You can trust Louder Our experienced team has worked for some of the biggest brands in music. From testing headphones to reviewing albums, our experts aim to create reviews you can trust. Find out more about how we review.
Maybe it’s because we no longer live in a world where everybody from Danzig to Limp Bizkit is actively ripping off Ministry’s signature clang, but this record sounds fresh and invigorating, like thrash-metal riffs and chopped political samples are some wild new thing.
Hopium is an almost surgical-precision suture of Psalm 9’s power-saw dynamics and Twitch’s electro-groove. There are even a few pleasant B-side curve balls, like the Thrill Kill Kult-ish disco-sleaze of Cult Of Suffering or the synth-pop flashback of Ricky’s Hand.
I don’t know how a goddamn senior citizen who opened his auto-bio with a story about shitting a gallon of blood into an old army helmet is even alive, never mind capable of making a record with this kind of kinetic teenage energy, but that’s the magic of rock’n’roll, man.
This is Ministry’s best record since we were all young and good-looking.
