Industrial metal outfit Ministry is back with a dark and timely new track. Esteemed frontman Al Jourgensen is in the studio recording music for their forthcoming record, which was announced earlier this spring. This record will follow up their 2018 release AmeriKKKant. “Alert Level” is the first taste of Ministry’s new material and comes after the group posted cryptic countdown on their Instagram page, which excited fans.
The track itself is extremely unsettling, and it opens with a fuzzy humming and a sample of a reporter repeating the line, “How concerned are you?” The track then moves into the classic Ministry sound, with booming guitars and drumming. The track seems like a battle chant as the band exclaims, “Let’s get ready to die!” Ministry has never feared the political, and the track appears ever-so-fitting for the pandemic we are facing today.
The thrilling instrumentation continues throughout the track with more samples. These samples include President Trump stating, “We have a problem” and then a frantic voice saying “The future looks bleak.” Ministry then continues to proclaim, “Let’s get ready to die!” before the track ends abruptly.
The lyric video accompanies the song well, as it captures the apocalyptic undertones of the track. Bright red and black flash at the viewer, and silhouettes of grisly looking women move in. The video also shows clips of cityscapes, all seemingly burning in bright red clouds as the lyrics flash above it. The video captures the urgency that Ministry is proclaiming in the track.
Regarding “Alert Level” Jourgensen explains that: “We finished the song in January and it sounded great during rehearsals for our Australia/Japan tour dates, before we went into quarantine. The original plan was to finish the new record before the July ‘Industrial Strength’ US tour so we could have an Election Day release, but in lieu of the circumstances—and how relevant the song feels for these bizarre times—we decided to release ‘Alert Level’ now. Considering that this song features the question ‘How concerned are you?’ I’ll be interested to see how folks answer it themselves.”
Photo credit: Raymond Flotat
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