After spending the majority of the 2000s railing against then-president
George W. Bush, it seemed inevitable that
Ministry would return and make an anti-
Trump album once he was sworn into office.
Moral Hygiene is the band's first album of the
Biden era, and it's just as focused on political and social issues as 2018's
AmeriKKKant, with far less interest in mocking government officials and a much greater concern about what the people can do to stand up and resist. Musically, there are at least a few moments that come closer to the spirit of their best work from the '80s and '90s than anything they've done in a while. "Alert Level" opens the record with the expected crunchy metal guitars and distorted vocals, and a barrage of samples proclaim that "We have a problem" and "The future looks bleak." The breakdown sounds like
Joy Division, and it's not the only post-punk-inspired moment on the album -- "Believe Me" could fool listeners into thinking it's a track from one of
Wire's later releases, at least until the TV samples and screamed chorus come in.
Jello Biafra is a welcome presence on the thrashy "Sabotage Is Sex," suggesting that the long-promised third
Lard album might actually see the light of day. The song gets increasingly more dramatic, with theremin and massed shouting underscoring the message "Fight the power with fear." A slow version of
the Stooges' "Search and Destroy" appears in the middle of the record, marking the first time a cover has appeared on a
Ministry album in nearly a decade. Elsewhere, "Broken System" is a surprisingly raga-influenced song about environmental concerns, beginning with sitar and tablas before going on to state that "We're running out of time to save our planet." "Death Toll" is a reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic, with a computer voice counting the number of victims over an industrial hip-hop groove. Then "TV Song #6 (Right Around the Corner Mix)," a sequel to the B-side of "Jesus Built My Hotrod," is a glitchy, surf guitar-infused thrasher that takes another shot at
Trump, who is captured uttering the phrase "stable virus." There's much less
Trump on this album than there was on
AmeriKKKant, and there are no references to 4chan or "snowflakes," making it much easier to appreciate the band's creativity this time around. ~ Paul Simpson
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