From Beer to Eternity

Like athletes who come out of retirement to prove they can still compete at a high level, Al Jourgensen revives the Ministry empire yet again, despite several farewell albums (including Relapse, which came out a mere year earlier). But From Beer to Eternity has an extra reason to exist; Jourgensen’s longtime co-conspirator Mike Scaccia died after suffering heart failure onstage while performing with his other band, Rigor Mortis. Pulling together some final tapes, Jourgensen made an angry, aggressive album that features everything from perfectly executed samples to furious, metal-influenced riffage. “PermaWar” is timely and slick enough to be a hit single, while “Perfect Storm” and “Fairly Unbalanced” (a rip against Fox News) are nasty, unrelenting tunes that remind us of the days of Ministry’s Bush Trilogy. “The Horror” compacts the samples into an economic punch. Two more epics—“Thanx but No Thanx” and “Change of Luck”—leave fans knowing that Jourgensen clipped no corners in paying tribute to Scaccia and furthering the Ministry name.