Cocked and Loaded - Revolting Cocks > Reviews > Making the World A Better Place

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Definitely a cut above the rest
Lyrics	Thought-provoking
Quality and consistency of tracks	A couple of weak links
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Good
Value for Money	Good

Advantages:	Rocks the Ass Of Everything Else
Disadvantages:	Painfull Listening for 99% of People

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Industrial metal gods Ministry have returned with their side project Revolting Cocks first album in 10 years, and the first album to be released on their own Label 13th Planet Records. The reason for this hiatus was as front man Al Jorgensen put it they had ran out of beer at the party. The Revolting Cocks are infamous for perverse lyrics bordering upon the puerile, forget that statement, the lyrics in the past have been downright puerile and at times vile. This has caused the expected moral backlash Douglas Hurd tried to stop them performing in the UK by refusing the band work permits, and the PMRC put the song "No Devotion" on their blacklist, for a lot of folk antics like this by moral crusaders just heightens our interest.

So after 10 years the question is can the cocks still don their Stetsons and do it? Can they produce albums as great as "Big Sexy Land" and "Beers, Steers and Queers"? The expectations are high as the list of collaborators joining Al Jorgensen on this album is quite simply stunning….. You have Gibby Haynes (Butthole Surfers), Jello Biarfa (Dead Kennedys, Lard, Tumor Circus), Phildo Owen (Skatenigs), and rather perversely Rick Nelson (Cheap Trick) and Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top). That number of illustrious names can either mean total brilliance, or the worst kind of mutual admiration festival possible.

Right from the start of the album with Fire Engine co-written by Iggy Pop we are given what we expect, which is massive drum beats, layer upon layer of guitars, distorted vocals that you probably do not want to delve into that much. This is a much looser affair than Ministry and you can just imagine driving through the appellations in a pick up truck with loads of guns. Well that was what I was doing as I stomped from Salford to Manchester this morning; it took all my concentration not to shout YEEEHHHAAAWWWW at innocent passers by.

Gibby Haynes contributions to the total warpedness are superb: - "Ten Million Ways To Die" is like a warped Barry White groove with blasts of searing white metal noise. Gibby also lends his vocal to a cover of Bauhaus's "Calliente" taking us back to the sound of early 90's Butthole Surfers, again there is a looseness here that is not in Ministry recordings giving it a garagey sound. Jello Biafra contributes his rant "Viagra Culture" to the album and the line "My Weiner Must Win" is simply fantastic.

In fact there is not much else you can say about this album other than it is a rockabilly hillbilly puerile industrial romp. The album boarders upon pure noise and rocks the ass of anything else. With song titles like "Prune Tang", "Pole Grinder", "Jack in The Crack" and "Devil Cock" it is unlikely that they will be getting any offers to open any church fayres near you.

If you purchase this album looking for tons of puerile industrial rockabilly stuff then you will not be disappointed by it. You have the usual big beats and wall of sound guitars and a listening experience that quite frankly pounds your synapses into submission. Was it worth waiting ten years till someone to show up at the party with a keg of beer? No and if you are the kind of person that waits 10 years for an album like this, then get your ass round my place with that keg of beer now.

Oh and if you really want this then you can get it from the usual places you get CD's from for the usual prices