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The Land Of Rape And Honey is an album that firmly established Ministry as a band with an identity and purpose. No longer were they forced to produce British faux cheesy new wave music anymore. Al Jorgensen was finally free to do his own thing musically, and to me the results are some of the most interesting compositions I've heard in the industrial genre.

First of all, in 1987, industrial metal wasn't really a thing per say. This album along with the self-titled Godflesh EP helped the genre become what it is today. In fact many bands such as: Fear Factory, Nine Inch Nails, and Slipknot cite this album as an album that greatly influenced them. The Land Of Rape And Honey has a very distinct sound to it that helps differentiate it from the rest of Ministry's discography. For one, quite a few of these tracks such as "Flashback" have a lot of simple drum beats that have a very danceable feel to them. It's somewhat similar to what Nine Inch Nails attempted to do with their debut album Pretty Hate Machine, but in my opinion it's executed much better on this album. The riffs overall are fairly simple, but they're so catchy that it makes up for it. Sometimes less is more. Usually nics in music for me is a bit of a sore spot, but they actually do help bring something to the overall music. Often times there's weird sound effects placed throughout the album, and they are used very well and can help add to the overall atmosphere of the song's. Take for example "Abortive" where the unique samples and loops used help give a creepy vibe to what would otherwise be a very basic 80's dance floor song, and helps make it the perfect soundtrack for some dark club party. However, tracks 4 and 6 are what make this album for me. They aren't really dancy like the rest of the album is. These tracks have more of a groovy atmosphere to them while placing more of an emphasis on atmosphere.

"Golden Dawn" has a very drug induced vibe to it, with the simplistic beat being the only thing that doesn't feel like it's gonna fall apart at any given minute. Creepy, jarring guitar lines help the song have a creepy slasher horror movie vibe to it, while the samples serve as the "vocals" of this song and give the listener the possibility that we are entering hell. "Hizbollah" is probably my favorite song off the album. William Rieflin's performance on this track is unique, playing tribal like drum patterns that are simple yet effective. The bass on this song helps give an urban hip hop atmosphere, while the many samples give off a desert like feel to the track. Noise to some? Yeah sure. But to me this track is a unique collage of sounds that are very unique and help make it a stand out song in Ministry's catalogue.

The metal edge that Ministry would later become known for is here, but not on full display. The only songs that really have a metal edge to em are the first 3 tracks. I don't really care for "Stigmata" all that much because to me it just sounds very boring to me. It would be somewhat hypocritical of me to call the song repetitive since that's kinda the point of Industrial since it's more focused on the atmosphere being the driving force rather then the instrumentals, but the music here just sounds dull. Considering frontman Al Jorgensen once said that this track was written last minute so the album could be complete, it shows. "The Missing" however has more of a punk energy to it, and "Deity" has a pseudo thrash edge to it. These songs are representative of the sound that would later dominate most of Ministry's career.

While some people might view this album as an incoherent experiment due to the fact that this album doesn't really place an emphasis on guitars like later Ministry albums did and instead focuses more on nics, atmosphere, and samples, I would argue this. All the experimental elements of this album are really well placed and fit with the instrumentals, so it doesn't make it sound jarring and instead compliments the song. This is my personal favorite Ministry album because it's the most varied albums out of the "classic era" of Ministry and the song's themselves are really good. I'd say give it a listen if you wanna hear Industrial that's a lot more unorthodox then what you'd normally hear.

drummingnerd99


Stigmata 5:45
The Missing 2:54
Deity 3:23
Golden Dawn 5:42
Destruction 3:30
The Land Of Rape And Honey 5:12
You Know What You Are 4:45
Flashback 4:48
Abortive 4:23


Alain Jourgensen
Paul Barker

Additional Musician:
Chris Connelly
William Rieflin


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cfzszFHmcw

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