Political woes have long been the foundation on which Al Jourgensen has constructed his scabrous sonic missives, so when two enormous inflatable chickens with Trump’s signature coiffure appear flanking the stage the theme for the evening is set. No surprise there, as current objet d’art Amerikkkant is ostensibly an industrial metal concept album ridiculing The Land Of Rape And Honey and its inglorious autocrat. Indeed the majority of the show’s fare is gleaned from said collection.
Opening with the dark, twisted and imperious ‘Twilight Zone’ Jourgensen stalks the stage to the grinding, primal riffage growling lyrics of malcontent such as ‘distortion of reality, the truth is under arrest’. Crunching, aggrieved guitars continue on ‘Victims Of A Clown’ where the frontman encourages us to ‘Wake Up’ over vocal samples urging ‘let us all unite’. As with much of Ministry’s work, samples are used on the new material to great effect. Additionally, during the live show, the visual aspect of the performance is of paramount importance - throughout a background screen displays vintage film clips, scenes steeped in religious iconography and political villains past and present.
Another prominent stylistic inflection on the new album is the prevalence of turntables which bring an extra dimension to tracks such as ‘We’re Tired Of It’ and ‘Wargasm’ tonight.
Despite the absence of more populist material the audience have embraced the journey, early on in proceedings a mosh erupts which dominates much of the standing area for the duration. At one juncture, the singer tosses the inflatable chickens crowd-wards and they are dutifully pummelled.
Jourgensen then decides it is time to contrast the new with the old or as he puts it ‘to see how the 90s shit compares…to see how much has changed’ - spoiler alert:not much - and the mosh becomes even more frenzied as he pounds out “Just One Fix’ and ‘New World Order’. Before the sweaty and bruised masses are sent off into the night ‘Psalm:69’ and ‘So What?’ are aired to sate our inner teenagers.
I am hopelessly in love with Al’s malicious intent….