Like so many synthesizer-based dance bands, Ministry doesn't do anything you haven't heard before. The rhythm tracks, sprinkled with Latin effects à la Thompson Twins, are built around the same synthesized bass lines that have been filling dance floors since the disco era. The instrumental tracks recycle the same burbles and beeps that you hear on Yaz or Berlin records, while occasionally relying on guitars and saxophones for additional weight, like Heaven 17. And vocalist Al Jourgensen even manages the same nasal delivery and, from time to time, fake upper-class accent as Marc Almond of Soft Cell (an especially odd touch, considering that both Jourgensen and the other half of Ministry, Stephen George, hail from Chicago).

But this lack of originality is hardly worth complaining about, because Ministry manages to do something many far more innovative bands neglect: they write catchy dance songs. "Work for Love," which preceded the album as a twelve-inch single, proved that George and Jourgensen were canny enough arrangers to get mileage out of a melody without running it into the ground. "Effigy," "She's Got a Cause" and "Say You're Sorry" offer more evidence of the duo's writing ability. Jourgensen's sturdy melodies can stand on their own; a ballad like "Say You're Sorry" packs no less punch than a steamer like "Effigy." Nor does it hurt that Jourgensen's singing is charged with anger, passion and glee–real emotions instead of the vocal posturing so common in synth-pop. In all, With Sympathy provides the valuable service of demonstrating how well synth pop's mannerisms worked before they solidified into cliché. (RS 405)

J.D. CONSIDINE