Industrial rock group Ministry is coming to Promowest Pavilion to perform Sunday night.
Considered by many to be the fathers of American industrial-metal, Ministry is touring in support of its new album, “Animositisomina,” the band’s ninth studio album.
The sometimes out of control band is serious on its new album, despite years of joke titles like “Land of Rape and Honey,” and “The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste.” “Animositisomina” is a blistering wall of sound, full of twisted metal riffs and pitch-black images.
The palindrome title suggests a circular career curve for the band, beginning with dirty dance-floor bass beats in 1979, continuing through the addition of Paul Barker in 1986, and the band’s hugely popular “Psalm 69: The Way to Succeed and the Way to Suck Eggs” record in 1992.
Since “PsalM 69…” the band has explored its own place in rock-metal by experimenting with chaotic time signatures and distortion.
While “Psalm 69…” was the band’s most popular album, Barker is somewhat disenchanted with that success.
” ‘Psalm 69…’ was the album that Warner Brothers wanted us to do. But we were bored, and we had other challenges we wanted to do,” said Barker.
Unfortunately, 1996’s “Filth Pig” and 1999’s “Dark Side of the Spoon” reflected this boredom, and despite their popular success, had Ministry doing things it wasn’t invested in.
“Animositisomina” is a change for the better, as the sound is significantly less muddy, but still experimental and interesting.
“Animositisomina” sees the band climbing above their metal peers. Since 1986’s seminal album “Twitch,” Ministry’s music has been fodder for imitation from such luminaries as Nine Inch Nails, Rob Zombie and Static-X, and in some ways this rampant imitation has diluted Ministry’s message, as bands like Nine Inch Nails have been able to expand on and improve the music that Ministry has made.
However competition is not an issue with the band, as personal and musical goals have always come first.
“From our perspective, I don’t think we’ll ever stop performing and recording. At times we have questioned if we had anything to give, but with this new album we’ve been revitalized,” said Barker.
“We wanted to challenge ourselves, and I think this album flows really well from top to bottom. It was a fun record to make, and it was invigorating as a consequence. It was also really quick by contrast, and really easy – I don’t know if that is a good thing or a bad thing,” he said.
The versatility of Ministry has always been its strong point. During the last 24 years, Ministry has opened for bands like Culture Club and Depeche Mode, collaborated with Fugazi’s Ian MacKaye and Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, and covered artists as far reaching as Bob Dylan and Magazine.
To fans familiar with 1992’s infectious college-radio “Jesus Built My Hotrod,” the band’s biggest hit to date, Ministry’s early music may come as a surprise.
Prior to 1986, Ministry was a synth-pop outfit concerned with bringing post-punk guitar music to America’s dance halls. From those sometimes humble beginnings, the band built a solid following that was able to see through the bubblegum mentality of that genre.
From the moment Barker met lead man Al Jourgensen, the two began a long term collaboration that included their production of countless records as the Revolving Cocks, Pailhead, 1000 Homo DJs, Acid Horse and PTP.
Following the “Twitch” record tour, Jourgensen and Barker moved to London and began a longtime project there.
“We really love to rock, and going to London we could use the best studio disturbances and take them to the next level. We were able to develop our sound,” said Barker.
The force behind Ministry has always been wild-child Jourgensen. Throughout the changing faces of the band, Jourgensen has maintained his particular musical vision, and consequently his integrity. Never afraid to express his opinion, Jourgensen shamelessly calls his fans pissants and freely discusses his arrests and drug use.
Asked about Jourgensen, Barker dismisses that image as overly fabricated.
“Al is a real person. He’s not just a caricature; he’s not a cartoon. Sometimes he gets real, real intense, and it’s great, and sometimes it makes it hard, but he’s great.”
Opening for the band are two hard rock outfits, Motograter and Lollipop Lustkill. Barker is excited to be headlining a tour, but is also nostalgic for the band’s days on Lollapalooza and other big concert tours.
“When you are alone, the challenge is to execute the songs perfectly, but when you play at a festival, you are playing for the people that didn’t necessarily come to see you. Which is great,” he said.
Despite these festival longings, Barker admits that he enjoys playing mid-level venues, like Promowest, where the audience is all fans, and even the weakest of shows are embraced.
“We really hope the show will be a good one,” said Amy Troendly of Promowest.
The venue should be perfect for the band, as it likes to play larger venues, but generally dislikes the enormous stages and audience disconnect sometime evident at arena or festival concerts.
While unable to release sales numbers, Troendly said that while it should be a popular show, tickets are still available.
Doors open at 7 p.m. Sunday.
