After disbanding in '08 and vowing never to reunite, MINISTRY has been taken off the Do Not Resuscitate list and is back in the here and now with Relapse, a return to form that conjures Ministry's early-'90s classic era. While Al Jourgensen can be accused of mining territory that's been done and overdone in industrial's squared circles (i.e. those big snare drums, which could use a rest), the fact is that this guy is 55 fuckin' years old and continues to out-menace emo-haired posers literally half his age: that kind of enduring affection for creating aggressive music is to be admired 'cos, straight up, how many guys ten years away from Old Age Security do you know who can write a record of acerbic angst and caustic collisions? Relapse is to be celebrated for its refusal to be anything other than Ministry, as this album really does feel like a time-warp back to '92, an era when Ministry was creating, literally, unheard-of music and the likes of WHITE ZOMBIE were viewed as metal's great hope amidst the deluge of grunge, even if that proposition seems so entirely absurd now. And that celebration of Ministry's past is fitting for a band 12 records in, because if you don't know who you are 25 years into a career, where exactly are you headed now that you're back out of retirement and trying to craft a second-term legacy for yourself? It's a question Ministry has answered wisely, staying away from novelties, tricks and trends, and instead electro-pillaging like '92 was just last week instead of 3,650 days ago. All that to say, if you've been on board with Ministry in the past, Relapse will not disappoint your terribly tasting mind, this album 99 percent occupy, one percent elite industry.