Psalm 69: The Way To Succeed And The Way To Suck Eggs

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Editorial Reviews:

Amazon.com
Ministry's followup to The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste makes use of the same aggressive approach but sinks to a darker and fiercer level. Chokehold opener "N.W.O." uses tape loops of then-President Bush calling for a "New World Order," which Ministry delivers by infusing their industrial savvy with machine-gunned, thrash metal guitars, relentless beats, and vocals that run the gamut from deranged auctioneer of the damned ("Jesus Built My Hotrod") to terrifying screams ("Just One Fix"). Fast and furious, Psalm 69 is an acidic taste of Ministry at their most focused and diabolical. --Erin Amar

Customer Reviews: Read 69 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

Audio Napalm January 13, 2001
42 out of 46 found this review helpful

How would you describe this, exactly? Metal with industrial strength? Or industrial with metal guitars? That's the beauty of "Psalm 69," it fuses the two genres so seemlessly, that fans of both genres (like me), have a match made in heaven. I love both "The Land Of Rape & Honey" and "The Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Taste," but for some reason, I think this is my favorite of Al's work. It's darker, heavier and louder, and for those reasons it has just a slight edge as my favorite Ministry album. Guitars are like musical chainsaws, drums hit harder than a crowbar to the head, vocals are harsh enough to satisfy Skinny Puppy fans, and the mood is just as bleak as Metallica's "...And Justice For All." There's never a dull moment hear. Even the opening track, "N.W.O.," starts off with guitars that seem hell-bent on destruction with its irrate buzzsaw cuts aimed at your throat. With a ripping guitar chord, samples of then-president George Bush, screams that will make your ears bleed, and an incredibly angry danceable beat, one wonders why Ministry weren't bigger than their semi-underground status in the first place. There's no time for pondering though, as the next track, "Just One Fix," pummels the listener into a bloody pulp with an incredibly dark tone and one mean and ugly, powerful riff from hell (ala Slayer) that will leave you sprawled out on your floor twitching and begging for your mommy. With Gibby Haynes (of Butthole Surfers fame) on vocals, "Jesus Built My Hotrod" might be the coolest car song ever. While not as dark as the other songs, which might explain its college radio-hit fame, it's a blistering sonic assualt on all your senses that rages forth in a manic tempo rolling over everything in sight and never letting up. Another highlight is the title track. It's, again, dark and bleak, but just like all the other songs, it still has a fun element to it. Voice samples of "Praise Jesus" and a choir lead the way to a chorus that thrashes and bashes like you wouldn't believe; it's too bad Sunday church congregation wasn't this much fun in real life, or I might actually go. The instrumental "Corrosion" is like a tank--ready for war, sirens going off all around, destroying everything in sight, and leaving a path of destruction and mayhem with its sonic wrath--absolutely wonderful. Thrash-dance at its absolute finest, I say. Of course, "Psalm 69" as a whole is amazing. Every second is powerful and filled with visceral wrath waiting to explode at anyone or anything at the touch of the play button. Samples are brilliantly placed all over the chaotic industrial vocals and production, drums make you wanna dance and put your foot in the wall all at the same time, and guitars rip and shred like Filter and Spineshank can only dream of. "Psalm 69" is, like good techno, perfect--never a dull moment; never an out of place instrument, sample, or vocal; and you can never get enough of this stuff. This is exactly what the Terminator called for--a cold, heartless killing machine that only stops to reload before blowing you and everything within four miles up (which is exactly what you'd feel like if you turn this up loud enough). Forget Static-X, Spineshank, Marilyn Manson and Apartment 26--this is the real deal when it comes to industrial-metal, and it will never be topped. If you're into industrial or metal, or anything remotly close to it, for that matter, you need "Psalm 69." Gauranteed headache with every song. And in this case, that's a good thing.

3 out of 5 stars

You MIGHT be dissappointed February 26, 2003
9 out of 10 found this review helpful

This record definitely to me lost some of the industrial magic that made "Mind is a Terrible Thing" so creative. On the other hand though, the production on this record is a lot better and this really does sound more like Metal to me. The guitars thrash heavy and distorted, the bass will give you a whipping, and as usual Al Jourgeson's passion in his singing will help you to appreciate the anger behind all this music more. Overall, there's a lot more guitar playing on this one.
Yes, this record is definitly meatier then it's predecessor, but like the previous, it will not suite everyone. It's again a lot like the previous record, each song consists of about 2 guitar riffs, 3 at most and they just repeat over and over, although this record does have more variety in terms of its lyrics. This is just what Ministry's music is all about though, and even though most people will discard it by just saying "these guys have no talent, it's just the same thing over and over," the music is begging for you to look deeper, b/c even though it may not seem like there's much variety to each song, each song is VERY unique and it seems an equal amount of work went into each one. So that in turn tells me, No song could be released as a single, or EVERY song can be released as a single.
To those who have never heard anything my Ministry before, I'd highly recommend listening to "Mind is a Terrible Thing" FIRST at least 2 times, then that'll show you what this band is all about, what they're trying to express. If you end up liking it, then you can pick up "Psalm 69" and it'll be the same band, but experimenting with their own sound and musical idea further, and most likely you will like this one too.
Ministry is definitely very very original, and Al Jourgeson is definitly what I call an artist.

5 out of 5 stars

The Way to Succeed... July 30, 2006
8 out of 8 found this review helpful

...and the Way to Suck Eggs. That's the rest of the title, and it's accurate in its "love it or lump it" attitude: there's no in-between ground with music this intense, you're either in or out. If you think Rob Zombie could stand to be heavier, Nine Inch Nails should be a little less sensitive, or Rammstein should try to be less German, than this is exactly what you're looking for. Ministry have several damn good albums, including their last two releases, but this is their definitive statement, to be locked in a time capsule for future generations to learn how to just get angry. Hardcore enough for punks, metal enough for headbangers, and your parents WILL hate it more than your Korn CDs.

5 out of 5 stars

CONNECT THE GODDAMED DOTS!!!!!!! September 22, 2005
7 out of 7 found this review helpful

While many people hold this in high regard as one of the best albums the ministry ever made. I think it's more of an update on what was left off with The mind and Land. Every track this record spews into your face is just another heavy assualt on the ears after another. Opening the right way with NWO, utilizes the use of catchy beats from the synth and proper guitar riffs and so forth, Al's distorted growls go well with the endless samples. Concerening Al's old heroin habit it looks as if Just one Fix takes a life of its own with loud Sabbath-esque riffs and pounding drums, this track puts you into Al'ss perspective with his addiction problems, good remixes with WSB on the single too. TV2 is built louder and faster then the original (which is the same only with a better vocalist), shame how connelly got screwed over, Al's screaming on this song is boarderline annoying, but nothing's better then laughing along to the lyrics. Hero is noisy crap about war, good lyrics and a nice solo through the middle of the track. Then the old hit Jesus Built my Hotrod captures the beauty of fast cars and insanity with a completely new singer taking charge, the vocals are hilarious and catchy but very incoherent at the same time, awesome guitaring too. I do prefer the mix with the samples more. Things progressively slow down with the almost grunge-metal sounding sludge of Scarecrow, I've no idea what the lyrics actually mean, but the slow jam is awesome, also there's those Led Zep similairities and whatnot. Title track is another slow desend into samples and reilgious madness (PRAISE JESUS!) good actual song outside of the sampling. But the industrial metal stops here with some of the harshest noise/dance tracks I've ever f**king heard outside of the earlier industrial acts. Corrosion is a favourite of mine only to crank real damn loud and to annoy everyone else around me, with a brutal beat and an even more brutal sound and to top it all off whatever vocals that would've sounded even slightly appropriate are just roars of terror. I love that track. Then the noise-exprimental Grace is the perfect example of Ministry using a synth to their advantage. I do warn Grace will give you a headache if you aren't tripping on any substance.

Even though this album failed to make as much as an impact NIN did during the same year, I do think that this is a waaaay more important and intelligant (wrong word to use) then anything Broken offered. Broken was getting back at those wronged Trent (isn't it that way all the time with Reznor?) Psalm 69 was a balls-out depiction of all things evil during that period of time. Why ministry failed after this is a mystery to me but everyone will still have all of the great musical memories.

Even if they make our ears bleed.

4 out of 5 stars

The "Accessible" Ministry March 2, 2003
6 out of 9 found this review helpful

You gotta hand it to Al Jourgenson, Ministry's chief lunatic and long time leader. If Neil Young is the "Godfather of Grunge," then Al has the same parental relationship with hardcore industrial thrash. He opened the door that others such as Trent Reznor and, ulp, Marilyn Manson, would burst through so confidently. His music almost defies criticism. You'll know from the first grinding note if this is your cup of tea. If not, nothing I can tell you about it is going to make one bit of difference.

That said, "Psalm 69" is perhaps the best of Ministry's original albums. Certainly, it contains the band's most tuneful single ("Jesus Built My Hotrod") since their brief mid-80s stint as Frankie Goes to Hollywood [copies]. Only this band could bring in a guy like Butthole Surfers' lead singer Gibby Haines to make them more "commercial." My complaint is that the CD-single of the song actually contains a longer (and better) version of "JBMH" than the album. Another highlight is "N.W.O.," which features King George Bush I proclaiming a New World Order in an endless tape loop as the music roars behind him. This is ugly music with a certain grace to it.

Overall, a strong album from the kind of artist that people either love of they hate. Long may he rave.

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