''Houses of the Molé'' is the ninth studio album by American
industrial metal band
Ministry, released on June 21, 2004 by
Sanctuary Records
Sanctuary Records Group Limited was a record label based in the United Kingdom and is as of 2013 a subsidiary of BMG Rights Management solely for reissues. Until June 2007, it was the largest independent record label in the UK and the largest m ...
. It is noteworthy for being the first Ministry album not to feature bassist and longtime collaborator
Paul Barker
Paul Gordon Barker (born February 8, 1959), also referred to as Hermes Pan, is the former bass guitarist, producer and engineer of the industrial metal band Ministry from 1986 to 2003. Prior to Ministry, Barker provided bass for the Seattle ...
since ''
Twitch
Twitch may refer to:
Biology
* Muscle contraction
** Convulsion, rapid and repeated muscle contraction and relaxation
** Fasciculation, a small, local, involuntary muscle contraction
** Myoclonic twitch, a jerk usually caused by sudden muscle co ...
'' (1986). It was also the first album to feature
Mike Scaccia
Michael Ralph Scaccia (June 14, 1965 – December 22, 2012) was an American musician, best known as a guitarist for several heavy metal and alternative rock acts, including Rigor Mortis, Ministry and Revolting Cocks.
Life and career
Scaccia wa ...
on guitar since 1996's ''
Filth Pig
Filth or The Filth may refer to:
Common uses
* Dirt, unclean matter
* Police officer, a pejorative in British slang
Arts, entertainment, and media Films
* ''Filth'' (film), a 2013 film based on the novel
* ''Filth'', an alternative title for ''S ...
''.
Overview
The album is the first part of the band's anti-
Bush trilogy, followed by ''
Rio Grande Blood
''Rio Grande Blood'' is the tenth studio album by American industrial metal band Ministry, released in 2006. It is their first release through 13th Planet and Megaforce Records.
Overview
The album is the second installment in the band's ant ...
'' (2006) and ''
The Last Sucker'' (2007). It was released in the run up to the
2004 American presidential elections, in the last few months of Bush's first term as president. Nearly all songs start with the letter "W" in their title, except for "No W" and the
hidden track "Psalm 23". The first track on the album, "
No W", features numerous satirical samples of Bush's speeches, particularly samples in which he spoke of his
war on terror
The war on terror, officially the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), is an ongoing international counterterrorism military campaign initiated by the United States following the September 11 attacks. The main targets of the campaign are militant ...
. Compared to its subsequent follow-ups, the musical style of the album is more
thrash metal
Thrash metal (or simply thrash) is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its overall aggression and often fast tempo.Kahn-Harris, Keith, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'', pp. 2–3, 9. Oxford: Berg, 2007, . ...
-oriented.
Jourgensen describes ''Houses of the Molé'' as a "rebirth" album as he started Ministry anew without long time collaborator Paul Barker who left after the ''
Animositisomina'' tour due to a falling-out. In his autobiography, Jourgensen describes that he wrote "Walrus" as a way to "celebrate" Barker's departure. In it, it has the words ''"Paul is no longer with us"'' played backwards on repeat.
Jourgensen has stated that the name ''Houses of the Molé'' is a tribute to
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are ci ...
's 1973 album ''
Houses of the Holy
''Houses of the Holy'' is the fifth studio album by the English rock band Led Zeppelin. It was released on 28 March 1973 by Atlantic Records.
The album benefited from two band members installing studios at home, which allowed them to develop mor ...
''.
Mole
Mole (or Molé) may refer to:
Animals
* Mole (animal) or "true mole", mammals in the family Talpidae, found in Eurasia and North America
* Golden moles, southern African mammals in the family Chrysochloridae, similar to but unrelated to Talpida ...
itself is a Mexican sauce made from chocolate that is nearly black in color, an image that Jourgensen believes represents crude oil.
Former Ministry drummer
Rey Washam
Rey Washam (born Reynolds Washam, March 14, 1961, in Austin, Texas) is a Grammy nominated drummer who has been performing for more than 35 years. He has collaborated with many bands, the most notable of which include: Scratch Acid, Rapeman, ...
stated in an interview that he worked on ''Houses of the Molé'', for which he received no credit, and also stated that Ministry had problems properly compensating all of the musicians who contributed to their records. He also referred to "someone" in Ministry as being a "liar" and "full of shit", and disputed the statement and common belief that Al Jourgensen was solely responsible for writing almost all of Ministry's material. He also said "Houses of the Molé" was "the worst
lbumtitle in the world".
This was the first Ministry studio album to not chart on the Billboard 200. Due to slow sales, the band left Sanctuary.
Reception
In 2005, ''Houses of the Molé'' was ranked No. 434 in ''
Rock Hard'' magazine's book of ''The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time''.
Track listing
The original release of ''Houses of the Molé'' featured "Psalm 23", an alternate version of "No W". Later releases feature a Redux version of "No W" (with the "
O Fortuna
"O Fortuna" is a medieval Latin Goliardic poem which is part of the collection known as the ''Carmina Burana'', written early in the 13th century. It is a complaint about Fortuna, the inexorable fate that rules both gods and mortals in Roman an ...
" samples removed), dropped "Psalm 23", and added another
(hidden) track titled "Bloodlines". "Walrus" is
hidden track on track 69, just like their song "Everybody" on their 1999 album ''
Dark Side of the Spoon''. Every other track on the CD editions of the album consists of five
seconds of silence.
Personnel
Ministry
*
Alien Jourgensen –
vocals
Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...
,
guitar
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...
s (1–4, 8, 9),
bass (1, 7, 8),
programming,
slide guitar (5),
harmonica (9),
production
Production may refer to:
Economics and business
* Production (economics)
* Production, the act of manufacturing goods
* Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services)
* Production as a stati ...
*
Mike Scaccia
Michael Ralph Scaccia (June 14, 1965 – December 22, 2012) was an American musician, best known as a guitarist for several heavy metal and alternative rock acts, including Rigor Mortis, Ministry and Revolting Cocks.
Life and career
Scaccia wa ...
–
lead guitar
Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featu ...
(1–3, 8), guitars, bass (2, 6, 9),
background vocals
A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are us ...
(5, 9)
*
John Monte
John Monte is the bassist for Evan Seinfeld's new band, The Spyderz. He was a bassist for M.O.D., Mind Funk, Ministry, Human Waste Project
Human Waste Project was an American rock band from Huntington Beach, California, with Aimee Echo on ...
– bass (3–5), background vocals (5)
* Mark Baker –
drums (3–5),
percussion
A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...
(3), background vocals (5)
Additional personnel
*
Max Brody
Max or MAX may refer to:
Animals
* Max (dog) (1983–2013), at one time purported to be the world's oldest living dog
* Max (English Springer Spaniel), the first pet dog to win the PDSA Order of Merit (animal equivalent of OBE)
* Max (gorilla) ...
– programming (2, 6, 7, 9), drums (8),
saxophone
The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...
(9), background vocals (9)
* Angie Jourgensen – background vocals (5, 9)
* Odin Myers – background vocals (5)
* Carl Wayne – background vocals (5)
* Kol Marshall –
B3 organ (8, 9)
* Turner Vanblarcum –
DJ voice (8)
* Lawton Outlaw – original cover, inside tray art,
art direction, design
* Paul Elledge –
photography
Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employe ...
*
Rey Washam
Rey Washam (born Reynolds Washam, March 14, 1961, in Austin, Texas) is a Grammy nominated drummer who has been performing for more than 35 years. He has collaborated with many bands, the most notable of which include: Scratch Acid, Rapeman, ...
– drums (uncredited)
Chart positions
References
Bibliography
*
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Houses of the Mole, The
2004 albums
Albums produced by Al Jourgensen
Ministry (band) albums
Sanctuary Records albums
Albums recorded at Sonic Ranch
Cultural depictions of George W. Bush