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On to the content... "Everyday Is Halloween" is an underground dance classic that appealed to outcasts everywhere. It specifically reached out to dressed-up Goths with its mock derision "To me everyday is Halloween, oh you look so absurd, you look so obscene". This is the reason to get this single. "All Day" is also nice. We could live without "Cold Life".

For Ministry historians it's a must. For synth new wave fans, you need it just for "Halloween". For fans of their metal sound who have never heard this, beware - though it is fun to have as a comical artifact.

If you like this then you need to get the full disc 'With Sympathy' that has sveeral other very good dance tracks. I actually prefer "Revenge" to any others from this period of theirs. "Say You're Sorry" and "I Wanted to Tell Her" are solid too.


4 Stars for their Wax Trax! Singles, 3 stars for this CD   August 27, 2003
 5 out of 7 found this review helpful

This is a great collection of goth synth-pop. They talk about everything depressed people can relate to, yet almost every new wave fan will appreciate at least some of the songs on this CD. Songs like "Everyday Is Halloween", "The Nature of Love", and "All Day" (Remix B) are definitely some of the high points in their Wax Trax! years. However, Ministry did have their flaws as well. The synth-intro on "Halloween Remix" is just too long (it takes 3:30 minutes for the song to kick in) "The Nature of Love (cruelty mix)" just gets repetitive without all the lyrics sung, and "Cold Life Dub" has got to be the worst old era Ministry song ever written! This compilation is also missing 3 other songs that Ministry wrote for Wax Trax! "I'm Falling" (a punk new wave song that sounds kind of like latter era speed metal Ministry, only with the crunchy guitar replaced with a new wave guitar, and the shouting replaced with fake british accent singing), "Nature of Outtakes" (another remix of "The Nature of Love" which again sounds like latter-era Ministry only stripped from all crunchy guitars, but they actually shout and bark this time), and "Primental" (a voxless unfinished version of "I Wanted to Tell Her" from their "With Sympathy" album). But this is still a good buy since you still get some of their best work ever as a synth-pop band. In my humble opinion, a few of their goth synth pop songs are even better then Depeche Mode's best work. So cop this if your a Ministry fan or not and witness some of the best new wave music the top 40 charts have been hiding from you. As well as some underground oddities that will probably grow on you also.

Note to music fans who AREN'T into industrial metal: DON'T BUY ANYTHING AFTER TWITCH!!!!


Let's be honest it's not exactly brilliant   December 22, 2003
 5 out of 9 found this review helpful

The only problem is here is the songs ( or lack of ). We get 4 songs and their remixes which is hardly value for money but if you have a listen it's actually quite good. Alright the lyrics are a bit naff ( Cold Life has the line " You are such an awful race I'd rather live in outer space ) but if you can get past that the music is not too bad. The Halloween remix is actually pretty good and in some instances you get a flavour of proto-techno in the making.

But again the tracks are going to come into question. Only 4 tracks and their remixes - it's not great. All Day comes up twice and both are not a patch on the version on Twitch ( it's similar yes, but the version on Twitch is slightly more aggressive, here it just sounds like a pansy of a prototype )

Oh yes and for all those who are metalheads still reading this, yes Al does sound as if he's trying to be English. He's pretty good at it but it still makes you laugh.

Well this is a very hard CD to recommend. It's likely that the diehards are the only ones who'll get this or those that will only buy Ministry's records " when they were those nice young men singing good ol' pop tunes!" If you are not a diehard or you're a fan of Ministry's later career, these are the two words which you should live by - forget it!


Gems of the past   August 14, 2006
 4 out of 4 found this review helpful

I write this review because so many people are getting it wrong. The founder of the group was raised in Chicago. At that time chicago house music was on fire. I remember going to lots of clubs (i.e. Dome Room and Club Neo)and ministry 12 inch tracks were played a lot. Neo still rocks this scene. Anybody who knows real chicago house will definitely know these tracks. Calling it synth pop is not accurate.


halloween is a classic song   August 13, 2005
 3 out of 5 found this review helpful

both the single and +10-minute versions of halloween are amazing. it's basically the anthem for anyone who has ever felt like or been called a freak. you can feel the defiance, yet insecurities, of the outcast, and these emotions are captured beautifully in this song. such a great piece of music.