When AAF came out with ANThology, it was at the time when an huge assortment of crap was being shoveled out of SoCal but this, along with No Doubt, was one of the few that really shined. Though I wasn't a particularly huge fan of the popular "Smooth Criminal" but "Movies" and particularly "Happy Death Day" were phenomenal to say the least!

It's a real shame what happened to them back in 2002 and though their next realease was modestly good, I'm looking forward to new stuff from them. Like any of the bands that eventually made it past the SoCal-sound weed-out, I hope AAF continues to make thought-provoking-but-fun music with their unique style.

OK, so Korn's "Greatest Hits Vol 1" isn't exactly a masterpiece but I'll be damned if I don't keep listening to it over and over again just because Korn is still one of my favorite bands of all time and the songs themselves are pretty timeless. My only wish was that they'd remastered some of the tunes or put a little twist on them or SOMETHING to make it a little different.

Only thing ... just skip right over "Word Up" and "Brick..." - while they're pretty good covers, honestly, they just sound like they wanted to fill up the album a little and this whole trend towards doing covers is getting pretty lame. It's basically like saying "I got too lazy to write my own music so I'm just gonna sing someone else's and put a little bit of myself into it." That's fine and all, but don't put them as the first two tracks of a GREATEST HITS album.

Growing up in the 80s and listening to the crap that defined that decade, it was refreshing even to hear the then-pop-ish sound that was the clubby Ministry of old. Veering down the path with Twitch/Twitched, we caught a glimpse of what was to come (anyone who likes industrial could not possible tell me that "All Day" wasn't a classic in the making).

With the release of "Mind...," Al finally made good on his new self. Though most of the album is pretty hard to digest, if you want some very hardcore workout music, crank "Thieves" and "Burning Inside" all the way up in your player and pound the iron.

OK, so it's not their best effort but for the time that it came out, "Mind..." was deinitely at the bleeding edge of acceptable thrash metal and set the course for better things (though damn, Al, why'd it take another 10 years to get a really killer album out?)...

After a series of only mediocre albums that barely showed the genius of Al Jourgensen, Ministry finally bounced back with Animositisomina. Houses of the Molé is a true testament of the band's genius - being both pertinent and vocal about their views (in the same vein as Rage only more local). The brilliance of Jourgensen IS his ability to use similar riffs and tricks that he's always used yet sound new every single time. The whole album retains its intensity throughout and after seeing them in tour promoting the release (Vegas, 2004), my existing lust for Ministry (yeah, been a fan since the beginning, despite the pop-ish crap he originally put out) has only widened.

Ministry may be one of "industrial rock's pioneers" but this should bring them in as a continuing pioneer of thrash guitar metal and political-statement rock as well.