Ministry – Filth Pig

Indeed, a truly underrated record, nearly a masterpiece in my opinion - but I must confess that it took me a couple years to eventually get into it, even though I had been a fan of the band since the late eighties.

Am I the only one who actually likes "Filth Pig"? I when it was released back in 1996: any magazine or fanzine said it was a disappointment, a bad album, the beginning of the end of Ministry. Anyone was expecting something faster and more violent than "Psalm 69", but no one understood that the only possible answer was to slow down and explore dark, gloomy atmospheres. Honestly, how could you possibly go faster than "Psalm 69"?
Apart from the initial dissonant chaos of "Reload", an appropriate title for a track which sounds like a heating exercise, both "Filth Pig" and, especially "Lava", are original and intriguing swamps of doom/sludge sounds, slow hypnotical rhythms and strange tunes sounding like country music played by undead cowboys in the middle of Mexican ghost town.
"The Fall" is exciting, the album's best song and, imo, one of Ministry's best, apocalyptic, desperate and even melodic, with deformed piano chords swinging on a background of heavy machinery noise rhythms and Jourgensen's epic singing. Bob Dylan's "Lay Lady Lay" is turned into an interesting noise rock ride, possibly one of the band's most "commercial" exploits, while final "Brick Windows" is another very good piece of work.
The four central tracks, from "Crumbs" to "Game Show" are, indeed, weak and rather uninteresting, you can skip theme without regrets.
On the whole, "Filth Pig" is surely not a masterpiece, but it's still a very good album in Ministry's discography, featuring some great examples of their courage to change and experiment with their sound on each release.
Maybe now that they have disbanded someone will start rediscovering it.