The Land of Rape and Honey

{{Short description|1988 studio album by Ministry}}

{{about|the 1988 album by Ministry|the city formerly with this civic motto|Tisdale, Saskatchewan}}

{{Infobox album

| name = The Land of Rape and Honey

| type = studio

| artist = Ministry

| cover = Ministry-TheLandOfRapeAndHoney.jpg

| alt =

| released = {{start date|1988|10|11}}

| recorded =

| venue =

| studio = {{ubl|Southern Studios, London|Chicago Trax Studios, Chicago, Illinois}}

| genre = {{hlist|Industrial rock{{Cite web|url=https://loudwire.com/10-most-underrated-bands-1980s/|title=10 Most Underrated Bands of 1980s|website=Loudwire|author=Hartmann, Graham|date=January 10, 2019|access-date=March 1, 2020}}|industrial metal{{Cite web|url=https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/the-33-best-industrial-albums-of-all-time/?page=3|title= 33 Best Industrial Albums of All Time|website=Pitchfork|author= Carr, Daphne|date=June 17, 2019|access-date=March 1, 2020}}}}

| length = 46:31

| label = Sire

| producer = {{hlist|Hypo Luxa|Hermes Pan|Eddie Echo}}

| prev_title = Twelve Inch Singles (1981–1984)

| prev_year = 1987

| next_title = The Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Taste

| next_year = 1989

| misc = {{Singles

| name = The Land of Rape and Honey

| type = studio

| single1 = Stigmata

| single1date = August 1988

}}

}}

{{Album ratings

| rev1 = AllMusic

| rev1score = {{Rating|4.5|5}}{{cite web|title=The Land of Rape and Honey - Ministry|url={{AllMusic|class=album|id=r13129|pure_url=yes}}|work=AllMusic|author=Huey, Steve|access-date=August 21, 2018}}

| rev2 = Encyclopedia of Popular Music

| rev2Score = {{Rating|3|5}}{{cite book|editor-last=Larkin|editor-first=Colin|editor-link=Colin Larkin (writer)|title=Encyclopedia of Popular Music|volume=5|date=1998|edition=3rd|chapter=Ministry|pages=3692–3693|isbn=1561592374|publisher=Muse UK Ltd|via=the Internet Archive}}

| rev3 = Kerrang!

| rev3score = {{Rating|5|5}}{{Cite magazine |last=Mörat |first= |date=November 28, 1992 |title=Rekordz |magazine=Kerrang! |publisher=EMAP |issue=420 |page=18}}

| rev4 = MusicHound Rock

| rev4score = {{rating|4.5|5}}{{Cite contribution|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781578590612/page/762|title=MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide|last=Christensen|first=Thor|contribution=Ministry|publisher=Visible Ink Press|year=1999|isbn=978-1-57859-061-2|editor-last=Graff|editor-first=Gary|editor-link=Gary Graff|location=Detroit|page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781578590612/page/762 762]|type=loan required|editor-last2=Durchholz|editor-first2=Daniel|via=the Internet Archive}}

| rev5 = The Rolling Stone Album Guide

| rev5score = {{Rating|3.5|5}}{{cite book|editor-last=Brackett|editor-first=Nathan|url=https://archive.org/details/newrollingstonea00brac|url-access=registration|chapter= Ministry|last=McLeod|first=Kembrew|title=The New Rolling Stone Album Guide|location=New York|publisher=Simon & Schuster|date=November 2004|page=[https://archive.org/details/newrollingstonea00brac/page/544 544]|access-date=November 1, 2017|isbn=0-7432-0169-8|via=Internet Archive}}

| rev6 = Spin Alternative Record Guide

| rev6score = 8/10{{Cite book|title=Spin Alternative Record Guide|publisher=Vintage Books|year=1995|isbn=0-679-75574-8|location=New York|pages=250–251|editor-last=Weisbard|editor-first=Eric|editor-link=Eric Weisbard|editor2-last=Marks|editor2-first=Craig}}

| rev7 = The Village Voice

| rev7score = B+{{Cite web |last=Christgau |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Christgau |date=September 5, 1989 |title=Consumer Guide |url=https://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/cg/cgv889-89.php |access-date=2024-01-18 |website=The Village Voice |via=robertchristgau.com}}

}}

The Land of Rape and Honey is the third studio album by American industrial metal band Ministry, released on October 11, 1988, by Sire Records. This is the first Ministry album to include bassist Paul Barker and marks a departure from the band's previous two synthpop and EBM records. It incorporates heavy metal guitars and industrial music influences, and Al Jourgensen uses distorted vocals in his natural accent, rather than the faux British accent of previous albums. The resulting sound was influential in the industrial metal genre and is Jourgensen's favorite Ministry album. The album was certified gold by the RIAA in January 1996.

The album title comes from the slogan of Tisdale, Saskatchewan, whose motto at that time was "The Land of Rape and Honey",[http://www.ftlcomm.com/ensign/cropson/2002/canola/canola.html "Canola, golden beads"] a reference to the agricultural products rapeseed and honey.{{cite magazine|last=Wolanski |first=Coreen |url=http://exclaim.ca/music/article/ministry-nothing_exceeds_like_excess|title=Ministry - Nothing Exceeds Like Excess|magazine=Exclaim!|date=2003-03-01 |access-date=2017-12-04|df=mdy-all}} The band chose the name after seeing the slogan on a souvenir mug.{{cite web |last=Wiederhorn |first=Jon |url=https://www.revolvermag.com/music/ministrys-land-rape-and-honey-8-insane-al-jourgensen-stories | title=Ministry's 'The Land of Rape and Honey': 8 Insane Al Jourgensen Stories |date=October 11, 2018 |website=Revolver Magazine |publisher=Project M Group LLC | access-date=June 27, 2023}}

Background

Jourgensen credited his work with Adrian Sherwood on the preceding album, Twitch, for giving him confidence in his vision and showing him new techniques, which he said he pushed to an extreme.{{cite book|title=Behind the Boards|last=Brown|first=Jake|publisher=Hal Leonard LLC|year=2012|isbn=9781480329768|chapter=Chapter 18: Al Jourgensen—The Ministry of Industrial Rock}} Jourgensen had experimented with a heavier, industrial sound starting in the mid-1980s with singles such as "No Devotion" from the Revolting Cocks' Big Sexy Land and "All Day" from Twitch.{{cite book|title=Assimilate: A Critical History of Industrial Music|last=Reed|first=S. Alexander|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2013|isbn=978-0-19-983258-3|page=237}} When RevCo's next single was more commercial, Sire proposed doing the same for the new Ministry album, but Jourgensen threatened to disband Ministry.{{cite book|title=Alternative Rock|last=Thompson|first=Dave|publisher=Miller Freeman, Inc.|year=2000|isbn=0-87930-607-6|page=497}}

Continuing in this less-commercial, industrial-laced direction, Land of Rape and Honey incorporates elements of heavy metal such as fast electric guitar riffs, although only the album's first three songs use guitars extensively. "Stigmata" does not feature live guitars; the two chord riff, altered with a pitch shifter, was sampled.{{sfn|Jourgensen|Wiederhorn|2013|p=86}} Jourgensen had written some of the songs prior to working on Twitch and said this was the sound he originally wanted for the band.{{Sfn|Jourgensen|Wiederhorn|2013|p=84}}

In his memoirs, Jourgensen described himself at the time as a "functional addict" who scheduled his life around his dealer's availability. Despite this, he spent hours editing tapes of music the band had recorded; Jourgensen described them as "snippets of noise" that came to him in dreams. Inspired by William Burroughs and the cut-up technique, Jourgensen cut up the tapes and spliced them back together randomly until he liked the end result.{{Sfn|Jourgensen|Wiederhorn|2013|p=83–85}} Jourgensen wrote "Stigmata" at the last minute after realizing he needed another song to complete the album.{{sfn|Jourgensen|Wiederhorn|2013|p=86}}

A post made on Wax Trax! Records' official Instagram account in 2019 shows a handwritten production sheet featuring a number of tracks which did not appear on the final record.{{cite web |title=Wax Trax! Records on Instagram|url=https://www.instagram.com/p/BzUCCEGn5PC/ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/iarchive/s/instagram/BzUCCEGn5PC |archive-date=2021-12-24 |url-access=limited|website=Instagram|accessdate=May 16, 2021}}{{cbignore}} Certain songs were instead released through the bands' side projects: "Idiot" and "Blackened Heart" under Lead Into Gold and "Apathy" for 1000 Homo DJs.

Artwork

The album cover is an electronically processed image of a burned corpse in the Leipzig-Thekla subcamp of Buchenwald.{{cite web|last1=Ross|first1=Carella|title=The original photo used on Ministry's Land of Rape & Honey album cover (and the story behind it)|url=https://carellaross.com/blogs/rantings-ravings/posts/6063939/the-original-photo-used-on-ministry-s-land-of-rape-honey-album-cover-and-the-story-behind-it|website=carellaross.com|access-date=7 November 2022}} Jourgensen took a photograph while watching a Holocaust documentary on television and distorted the image himself. According to Jourgensen, it was originally rejected by the record label, but they later changed their mind after Jourgensen cut off the head of a roadkilled deer, put it in his truck, drove from Austin to Los Angeles, went into the Sire Records building, threw the head on the desk of the head of the art department and said, "Here's your new fucking [album] cover."{{sfn|Jourgensen|Wiederhorn|2013|p=86}}

Additional inner sleeve photography features a 1945 archival film footage of corpses of the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp lying in a hillside mass grave in Nordhausen, Germany.

Legacy

The album was certified gold by the RIAA in January 1996{{cite web|url=https://www.riaa.com/gold-platinum/?tab_active=default-award&se=Ministry#search_section |title=Gold & Platinum Search "Ministry"|publisher=Recording Industry Association of America|access-date=October 31, 2021}} and was re-issued by Wounded Bird Records in 2007.{{cite web | url=https://www.discogs.com/master/7643-Ministry-The-Land-Of-Rape-And-Honey | title=Ministry – The Land Of Rape And Honey | publisher=Discogs | accessdate=31 March 2024}}

Tom Moon wrote in 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die that the album "became the blueprint for all of what was tagged as 'industrial' dance music".{{cite book|title=1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die|last=Moon|first=Tom|publisher=Workman Publishing Company|year=2008|isbn=978-0-7611-3963-8|page=505}} Fear Factory, Linkin Park, Slipknot and Nine Inch Nails have cited this album as a major influence.{{cite web|last1=Chillingworth|first1=Alec|title=Every Ministry album, ranked from worst to best|url=http://teamrock.com/feature/2016-08-18/ministry-albums-ranked-from-worst-to-best-al-jourgensen|website=TeamRock|access-date=19 August 2016}} Jason Heller of The A.V. Club said the album "straddles a huge shift in industrial" and includes influences from most industrial music offshoots at the time. Heller suggested it to pop culture enthusiasts who want an accessible entry-point for industrial music.{{cite web|url=https://www.avclub.com/where-to-start-with-the-harsh-mechanized-beat-of-indus-1798270258|title=Where to start with the harsh, mechanized beat of industrial|last=Heller|first=Jason|work=The A.V. Club|date=August 3, 2014|accessdate=March 24, 2022}} Jourgensen has cited The Land of Rape and Honey as his favorite Ministry album,{{cite web|last1=Acharya|first1=Kiran|title=Revolting Lots: Al Jourgensen's Favourite Ministry Albums|url=http://thequietus.com/articles/20135-al-jourgensen-favourite-ministry-albums-interview?page=2|website=The Quietus|date=27 April 2016 |access-date=June 7, 2016}} likening it to a learning experience that changes one's life.{{cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/rock/8479513/ministry-al-jourgensen-on-turning-60-30th-anniversary-of-land-of-rape-and-honey-interview|title=Ministry's Al Jourgensen on Turning 60, 30th Anniversary of 'The Land of Rape and Honey'|last=Stingley|first=Mick|magazine=Billboard|date=October 11, 2018|accessdate=May 16, 2021}} However, Jourgensen said that "Stigmata" is his least favorite song in the Ministry catalogue for its simplistic songwriting despite its popularity.{{sfn|Jourgensen|Wiederhorn|2013|p=86}} The track is featured in Richard Stanley's 1990 science fiction thriller Hardware, although the band shown performing the track is Gwar.{{cite book|title=British Film Music and Film Musicals|last=Donnelly|first=K. J.|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|year=2007|isbn=978-1-349-54571-1|pages=88–89}} Marilyn Manson performed a cover on the soundtrack of the film Atomic Blonde.{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/atomic-blonde-original-motion-picture-soundtrack-mw0003068001|title=Original Motion Picture Soundtrack - Atomic Blonde |website=AllMusic}}

Track listing

{{tracklist

| all_writing = Al Jourgensen except where noted {{cite web|last1=BMI|title=BMI Repertoire|url=http://repertoire.bmi.com/Catalog.aspx?detail=writerid&keyid=178082&subid=0&page=1&fromrow=1&torow=25|website=BMI|access-date=10 April 2018}}

| title1 = Stigmata

| length1 = 5:45

| note1 =

| title2 = The Missing

| length2 = 2:55

| title3 = Deity

| length3 = 3:20

| title4 = Golden Dawn

| writer4 = Jourgensen, Barker

| length4 = 5:42

| title5 = Destruction

| writer5 = Jourgensen, Barker

| length5 = 3:30

| title6 = Hizbollah

| note6 = CD bonus track

| length6 = 3:58

| title7 = The Land of Rape and Honey

| writer7 = Jourgensen, Barker

| length7 = 5:10

| title8 = You Know What You Are

| writer8 = Jourgensen, Barker

| length8 = 4:43

| title9 = I Prefer

| note9 = CD bonus track

| length9 = 2:15

| title10 = Flashback

| length10 = 4:50

| title11 = Abortive

| length11 = 4:23

| writer11 = Adrian Sherwood

}}

=Samples=

  1. "Golden Dawn"
  2. *"You are being found guilty of covenants with the devil," "State your confession," "Confess! Confess!" "The Anti-Christ" - The Devils{{cite web|url=https://www.westword.com/music/ministrys-al-jourgensen-on-his-ties-to-colorado-living-in-breckenridge-attending-greeley-high-school-and-his-ill-fated-attempt-at-a-rodeo-career-5683383|title=Ministry's Al Jourgensen on his ties to Colorado: living in Breckenridge, attending Greeley High School and his ill-fated attempt at a rodeo career|last=Murphy|first=Tom|work=Westword|date=June 12, 2012|accessdate=May 17, 2021}}
  3. *[chanting] - Aleister Crowley, from his "Call of the First Aethyr"{{cite web|url=https://loudwire.com/rock-metal-songs-aleister-crowley/|title=10 Evil Rock + Metal Songs Inspired by Aleister Crowley|work=Loudwire|date=9 April 2018 |accessdate=May 17, 2021}}
  4. *[chanting] - Israel Regardie, quoting the English translation of the First Enochian Key.
  5. "Hizbollah"
  6. *"Kad Ataka" - Fairuz
  7. "The Land of Rape and Honey"
  8. *"Sieg..." "...Heil!" [chanting] - The Tin Drum. These chants are used ironically in the song, which is anti-fascist, and the band gave context to the Nazi chants by ranting about political issues during concerts.{{cite book|title=Assimilate: A Critical History of Industrial Music|last=Reed|first=S. Alexander|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-983258-3|year=2013|page=188}} This was still misinterpreted by white power skinheads as the band's support for Nazism. Jourgensen said the band jumped into the crowd and fought the skinheads, but rumors persisted that the band was fascist.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/04/11/arts/the-pop-life-065838.html|title=The Pop Life|last=Strauss|first=Neil|work=The New York Times|date=April 11, 1996|accessdate=March 24, 2022}}
  9. "You Know What You Are"
  10. *"You know what you are" - closing dialog by Tuco from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
  11. *[Macabre Laugh] - A Fistful of Dollars
  12. *"Die, Motherfucker!" - Aliens
  13. *"C'mon, motherfuckers!" "Dance, motherfucker!" - Platoon
  14. "Flashback"
  15. *"Now hold up, man!" "Do it," "Everybody's got to die sometime," "I'm hurtin' real bad inside" - Platoon
  16. "Abortive"
  17. *"T minus 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4; we've got the main engine start—we have main...", "America's first space shuttle!" "And the shuttle has cleared the tower." - NASA

Personnel

=Ministry=

  • Al Jourgensen – vocals, guitar, programming, production, engineer
  • Paul Barker – bass, keyboards, programming, production, engineer

=Additional personnel=

  • William Rieflin – drums, programming, keyboards, guitar, background vocals
  • Chris Connelly – background vocals (tracks 2 & 3)
  • Eddie Echo – production (track 11)
  • Steve Spapperi – engineer
  • Julian Herzfeld – engineer
  • Keith "Fluffy" Auerbach – engineer
  • "Dog" (a pseudonym of Al Jourgensen) – album cover
  • "Ill" – album cover
  • Brian Shanley – album cover

Chart positions

class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
scope="col"|Chart (1988)

!scope="col"|Peak
position

scope="row"|US Billboard 200{{cite web|url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/ministry/chart-history/tlp/|title=Ministry Chart History (Billboard 200)|publisher=Billboard|access-date=October 31, 2021}}

|align="center"|164

References

{{Reflist}}

Bibliography

  • {{cite book|last1=Jourgensen|first1=Al|last2=Wiederhorn|first2=Jon|title=Ministry: The Lost Gospels According To Al Jourgensen|year=2013|location=Boston, MA|publisher=Da Capo Press|name-list-style=amp|isbn=9780306822186|via=the Internet Archive|url=https://archive.org/details/ministrylostgosp00jour}}

{{Ministry (band)}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Land Of Rape And Honey, The}}

Category:1988 albums

Category:Ministry (band) albums

Category:Albums produced by Al Jourgensen

Category:Albums produced by Adrian Sherwood

Category:Sire Records albums

Category:Warner Records albums