Fireball Ministry
Oú est la Rock?
Bong Load
I am a huge fan of “stoner rock,” and for once (OK, not “for once”), I am glad that an explosion of bands in a “new” genre is producing excellent music all around. A lot of the album sounds like variations on Never Say Die songs like “Air Dance” or “Shock Wave.” Mix in a few bars from “Children of the Grave” and “Lord of this World,” and there you have it.
That should be enough of a description for 99% of the folks out there who know what they like to seek out this band. (“Death Dealer” is COTG, with a few changes.)
Fireball Ministry is focusing around a religious theme, what with songs like “665,” and “Levites,” just to strike the surface… Lyrically, they’re all about whatever they’re about, I don’t know, paranoid madness? Scoffing at religion? (“VIM” and others.) But let’s not get all tied up in the lyrics. What’s best about Fireball Ministry is the straight line between what they’re playing and what Black Sabbath played all through the Seventies: steady, pounding, sometimes haunting jams and tempo changes. OK, let’s then divide this album into two parts. The first three songs or so are nearly pop (“The Man” and “Two Tears” – with Nick Menza guesting on drums – could be radio hits if they’re properly marketed) and have a lot of grunge-pop in them (I can still hear Sabbath, though). The second half, or rather the other three-quarters of them are full of those heavy metal blues jams that reek of that band I keep thinking of whenever I hear a great stoner rock band. I say you will dig this!
Bong Load Custom Records, P.O. Box 39557, Hollywood, CA 90039
