Revolting Cocks – Cocked and Loaded
Just when you thought Al Jourgensen had gone off the policital deep end with Ministry’s 2006 release Rio Grande Blood, out comes Jourgensen’s alter ego (the Revolting Cocks) with Cocked and Loaded, an album that shows the world that there is still a place for sex and drugs in rock and roll.
13 years after the band’s 1993 effort Linger Ficken’ Good, the Cocks are back and as revolting as ever. Jourgensen and his revolving cast of friends and weirdos rock out with their cock out through ten tracks of industrial-laced metal. It’s better if you think of Cocked and Loaded less as an album and more as a ten-song-long screaming dick joke as told by friends.
Musically, the Cocks have never been more, uh, hard. Any remnants of the band’s synthpop sound from the 80’s and 90’s has been trampled by the musical sounds of Ministry. The drums, guitars, vocal effects and overall production values from Psalm 69 live again. While fans (?) of the Revolting Cocks may not be familiar with the albums’ overall sound, longtime Ministry fans will recognize it immediately. The biggest difference is that while Ministry pushes for a tight, industrial sound, the layered guitars and distorted vocals make no mistake that the Cocks are here rock.
Replace every reference to politics and war on Ministry’s Rio Blood Grande with dick jokes and you have the lyrical contents of Cocked and Loaded. From Pole Grinder and Jack in the Crack to the eloquently titled Prune Tang, no pee-pee topic is left unstroked.
Gibby Haynes, vocalist for the Butthole Surfers and former Ministry collaborator on Jesus Built My Hotrod makes multiple vocal appearances on the album as does Phil Owen (Skatenigs) and Jello Biafra (Dead Kennedies). Biafra’s Viagra Culture slams the “I must win” mentality, but it’s message is overpowered by the rest of the disc (the track is preceeded by Devil Cock). Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top) and Rick Nielsen (Cheap Trick) make six-stringed appearances on the disc, but in the middle of all the rockin’ racket it was tough to identify their performances.
Cocked and Loaded is the id to Jourgensen’s ego — it’s foul, sophomoric, and occasionally offensive. In other words, it’s rock and roll.
01. Fire Engine
02. Ten Million Ways to Die
03. Caliente (Dark Entries)
04. Prune Tang
05. Dead End Streets
06. Pole Grinder
07. Jack in the Crack
08. Devil Cock
09. Viagra Culture
10. Revolting Cock Au Lait