Al Jourgensen hates the Bush administration so much that he's devoted not one but three full-length Ministry albums to shredding Dubya and his minions. The Last Sucker is the final entry in this trilogy (the first two were 2004's Houses of the Molé and last year's Rio Grande Blood), and it's also supposedly the last studio album from the group, closing the book on a 27-year-long career in which Jourgensen led his own ever-changing minions from synth-dance pop to groundbreaking industrial metal.
Although The Last Sucker doesn't forge any new industrial terrain, at its best it bristles with fire and anger that's as fresh as Ministry's Psalm 69 heyday. The opener, "Let's Go," and the title track hammer relentlessly, while "The Dick Song" (about everyone's not-so-favorite Veep) reveals the secret weapon in Jourgensen's arsenal: a sense of humor that's as sharp-clawed as his ire. There are some pleasant surprises, too—the lively punk of "Die in a Crash," with Fear Factory's Burton C. Bell on vocals, and a truly smoking' version of "Roadhouse Blues" that sounds more like Motörhead than Ministry. While not the band's absolute best (that's arguably The Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Taste), The Last Sucker gives Ministry's career a thunderous finale. If this really is the end (when was the last time a band really retired?), they'll be missed far more than Jourgensen's White House nemesis.
Janiss Garza writes about music for Metro Times. Send comments to [email protected].
