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Album Review

Ministry – “Animositisomina” (Reissue) [Album Review]

There may be a fine line between cohesive and redundant and it’s up to individual fans of the band to decide where Animositisomina falls.

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The time between 1992’s Psalm 69 and 2004’s Houses of the Molé saw Ministry release three albums that were nothing like each other, much less the albums that made them famous. Among them was 2003’s Animositisomina LP. A dense, noisy album that Ministry leader Al Jourgensen would credit more to his bassist Paul Barker than his own involvement, it ended up being the last time the two would work together following a fruitful 16-year collaboration.

Some tracks, like the muscular album opener “Animosity,” “Shove,” and “Impossible” showed the band still had plenty of venom coursing through their veins, while other songs like “Stolen” and the instrumental “Leper” feel a bit more tired. Often, the lack of diversity makes the album difficult to listen to beginning to end. Unfortunately, many tracks sound similar or otherwise derived from each other, leading the cynics among us to cry “Filler!” Nevertheless, there’s more than a few bright moments, like their cover of Magazine’s “The Light Pours Out of Me” and or the heavy riffage of “Unsung.”

However, the biggest gripe about this album among the die-hard Ministry fans lies in production value. The Jourgensen/Barker team who branded themselves “Hypo Luxa/Hermes Pan” were always regarded as studio Svengali’s, yet on this album, the sound seems more compressed and less layered than their previous work. Perhaps a sign that the collaboration was nearing its end, or maybe just an artistic miss, Animositisomina remains a divisive entry in the band’s discography.

There may be a fine line between cohesive and redundant and it’s up to individual fans of the band to decide where Animositisomina falls. There are certainly a few great moments in this collection of tracks, but in a world where fans can pick and choose which digital tracks to purchase, I’m not sure this reissued CD Digipak version will be as widely sought out as the reissues of House of the Molé or the live album Sphinctour.

Animositisomina Track Listing:

01. Animosity
02. Unsung
03. Piss
04. Lockbox
05. Broken
06. The Light Pours Out of Me
07. Shove
08. Impossible
09. Stolen
10. Leper

Run Time: 53:45
Release Date: March 10, 2017

Check out the song “Animosity”

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