Fireball MinistryThe Second Great Awakening
By
Frank Meyer,
Contributing Editor
Wednesday, December 10, 2003 @ 6:10 PM
(Nuclear Blast)
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Sounding more Sabbath than Sabbath, Fireball Ministry unleashes The Second Great Awakening and indeed does awaken the sleeping giant of old school metal. Like Fu Manchu and Entombed, these guys (and gals!) know what makes real metal tick. It ain’t necessarily just detuned guitars and growling vocals, and it ain’t simply mimicking Iommi and Ozzy. No, it’s all about riffs and hooks. Every tune has to have a multitude of simple yet heavy guitar riffs, ya gotta have a good rhythm section and ya need a solid chorus to lay your tune on. Once you get those things down, the rest is as easy as… well, walloping and headbanging ever is.
Rev. James Rota II and his motley crew of sludgeaholics understand this and then some as they pulverize and destroy across 11 kick-ass songs of violence, liquor and drugs. Like Antiseen with better vocals or Queens of the Stone Age with a young Ozzy in front, Fireball Ministry rip and tear and lumber like a great beast from the arena of yore, hauling off rock rockets and spitting fire like it’s 1978 all over again.
Check out the all-pistons blazin’ power of “King” or the scorched earth policies of “Master of None” for a dose of the real deal. Wither away as “Flatline” and “He Who Kills” make mincemeat of your skull. Lie and bleed as “In the Mourning” and “Maiden of Venus” kick you in the nuts with rock. And if it ain’t heavy enough, then the Maiden-esque “Daughter of the Damned” or the Montrose-esque “Rollin’ On” squash your little heart like a steel toed boot to a disease ridden beetle. Fireball Ministry? Hell, more like Fire-Fucking-Planet Of Doom Motherfucker!
Sounding more Sabbath than Sabbath, Fireball Ministry unleashes The Second Great Awakening and indeed does awaken the sleeping giant of old school metal. Like Fu Manchu and Entombed, these guys (and gals!) know what makes real metal tick. It ain’t necessarily just detuned guitars and growling vocals, and it ain’t simply mimicking Iommi and Ozzy. No, it’s all about riffs and hooks. Every tune has to have a multitude of simple yet heavy guitar riffs, ya gotta have a good rhythm section and ya need a solid chorus to lay your tune on. Once you get those things down, the rest is as easy as… well, walloping and headbanging ever is. 
