Today’s album review concerns a record that just happened to turn a decade old the 6th of this month. It is a record that, for a few short years, seemed to mark the true end of one of the most iconic Industrial Metal bands of all time. Though things have changed since the 10 years that this release was put out there, it was for a little bit the last thing that Ministry would ever create. So, walk over to the fridge, crack open a cold one, and take a look at my review for From Beer To Eternity. Let’s begin.
Background
After the release of Relapse back on March 23, 2012, Uncle Al & the rest of Ministry would embark on the "Defibrillatour", which was later in the year from June to August. After that tour, the band would go back into the studio, and just have some guitar riffs from longtime band member Mike Scaccia for a potential album. However, tragedy would strike on the 23rd of December, 2012, when Mike would tragically pass on stage playing with his other band Rigor Mortis due to an undiagnosed heart condition. The news of his friend’s passing hit Al Jourgensen pretty hard, as he stated in a March 2013 interview with Noisey:
“Mikey was my best friend in the world and there's no Ministry without him. 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.”
So, he and the rest of the band went back into the studio again to make something with what Mike recorded the year prior, and on the 6th of September, 2013, what would (and what wouldn’t) become their final album, From Beer To Eternity, was released. Al Jourgenson said that the band would go on tour to support the record, but afterwards they were done as a band.
Basic Description
Haunting.
Even with the fact that the band would regroup a few years afterwards, at the time of it’s release back in 2013, this record felt strangely chilling that year, and even now to a certain extent. While I don’t think From Beer To Eternity doesn’t feel as tragic as Made In Heaven, there’s still quite a bit of sadness across the whole album. Mike Scaccia was an incredibly close friend to Uncle Al, and to hear how he was feeling at the time & not wanting to keep Ministry going was rather heartbreaking at the time. Thankfully they would come back, but I didn’t know that at the time, and as such I still get some kind of chill when I even remotely think about this album.
Best Track
Change Of Luck is the living embodiment of the “Slow Burn” kind of song. For the first half you’re treated to more of a Hard Rock like drums, guitars, and bass. Accompanying the instrumentation are a lot of bleeps & bloops with some word repetition thrown in. Once it reaches the second half the metal aspect finally kicks in with more intense instrumentation, but even then the more atmospheric first half is still present & accounted for. That being said, the instrumentation once things get nice & heavy are very well done, and definitely show off the stronger effort that everybody in the band was putting into the album. If I was to say why the track sticks with me so much over a decade later, I direct your attention to these lyrics:
“Your luck is gonna change
It's gonna go from bad to strange
'Cause life is so deranged
We're only here to feel the pain”
Change Of Luck
Worst Track
From Beer To Eternity’s only big flaw is it still has some of Relapse’s faults. Out of balance when it comes to instrumentation vs message, lyrics that don’t always work, etc. That being said, Al Jourgensen & the rest of the band definitely put in a bit more effort this time around, as the issues with this album do come across as more smoothed out, thanks in part to the death of Mike Scallia amping everybody up & pushing them to do their best. Despite this increased effort, these issues do crop up from time to time, but not as strongly as they did the album prior.
Other
If you’re curious about listening to this album, then click on the link below:
From Beer To Eternity
Overall Impression
From Beer To Eternity honestly felt at the time like the band’s career was truly done. As faulty as the album was, it felt like Ministry’s swan song, with Uncle Al bowing out as only he can. I recall being genuinely devastated at the time that Ministry was calling it quits, and while that would ultimately not be the case in recent years, there’s an alternate timeline where this release was the last thing they ever released. It’s not without flaws, but From Beer To Eternity isn’t the worst way to supposedly hang it up.
From Beer To Eternity gets a 7.5 out of 10.
And that was my review for, at the time of it’s release, the final album from Ministry. Though From Beer To Eternity did carry some of the previous record’s faults, they are somewhat negated by the greater effort that Uncle AL & the rest of the band put in for their departed friend. So, October is half a month away, but beforehand I got 1 last post for September. See you soon!
No comments:
Post a Comment