Review – USSA, Paul Barker post-Ministry, and Jesu’s Conqurer

I rarely listen to music anymore – little of it inspires me anymore, I HATE the constant “song in the head” phenomena, and frankly haven’t had time. I’m working more jobs than an FOB third-worlder dumped in the middle of the big apple. Catchy “song in the head” loops just make me grumpy nowdays. I like my psyche to be mine, and mine alone, and not shared with random repeating tunes.

However I’ve just heard some songs from Paul Barker (Ministry, Lard) and Duane Denison’s (Jesus Lizard) new band, called USSA.

I’m impressed…

The few USSA songs I’ve heard defiy genres, vaguly “Alternative”, but certainly not quite Industrial, or Hardcore, or Metal. They do have a vaguely Aggro sound, but are a bit polished, well produced, moody, and atmospheric.

Good  well programmed beats, and brooding vocals. Paul Barker’s on guitar here, and his guitar-work adds some real texture on top of electronic samples and layers.

A mid-80’s Gothic feel comes out at times. There are some great melodies lying under the surface, under a dangerous edge. Their use of heavy down-tuned  distorted bass reminds me of later Big Black, Godflesh, or Jesu… but more on this later.

In spite of being so damn polished, they come out rawer than Tool. My only complaint are the lyrics, they are not as well developed as the music.
Musically USSA are tight and have their act together. A musician of Paul Barker’s rank could weigh over a project like this, and yet his presence seems even more in the background than in Ministry. Everyone in the project seems to work well together, resulting in a complex and yet clock-work mix.

Their music not only has some power to it, but is also, on some level, sexy even. There is a refinement here.

I’m frankly more impressed by USSA than recent Ministry. Don’t get me wrong, Al Jourgensen’s latest picks are hard, fast, and punishing to the ears. His general political angst and strident anti-Bush themes, with a subtle 9/11 ‘truther” paranoia pervading through, was appreciated by me. But it’s clear that Ministry has run its creative course. From a very interesting post-industrial Aggro band doing something very unique, recently Ministry’s fallen into a formulaic Thrash mold.

A critic might say that Al Jourgensen can do better, and has done better. This doesn’t stop me from enjoying Ministry’s final work,

Now Jesu, Justin Broadrick’s (Napalm Death, Godflesh) current flagship project, increasingly impresses me. I just heard Jesu’s Conqueror last week. It was a work of power and beauty.

Jesu is not Metal, Jesu is not Grindcore, Jesu is not Industrial, Jesu seems to have carved out a unique genre defying space for itself as well.

Jesu’s become popular with aimless hipsters, which confuses me because the one thing Jesu lacks most of all is irony. And nothing defines a hipster more than immature, puerile, and rootless irony.

Jesu is utterly sincere music – harsh, and yet on Conqueror not without a certain refinement. I find no irony here, just beautiful, downtuned, melancholy

Something about Conqueror feels unfinished, however, and experimental. There is a “B-Side” quality to it, as if they are experimenting with a new formula

Jesu’s Lifeline was recommended to me, I’ll check it out some day.

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