Background
Frontman Al Jourgensen had previously stated that From Beer to Eternity would be Ministry's final studio album, following the death of longtime guitarist Mike Scaccia, who appears posthumously on the aforementioned album. However, in an April 2016 interview with Loudwire , he stated that they would make a follow-up album "if the circumstances are right." [8]
When asked in July 2016 whether Ministry was going to release another album after From Beer to Eternity, Jourgensen stated, "When I was asked, it was after Mikey passed and the entire media immediately starts asking me what is going to happen to Ministry. He wasn't even buried yet. I thought, 'Fuck you.' I was really pissed and really angry. I said, 'Fuck Ministry and fuck you for asking.' They want to comment on Ministry when my best friend had died. It's been more than two years now, and I got more ideas and I have done albums with Mikey and have done them without him. It's time to get another record out. I have a bunch of songs written in my head. I wanted to have time to mourn before people start asking me about touring dates. It was sick. I was bombarded and email boxes were overloaded with 'what are you going to do now?' It was kind of creepy." [9]
By February 2017, Ministry had begun working on their fourteenth studio album, [10] titled AmeriKKKant. [11] It was later revealed that the album would include guest appearances from Burton C. Bell of Fear Factory, former N.W.A member Arabian Prince, DJ Swamp and Lord of the Cello. [11] During their performance at the Blackest of the Black Fest in Silverado, California in May 2017, Ministry debuted their first song in four years, "Antifa", which, at the time, was expected to appear on AmeriKKKant. [12]
In September 2017, it was announced that Ministry had signed to Nuclear Blast, [4] [5] and that the album's planned late 2017 release date had been pushed back to March 2018, due to "promotional plans and manufacturing deadlines." [4] The album's release date, artwork and track listing were revealed on December 11, 2017. [13]
Reception
The album received an average score of 64/100 from 11 subscriber reviews on Metacritic, indicating "generally favorable reviews". [14]
In a review for Loudwire, Jon Wiederhorn declared that, "In an age when albums have turned into disposable containers for singles, Jourgensen is still fighting for the integrity of the full-length record, and Amerikkkant, while not exactly a concept album, plays out like a complete piece of art." [24] [25] The Spill Magazine rated the album 4 of 5 stars, lauding the album's ability to "paint a bleak portrait of an America that is on the brink of implosion. This is a record that sounds like a dystopia." [26] Conversely, AllMusic's Paul Simpson gave the album 2/5 stars and stated that "AmeriKKKant finds the industrial metal juggernauts railing against the alt-right, racist Internet trolls, fake news, and everything else to do with the aftermath of the 2016 election. While some of the Bush-era albums found the group reinvigorated after the lackluster Filth Pig and Dark Side of the Spoon , AmeriKKKant is just a depressing slog through and through, perfectly summed up by its Statue of Liberty facepalm cover art." [15]
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