Ministry at Irving Plaza

Al Jourgensen

Born Alejandro Ramírez Casas in Havana, Cuba, a three-year-old boy who would come to be known as Al Jourgensen escaped the newly communist regime and moved with his family to Florida in 1961. In 1964, his mother married a stock car driver and adopted his surname for herself and her son. Jourgensen was raised in Chicago, Illinois, and Breckenridge, Colorado. In 1978, Jourgensen relocated from Denver, Colorado, to attend college in Chicago. There, he worked as a radio DJ and played in several short-lived bands, including the backing band of drag performer Divine. Jourgensen also played in Special Affect, a new wave/synthpop band that included Frankie Nardiello, founding member (as Groovie Mann) of My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult, and Harry Rushakoff of Concrete Blonde. Following Special Affect's split, Jourgensen formed another short-lived band, the Carmichaels. Jourgensen finally found success when he formed Ministry in 1981, through which he helped pioneer the industrial metal movement. Vocalist/guitarist Jourgensen is Ministry's only constant member; the band also presently consists of guitarists Sin Quirin and Cesar Soto, keyboardist John Bechdel, bassist Tony Campus and drummer Derek Abrams. Ministry released it 14th and most recent studio album, AmeriKKKant, on March 9, 2018.

Ministry introduced the concept of AmeriKKKant on the band's 2017 tour, but then only played a few songs from the as-yet-unreleased album. This year, the band played the album in its entirety, then returned to the stage for a set of older songs. Jourgensen has always been radical -- evidenced by his multiple face piercings, body tattoos and dreadlocks -- but the current state of world affairs has radicalized him further. The rage was evident throughout the performance. The first half of the show, featuring  AmeriKKKant in its entirety, was social commentary searing with a ripping metal affront, as Jourgensen grunted his vocals and the band tore into blistering power chords. The second set featured eight songs from the band's commercially successful period, 1988-1992. Coarse singing, chunky guitar riffs, dissonant distortion and echoes, all chugged to a throbbing, pulsing rhythm. Other songs were plodding doom-metal dirges, spiced with Jourgensen's relentless anger. This was crude, noisy, rip-your-face-off aggro-metal music, as best as it gets.

Visit Ministry at www.ministryband.com.

Setlist

Set 1: AmeriKKKant

1. I Know Words (prerecorded)
2. Twilight Zone
3. Victims of a Clown
4. TV5/4Chan (prerecorded)
5. We're Tired of It
6. Wargasm
7. Antifa
8. Game Over
9. AmeriKKKa

Set 2:

1. The Land of Rape and Honey
2. The Missing
3. Deity
4. Stigmata
5. Just One Fix
6. N.W.O.
7. Thieves
8. So What