Cocked And Loaded

Al Jourgensen and the Revolting Cocks (RevCo for short) have reared their ugly head once again (couldn't resist that one!) for Cocked And Loaded and it's only been 13 years since their last album....what's the rush Al? The Ministry mastermind has always thrived on having many other side projects on the go as well as Ministry but the Revolting Cocks is a rather unique animal. As friends and fellow musicians drop by to jam, everything gets recorded and eventually (even though it may take many years) there's enough material for another album. There's a core of "Cocks" including former Dead Kennedys front man Jello Biafra and the Butthole Surfers Gibby Haynes but for this new album, Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top) as well as both Robin Zander and Rick Nielson of Cheap Trick become honorary "Cocks". The industrial metal edge of Ministry is still every present but the music of the "Cocks" is less extreme, more tongue-in-cheek and a lot less serious. When Al Jourgensen started going through the stockpile of material that has been recorded over the last decade or so, he realized that there were 5 or 6 songs completed and set out to finish the rest. All this comes just in time for Al as he launches his new label 13th Planet Records with both a new Ministry and Revolting Cocks album. Coincidence? I think not.....

The Revcolution Medley starts off the album and it blatantly (and intentionally) rips off Queen's We Will Rock You with the "stomp-stomp-clap" as well as parts of Jimi Hendix's Purple Haze. It's a very chaotic arrangement complete with fuzzy guitar and Gibby Haynes "new" lyrical interpretation of Jimi's classic. Other mentionables include a cover of Dark Entries by Bauhaus entitled Caliente that was designed to anger and infuriate Bauhaus fans by poking fun at the goth genre!! Prune Tang is a rather twisted affair with thrashy riff-driven industrial metal and angry vocals by Phildo Owen. Fire Engine, a track that was co-written with Iggy Pop has been around since 1983 and finally makes it onto an album. It has the typical quirky Iggy sound but with long time "Cock" Steve Banch handling the vocals over a very "industrialized" mix. Jello Biafra lets loose on Dead End Streets, an aggressive rocker and goes off an a rant about modern day idiosyncrasies with Viagra Culture. Some of these tracks were spawned from Jello Biafra's frequent impromptu spoken word rants that saw Al Jourgensen diving for the tape machine to get it all down. Pole Grinder, with Steve Banch on vocals is the "Cocks" tribute to the strip club crowds of America and Revolting Cock Au Lait is a reprise of the Revcolution Medley only longer and with more blatant rip offs only this time it's Another Brick In The Wall by Pink Floyd and the building intensity of the ending half of She's So Heavy from the Beatles Abbey Road album. Billy Gibbons and Rick Nielson are both featured on guitar for this one and Robin Zander lends his cock...I mean hand for the backing vocals

Overall, this is a "fun" record as opposed to the more seriousness of the last couple of Ministry albums and in fact, this one really reminds me of the 80's and 90's Ministry when Al wasn't on as much of a political tear as he has been of late. It's wild, crazy and chaotic and sounds more like Ministry than the previous albums by the "Cocks". It's hard to recommend this to anyone who's not familiar with the "Cocks" or Ministry but fans of Al Jourgenson's work should get a kick out of this!! You can see the Revolting Cocks along with Ministry on the current "Masturbatour" that's underway across North America until July 20th. Like Al says...it's been way too long since the Cocks came out!!