Band:	Ministry
Album:	Dark Side Of The Spoon
Style:	Industrial metal
Release date:	June 08, 1999
Guest review by:	Coté

01. Supermanic Soul
02. Whip And Chain
03. Bad Blood
04. Eureka Pile
05. Step
06. Nursing Home
07. Kaif
08. Vex & Siolence
09. 10 / 10

I can't say that I've listened to this band for a long time but when I started, well, I was enthralled. I just loved the raw themes they sing about, the anger and the hopelessness that make you feel a lot better because you realize that your life isn't that hard at all; maybe it's just me that feels that way, but what the hell, it's my interpretation. This disc has everything you could ask for when you are about to lose it. The hoarse voice, rusty guitars and electric sounds in the song "Supermanic Soul" is a very good example of what I would like to listen to while angry. Yes, they're very repetitive, and the background sound could have been sharper - I think that the drums are one of the only sounds you really can define - but according to me that's the very thing that makes them special, that rawness and simplicity were some of the qualities that drew me and I'm certainly going to listen to all their work after this angry/desperate experience.

The whole disc kind of reminds me of the movie Funny Games, I think they both have that morbidity and sickness that the world likes so much but never would entirely accept. I can vividly remember the scene when the killers are just sitting on the sofa and talking to each other and to their soon-to-be-victims when suddenly one of the victims injures the weaker killer and the other begins to talk to the audience and ask if they want to continue to see the movie or just end it with a happy ending. You really have to see that movie to understand how obvious it is to you that you will continue to watch the movie no matter what. I believe everybody enjoys another human being's pain, you can say it's in our nature. We want to look at gore pictures and comment how twisted the poor bastard's head is because it is funny, or also feel sorry and then forget all about the old man in a crappy "Nursing Home."

I think this disc expresses almost everything that's wrong with society, but again, there are so few that really care that it just helps you to go on with it and accept the reality. At least that's the hidden message that I get when I'm listening to it, it's like the thrash metal band Cerebral Fix's debut album: Life Sucks...And Then You Die!

If you have the opportunity, then buy this disc, it will serve you well at times of frustration. You know that the world sucks, that's when bands like this one come in handy.