jazz influences, but the album was not well received. However, the single "Bad Blood" appeared on the soundtrack album of The Matrix and was nominated for a 2000 Grammy award.

During the years 2000-2002, disputes with Warner Bros. Records resulted in the planned albums Live Psalm 69, Sphinctour and ClittourUS on Ipecac Recordings being canceled. Sphinctour was released on Sanctuary Records. Around 2001, Jourgensen almost lost his arm when he was bitten by a venomous spider. He did have a toe amputated after accidentally stepping on a discarded hypodermic needle. Around this time, by his own admission, Jourgensen was suicidal and decided to call an acquaintance he had met years earlier; the acquaintance, Angelina Luckacin, helped Jourgensen give up his massive substance habit (which included heroin and cocaine "speedballs", crack, LSD, various pharmaceuticals and as many as two full bottles of Bushmills whiskey per day).

Barker left Ministry in 2003. He stated that the trigger was his father dying while the band was wrapping up a summer tour in Europe, and also stated in early 2004 that his family life was his main focus at that particular time. Jourgensen continued Ministry with Mike Scaccia and various other musicians.

For Ministry's next album, Jourgensen released the song "No W", a song critical of then-U.S. President George W. Bush; an alternate version of the track was placed on the multi-performer compilation Rock Against Bush, Vol. 1. The follow-up LP, Houses of the Molé (2004), contained the most explicitly political lyrics Jourgensen had yet written, with songs in Ministry's classic industrial electro-metallic sound played messier, more crudely and more freely than ever before, giving the album the most metal-oriented sound of their career. In 2006 the band released Rio Grande Blood, an LP on Jourgensen's own 13th Planet Records. With Prong's Tommy Victor and Killing Joke's Paul Raven, the album featured an even heavier thrash metal sound drawing comparison to Slayer. The single "Lieslieslies" was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance at the 49th annual Grammy Awards. It, along with another song on the album, "The Great Satan", is also available as a downloadable content song for the 2008 video game Rock Band 2. In July 2007, the band released Rio Grande Dub, an album featuring remixes from the band's 2006 Rio Grande Blood album.

Ministry's "final" album, The Last Sucker, was released on September 18, 2007. Ministry's farewell tour, the "C-U-LaTour", started its North American leg on March 26, 2008 with Meshuggah performing as special guests and Hemlock as an opening act. They played their final North American show in Chicago on 12 May 2008. Adios... Puta Madres, a live album featuring material culled from Ministry's final tour, was released in 2009 on CD and DVD.

On August 7, 2011, it was announced that Ministry was reforming and would play at Germany's Wacken Open Air festival, set to take place August 2–4, 2012. The reunion lineup featured Al Jourgensen on vocals, Mike Scaccia and Tommy Victor both on guitar, Aaron Rossi on drums, John Bechdel on keyboards and Tony Campos on bass. On December 23, 2011, Ministry released "99 Percenters", the first single from Relapse, and began streaming it on their Facebook page two days later. On February 22, 2012, Ministry released a second single, "Double Tap", which was included in the April 2012 issue of the Metal Hammer magazine. On March 23, 2012, Relapse was released.

On December 23, 2012, guitarist Mike Scaccia died following an on-stage heart attack, while playing with his other band, Rigor Mortis. 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


xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx

This here is the unofficial debut album released as part of the Trax box. Alain Jourgensen was clearly still finding his feet and listening to this album you will hear the huge influence of contemporairy alternative acts from the UK In fact Ministry sounded like no other US band at the time but could easily be taken for an UK act or possibly Belgian Alain Jourgensen he certainly got me wrong footed at the time and after buying the cold life 12 " i was baffled by the debut album With Sympathy that i bought blindly...

Jourgensen has provided explanations, saying in one interview that after signing the record contract, all artistic control of Ministry was "handed" over to other writers and producers. In his autobiography, Jourgensen gave a different explanation, saying that he was pressured by Arista management into producing his songs in the then-popular synthpop style, However, there are reports of Jourgensen saying in the 1980s that when he discovered hardcore music, his musical direction simply changed.Additionally, video of local concerts Ministry performed in Chicago 1 year or more previous to their signing with Arista show the band dressed in "new wave" styles and playing new wave and synthpop music. Jourgensen assumes a false English accent for all of the songs, for which he also later expressed great disliking, though his ex-wife stated in a 2013 interview "...the English accent thing was more an homage to the bands he loved more than anything else.

Ministry - The Original Recordings (flac 537mb)

01 I'm Falling 4:25
02 Cold Life 5:08
03 Primental 5:14
04 All Day 5:51
05 Everyday Is Halloween 6:36
06 The Nature Of Love (1985) 7:01
07 Overkill 4:31
08 Same Old Madness 5:07
09 I'll Do Anything For You 5:32
10 He's Angry 3:54
11 Move (Original Mix) 5:06
12 I See Red 5:55
13 Nature Of Love (Cruelty Mix) 6:17
14 Nature Of Outtakes 8:08

Ministry - The Original Recordings   (ogg  185mb)

xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx

Rather than the trademark bone-munching industrial metal of later years, With Sympathy is panto-goth new wave synth-pop that sounds less like the band chewing your pancreas and more like Human League's surly little brother. Great stuff, then, for those who allied themselves with Ally Sheedy's character in The Breakfast Club. "Here We Go" grinds all over some electronic horns, "Work for Love" stop-starts and shouts about like "Walk This Way" without all that scary rap, and the whole record becomes a secret weapon against the contrived snarls of the albums to follow. Surely, Al Jourgensen must be more insecure about his past than a superstar linebacker over childhood courses in ballet. Anyway believe what you want to believe, but the truth is, this is where Ministry truly began. They were one of those synth pop/new wave bands like New Order, Berlin, Depeche Mode.. and for 1983, musically the keyboards on this record totally blow away many of the new wave artists at that time. Say the least; chessy lyrics that work with the magic of the music, With Sympathy is a land mark in Synth Pop. No matter how much Al denies this record, this is what he really started as. Anyone that listens to this record and every other Ministry record from here on out, can see the anger in this record that grew on Twitch and through out.

Ministry - With Sympathy (flac 268mb)

01 Effigy (I'm Not An) 3:52
02 Revenge 3:49
03 I Wanted To Tell Her 5:29
04 Work For Love 4:45
05 Here We Go 3:22
06 What He Say 4:05
07 Say You're Sorry 4:19
08 Should Have Known Better 4:31
09 She's Got A Cause 3:36

Ministry - With Sympathy  (ogg  92mb)

xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx

The name Ministry brings to mind images of big, dumb guitars and arena rock sensibility. But before they created their influential third album, The Land of Rape and Honey, there was Twitch. And this album probably owes more to Front 242 than anything. The only thing remotely resembling their later music is the use of psychotic sampling that Al Jourgensen and Paul Barker will always be known for. A good example is "Like You," the first track on the album. Other differences include Patty Jourgensen singing on the song "The Angel" and Al Jourgensen actually trying to sound unaggravated at times. It's interesting though repetitive at times ("Crash and Burn"), and if you care to listen to Jourgensen's rants, he really does have something to say. "Isle of Man" tells the story of the arrival of Columbus and how the persecution of the Indians will be revisited on the offenders in time. Twitch would also prove to be a pivotal move in the course of Ministry. Much of the new sound was created with the use of digital sampling and the input of producer Adrian Sherwood. Make no mistake: this sounds nothing like any of Ministry's other albums; listeners may hear how they became what they did.

Ministry - Twitch (flac 344mb)

01 Just Like You 5:03
02 We Believe 5:56
03 All Day Remix 6:03
04 The Angel 6:06
05 Over The Shoulder 5:13
06 My Possession 5:05
07 Where You At Now; Crash And Burn; Twitch (version II) 12:15
08 Over The Shoulder (12" Version) 6:46
09 Isle Of Man (Version II) 4:30

Ministry - Twitch   (ogg  134mb)

xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx

Included are all of their best-known hits and songs before they got signed by major-label Sire. Techno-industrial music from the early '80s.

Ministry - Twelve Inch Singles I (flac 406mb)

01 Every Day Is Halloween (12'' Single 1984) 6:36
02 Nature Of Love (12'' Single 1984) 7:04
03 All Day (12'' Single 1984) 5:51
04 Cold Life (12'' Single 1981) 5:11
05 Halloween (Remix) (12'' Single 1984) 10:25
06 Nature Of Love (Cruelty Mix) (12'' Single 1984) 6:43
07 All Day (Remix B) (Unreleased Track From 1984) 6:34
08 Cold Life Dub (12'' Single 1982) 6:22

Ministry - Twelve Inch Singles I (ogg 135mb)

xxxx

Ministry - Twelve Inch Singles II (flac 340mb)

09 Same Old Madness (Previously Unreleased 1982) 5:58
10 Primental (12'' Single 1981) 5:14
11 I'm Falling (12'' Single 1981) 4:24
12 Nature Of Outtakes (12'' Single 1984) 8:09
13 I'm Falling (Alternative Mix) (Unreleased 1981) 4:04
14 Overkill (Unreleased 1981) 4:31
15 He's Angry (Unreleased 1984) 3:54
16 Move (Original Mix) (Unreleased 1984) 5:06
17 Nature Of Love (Cruelty Mix B) (Unreleased 1984) 6:43

Ministry - Twelve Inch Singles II   (ogg  113mb)

xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx