Early Trax

Performer: Ministry
Distributor: Ryko Distribution

Notes: Ministry: Al Jourgensen (vocals, various instruments). Essentially an expanded version of TWELVE INCH SINGLES 1981-1984, Ministry's EARLY TRAX excludes "Cold Life" and its dub remix from the former release, but includes six additional tracks. The most celebrated song, of course, is the goth classic "Every Day Is Halloween," a fascinating track that effectively fuses the sonic palette of Depeche Mode's "People Are People" (and a small dose of Herbie Hancock's "Rockit") with the general theme of Johnny Cash's "The Man in Black." Along with the dance-floor-ready "All Day," EARLY TRAX also presents the sound collage of "Move" and the brooding "I'm Falling." Of course, the songs here represent a period long before Ministry frontman Al "Alien" Jourgensen donned a black cowboy hat and plugged in an electric guitar for the band's best-known, heavier-than-thou '90s incarnation. For fans of dark-tinted '80s music, this is the Ministry compilation to get.

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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