Prior to slipping Ministry’s Sphinctour into my trusty player, my only exposure to these angry industrial rockers was a single viewing of a friend’s battered copy of their 1990 live video In Case You Didn't Feel Like Showing Up. Unleashing sonic chaos from behind a wall of chicken wire, that brief performance left me wanting more.

And so it is that, with the most recent of Ministry's live releases falling into my lap, I finally have the opportunity to sample more of the Ministry live experience. Taken from their 1996 world tour in support of the Filth Pig album, Sphinctour presents 13 tracks (two more than the CD release) taken from 13 separate gigs in 13 separate venues across Europe and North America. Interestingly, while the audio for each track has been extracted from a particular set, the accompanying footage has been constructed from material shot throughout the tour. Reportedly, a single hi-8 camera was present at each and every one of the tour’s 60 gigs; gathering footage from widely varying points of view ranging from the stage wings to the mosh-pit. Seamlessly edited, a composite of this footage forms a fast cut, and highly effective accompaniment to each track.

Although it takes a little getting used to, Sphinctour’s lack of clichéd concert shots is refreshing, and the dark, often grainy footage heightens the raw energy in the set; a set, I might add, with a sonic fury that hits you full in the face and threatens to leave you dead at the side of the road. Ceaselessly cutting back and forth between various vantage points, the footage allows the viewer to simultaneously experience the show from both the audience and band’s perspective. Additionally, with material ranging from all 60 shows in the tour, you are in some small way able to enjoy all the shows in the tour at the same time. A man of (literally) many hats, growling his way through the set we see Al Jourgensen change his costume more times during a single track than he changes note. And all the while the rest of the band thrashes its way through 60 simultaneously furious sets.

If, like me, you are new to the Ministry experience, then Sphinctour provides a great introduction to their particular brand of aggressive, guitar fuelled anarchy. For long-time fans, Sphinctour serves as yet another impressive addition to the Ministry video canon; documenting the fury of the band’s mid-nineties live show, and is a DVD release that you wont want to miss.

Filmed in 1996 using a hi-8 video camera, it’s not surprising that the video source from which Sphinctour was drawn displays a few shortcomings. While the image is nice and sharp (with associated aliasing issues) and renders the blasts of colour from the stage lighting with nice vivid hues, video grain is an omnipresent visitor to the darker areas of the image. Detail is variable, and while at times of bright light there is a surprisingly large amount to see (throwing the stage antics of Al and the boys into sharp focus), in the aforementioned low-light conditions (which is much of the performance) the shadow detail is less than great. In terms of the MPEG transfer however, the news is substantially better, with no compression artefacts to be found; despite smoke induced auras cast over anything and everything.

Drawn directly from a two track DAT cassette, the audio heard on Sphinctour, Ministry are at pains to tell us, is exactly what was heard at the gig – no post production mixing here folks. Well, I guess the DVD’s stereo mix is exactly as it came from the mixing board (and sounds impressively full and clear for being so), but I’ve a notion that they’ve messed with the mix just a tad to produce the disc’s impressive Dolby Digital 5.1 mix. Still, to produce the six channel mix, it appears that Sanctuary have simply expanded the original stereo signal out to the rear channels, creating a much more full and immersive soundstage (as might be actually heard in a venue) whilst remaining true to the original source material. The results are quite a dynamic audio experience that fills your living room and whose thick, pumping low-end will keeps you thrust back into your sofa for the duration.

In terms of extras there’s nothing to get excited about, with only a photo gallery that contains 13 examples of backstage passes used throughout the tour.