Metal Underground.com

The Doors, Bob Dylan, Louis Armstrong... Ministry?! Whether you love or hate covers albums, they'll always be around, unlike Ministry, sadly. No doubt many Ministry fans were disappointed to hear that their final output would be a covers album, but Ministry's final offering is something that sums up the band in one word: fun.

This CD is just great fun from start to finish. It contains considerably less covers of metal bands that you might expect and breathes new life into songs you would never expect to hear on a Ministry CD. "Cover Up" opens in a big way by covering the biggest band in the world: The Rolling Stones and their classic "Under My Thumb." As a fan of The Stones, I can give the opinion that this is a fantastic version of a fantastic song. I never expected to hear a Stones song sounding like this in my wildest dreams and Ministry has truely done the song justice. In some ways, it might even be better than the original, since it's faster and provides a greater feel of pure rock and roll.

The entire album follows the same formula of fast and and furious rock and roll, which may sound like it gets old quick, but it doesn't. It provides you with a great sense of excitement such as that which normally would come only at a live show, and if more cover bands sounded like this, I would be down the pub every night to see them!

The track that stands out the most however, is obviously the recording of "What A Wonderful World." It's surprising how epic and almost ominous it sounds to begin with, but half way through, Ministry kicks in with a ferocious assault of rock that would make even the most die-hard Louis Armstrong fan grin like a madman.

This is the sort of CD to be purchased with the intentions of it being either driving music or perhaps a novelty. It will likely not be considered Ministry's final album - leave that to "The Last Sucker." Either way, "Cover Up" will leave you with a smile on your face that couldn't be removed with paintstripper.