Cover Up [Digipak]

Performer: Ministry
Distributor: RED Distribution

Notes: Ministry front man Al Jourgensen has a history of covers dating back to 1990, when he gleefully obliterated Olivia Newton-John's "(Let's Get) Physical" with side project the Revolting Cocks. The origins of the all-covers COVER UP can be traced to Jourgensen's faithful run through Bob Dylan's "Lay Lady Lay" on Ministry's 1995 album FILTH PIG, reproduced here: Jourgensen's obvious affection for the source material shines through the myriad layers of distortion, to disarming affect. COVER UP, then, is concerned not with deconstruction but reconstruction, as on the Grammy-nominated "Under My Thumb": the song succeeds because Jourgensen meticulously rebuilds it using his own sonic palette (i.e. industrial muck). If, as Jourgensen has promised, COVER UP is his swansong with Ministry, it's strangely appropriate: believers get a revealing peek into the back pages of one of rock music's most defiantly enigmatic masterminds.

Alternative Press (p.142) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "Al Jourgensen howls the words to ZZ Top's 'Just Got Paid' like some weird mythological creature left to guard the gates of hell while the programmed kick drum goes berserk." Kerrang (Magazine) (p.49) - "[There are] many surprises to be found on this 12-song collection of cover viersions....COVER UP is always interesting." Pitchfork (Website) - "On COVER UP, Ministry sends up heroes, not villains. The results are quite fun. Whether political or personal, clouds have always hovered over Ministry; hearing them lift is refreshing."

Though Chicago's Ministry is known as the archetypal industrial rock band, they actually started out as a dour synth-funk outfit before founder Alain Jourgensen really ratcheted up the noise and the gloom on 1988's THE LAND OF RAPE & HONEY. In so doing, Ministry became the template for scores of industrial bands to come, combining roaring, metallic guitars, distorted, demonic vocals, and relentlessly pounding electronics. By the '90s, they were alt-rock icons, getting heavy play on MTV and appearing at the Lollapalooza festival. Even after Jourgensen's musical partner Bill Rieflin left in 1994, Ministry continued making dark, disturbing music for their legions of admirers.

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