Conway Twitty, Eat Your Heart Out

Sometimes, when artists attempt something out of character, they achieve something so insane that it’s actually quite good. Maybe even brilliant. The long awaited (decades long) country album Bikers Welcome Ladies Drink Free from Ministry’s Al Jourgensen is 12 tracks of loud, twangy guitars; electronic drums and a sense of renewal.

Coming off a recent health scare, Jourgensen – now going by Buck Satan and the 666 Shooters – aimed to complete his 30-year plan of recording a country album after a hospital stay. He did. With fiddles and everything. Tracks “Quicker Than Liquor” and “What’s Wrong With Me” open the album as full-fledged, chorus-backed sing-alongs. Actually, the whole album comes off as big as any Ministry track could sans chuggy palm muting.

“Cheap Wine, Cheap Ramen” should be made the official drinking song for metalheads and industrial fans alike. Nothing rings truer to our long-haired brethren than alcohol and carbs. By this time, you’re wondering where the Dolly-esque ballads are, but this album really doesn’t let up. Every track employs the Wall of Sound as skillfully as Andrew W.K. ever has. It’s should be noted there are superstars on this album: Ministry’s Mike Scaccia, Static X’s Tony Campos, and Cheap Trick’s Rick Nielsen fill out the rest of the band. By all means, this isn’t a joke record.

Either way, the album does employ a slight sense of novelty in the fact that it needs to in order to sound fresh to Ministry’s fans. Without the initial WTF moment people will get from listening to Bikers Welcome Ladies Drink Free for the first time, the record would fall a little short. Be glad Jourgensen’s new outlook on life (he’s recently been to rehab for his drinking) helped him finally fulfill his promise to his fans, and have fun doing it.