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There’s very little honour among thieves these days, so when industrial provocateur/drug Jesus Al Jourgensen decided to weld the iron doors shut on Ministry after the death of guitarist Mike Scaccia in 2012, it felt like a remarkably noble gesture.

But if you thought that was the end of this dude’s reign of aural terror, forget it. Surgical Meth Machine is, essentially, Ministry on speed. Or maybe on meth. Or on bath salts. On some kinda drug that makes you tear out your own eyeballs and drive your car off a cliff.

A lot of this record sounds like Psalm 69 if you turned the drum machine to the ‘Blur’ setting, a snarling hyperspeed punkdustrial vomitorium of choppy samples and churning metal riffs.

It’s not all armed audio warfare, though. Unlistenable is a stuttering drum machine arguing with Al about the musical merits of Megadeth and Iron Maiden. Gates Of Steel is a clanging Clash rip-off, and Just Go Home is a cough medicine nightmare version of the old synth-pop Ministry. That shit’s pretty throwaway though. The meat is in the metal.

Came from the sky like a 747. Classic Rock’s least-reputable byline-grabber since 2003. Several decades deep into the music industry. Got fired from an early incarnation of Anal C**t after one show. 30 years later, got fired from the New York Times after one week. Likes rock and hates everything else. Still believes in Zodiac Mindwarp and the Love Reaction, against all better judgment.