MIND IS A TERRIBLE THING TO TASTE

Ministry: Alain Jourgensen (vocals, guitars, programming); Paul Barker (bass, programming). Engineers: Keith Auerbach, David Ogilvie, Jeff Newell. For its second major-label album (following THE LAND OF RAPE AND HONEY), Ministry combined elements of industrial, punk rock, heavy metal, and hard-beat techno. In doing so, the band forged the mold copied by countless other American bands--from Nine Inch Nails to Marilyn Manson. MIND opens with the one-two punch of "Thieves" and "Burning Inside." The first features a whip-fast chorus, punctuated by samples of the drill-like sound of an automatically rewinding camera, that sets off the obsessive anger of the verses. In the second, vocalist Al Jourgensen's slightly phased vocals cut across razor-sharp bursts of guitar and a massive drum sound. Both songs are fast, aggressive, and quite brilliant. "Cannibal Song" and "So What" sound like super-heavy outtakes from Public Image Limited's METAL BOX / SECOND EDITION. "Test" almost falls into the trap of white boys playing at rap but is saved by its crunching, hypnotic guitar line and screeching feedback. The record's masterstroke is "Breathe." The pummeling, double-tracked percussion leads Jourgensen's commanding vocal delivery as the song spirals on and on, the fade-out suggesting that the song could have gone on forever. If only Ministry's children sounded as good as this. An American classic.