''The Land of Rape and Honey'' is the third

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by American

industrial metal Industrial metal is the fusion of heavy metal and industrial music, typically employing repeating metal guitar riffs, sampling, synthesizer or sequencer lines, and distorted vocals. Prominent industrial metal acts include Ministry, Nine In ...

band

Ministry Ministry may refer to: Government * Ministry (collective executive), the complete body of government ministers under the leadership of a prime minister * Ministry (government department), a department of a government Religion * Christian ...

, released on October 11, 1988, by

Sire Records Sire Records (formerly Sire Records Company) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group and distributed by Warner Records. History Beginnings The label was founded in 1966 as Sire Productions by Seymour Stein and Richard Gottehrer ...

. This is the first Ministry album to include bassist

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 ...

and marks a departure from the band's previous two

synthpop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s a ...

and EBM records. It incorporates heavy metal guitars and

industrial music Industrial music is a genre of music that draws on harsh, mechanical, transgressive or provocative sounds and themes. AllMusic defines industrial music as the "most abrasive and aggressive fusion of rock and electronic music" that was "initiall ...

influences, and

Al Jourgensen Alain David Jourgensen (born Alejandro Ramírez Casas; October 9, 1958) is a Cuban-American singer, musician and music producer. Closely related with the independent record label Wax Trax! Records, his musical career spans four decades. He is be ...

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 Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

in January 1996. The album title comes from the slogan of

Tisdale, Saskatchewan Tisdale is the business centre for the rich agricultural taiga, boreal forest area in central Saskatchewan, Canada. This town is in the Rural Municipality of Tisdale No. 427, Saskatchewan. Located at the junction of Saskatchewan Highway 35, High ...

, whose motto at that time was "The Land of Rape and Honey", a reference to the agricultural products

rapeseed Rapeseed (''Brassica napus ''subsp.'' napus''), also known as rape, or oilseed rape, is a bright-yellow flowering member of the family Brassicaceae (mustard or cabbage family), cultivated mainly for its oil-rich seed, which naturally contains a ...

and

honey Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of plants (primar ...

. The band chose the name after seeing the slogan on a souvenir mug.

Background

Jourgensen credited his work with

Adrian Sherwood Adrian Maxwell Sherwood (born 20 January 1958, London, England) is an English record producer specialising in the genre of dub music. He has created a distinctive production style based on the application of dub effects and dub mixing technique ...

on the preceding album, ''

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 con ...

'', for giving him confidence in his vision and showing him new techniques, which he said he pushed to an extreme. Jourgensen had experimented with a heavier,

industrial Industrial may refer to: Industry * Industrial archaeology, the study of the history of the industry * Industrial engineering, engineering dealing with the optimization of complex industrial processes or systems * Industrial city, a city dominate ...

sound starting in the mid-1980s with singles such as "No Devotion" from the

Revolting Cocks Revolting Cocks, also known as RevCo, are an American-Belgian industrial rock band, and sometimes supergroup, that began as a musical side project for Richard23 of Front 242, Luc van Acker, and Al Jourgensen of Ministry. History 1984: Origin ...

' '' Big Sexy Land'' and "All Day" from ''Twitch''. When RevCo's next single was more commercial, Sire proposed doing the same for the new Ministry album, but Jourgensen threatened to disband Ministry. 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 Stigmata ( grc, στίγματα, plural of , 'mark, spot, brand'), in Roman Catholicism, are bodily wounds, scars and pain which appear in locations corresponding to the crucifixion wounds of Jesus Christ: the hands, wrists, and feet. Stigm ...

" does not feature live guitars; the two chord riff, altered with a pitch shifter, was sampled. Jourgensen had written some of the songs prior to working on ''Twitch'' and said this was the sound he originally wanted for the band. 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 William Seward Burroughs II (; February 5, 1914 – August 2, 1997) was an American writer and visual artist, widely considered a primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodern author who influenced popular cultur ...

and the

cut-up technique The cut-up technique (or ''découpé'' in French) is an aleatory literary technique in which a written text is cut up and rearranged to create a new text. The concept can be traced to the Dadaists of the 1920s, but it was developed and popularized ...

, Jourgensen cut up the tapes and spliced them back together randomly until he liked the end result. Jourgensen wrote "Stigmata" at the last minute after realizing he needed another song to complete the album. A post made on

Wax Trax! Records Wax Trax! Records is an American independent record label based in Chicago. It began as a record shop in Denver, Colorado, opened by life partners Jim Nash and Dannie Flesher, who sold the store in 1978 and moved to Chicago. In November of that y ...

' official

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

account in 2019 shows a handwritten production sheet featuring a number of tracks which did not appear on the final record. Certain songs were instead released through the bands' side projects: "Idiot" and "Blackened Heart" under

Lead Into Gold Lead into Gold is a side project of American industrial musician Paul Barker, best known as the former bassist for Ministry and the Hermes Pan half of the Luxa/Pan production team. Primarily a solo project by Barker, Lead into Gold featured ...

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 Buchenwald (; literally 'beech forest') was a Nazi concentration camp established on hill near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within Germany's 1937 borders. Many actual or su ...

. Jourgensen took a photograph while watching a

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

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

roadkill Roadkill is an animal or animals that have been struck and killed by drivers of motor vehicles on highways. Wildlife-vehicle collisions (WVC) have increasingly been the topic of academic research to understand the causes, and how it can be mi ...

ed 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 lbumcover."

Legacy

The album was certified

by the

in January 1996 and was re-issued by

Wounded Bird Records Wounded Bird Records is an American compact disc only re-issue record label that was founded in 1998 in Guilderland, New York. They re-release lesser known albums from popular and lesser known artists, including Paul Butterfield, Cactus, Herbie ...

in 2007.

Tom Moon Thomas Raphael Moon (born November 3, 1960) is an American saxophonist, author, and music critic. He is known for his book '' 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die''. He has won two Deems Taylor Awards from the American Society of Composers, Aut ...

wrote in ''

1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die Onekama ( ) is a village in Manistee County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 411 at the 2010 census. The village is located on the shores of Portage Lake and is surrounded by Onekama Township. The town's name is derived from "On ...

'' that the album "became the blueprint for all of what was tagged as 'industrial' dance music".

Fear Factory Fear Factory is an American heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1989. Throughout the band's career, they have released ten full-length albums and have evolved through a succession of sounds, all in their main style of industrial metal. ...

Linkin Park Linkin Park is an American rock band from Agoura Hills, California. The band's current lineup comprises vocalist/rhythm guitarist/keyboardist Mike Shinoda, lead guitarist Brad Delson, bassist Dave Farrell, DJ/turntablist Joe Hahn and drummer ...

, Slipknot and

Nine Inch Nails Nine Inch Nails, commonly abbreviated as NIN and stylized as NIИ, is an American industrial rock band formed in Cleveland in 1988. Singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Trent Reznor was the only permanent member of the band ...

have cited this album as a major influence. Jason Heller of ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...

'' 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. Jourgensen has cited ''The Land of Rape and Honey'' as his favorite Ministry album, likening it to a learning experience that changes one's life. However, Jourgensen said that "Stigmata" is his least favorite song in the Ministry catalogue for its simplistic songwriting despite its popularity. The track is featured in Richard Stanley's 1990 science fiction thriller '' Hardware'', although the band shown performing the track is

Gwar Gwar, often stylized as GWAR, is an American heavy metal band formed in Richmond, Virginia in 1984, composed of and operated by a frequently rotating line-up of musicians, artists and filmmakers collectively known as Slave Pit Inc. After th ...

Marilyn Manson Brian Hugh Warner (born January 5, 1969), known professionally as Marilyn Manson, is an American rock musician. He came to prominence as the lead singer of the band which shares his name, of which he remains the only constant member since it ...

performed a cover on the soundtrack of the film ''

Atomic Blonde ''Atomic Blonde'' is a 2017 American action thriller film directed by David Leitch (in his feature directorial debut) from a screenplay by Kurt Johnstad, based on the 2012 graphic novel ''The Coldest City'' by Antony Johnston and Sam Hart. The f ...

''.

Track listing

Samples

"Golden Dawn" #*"You are being found guilty of covenants with the devil," "State your confession," "Confess! Confess!" "The Anti-Christ" - '' The Devils'' #* hanting-

Aleister Crowley Aleister Crowley (; born Edward Alexander Crowley; 12 October 1875 – 1 December 1947) was an English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, painter, novelist, and mountaineer. He founded the religion of Thelema, identifying himself as the pro ...

, from his " Call of the First Aethyr" #* hanting-

Israel Regardie Francis Israel Regardie (; né Regudy; November 17, 1907 – March 10, 1985) was a British-American occultist, ceremonial magician, and writer who spent much of his life in the United States. He wrote fifteen books on the subject of occultism. Bo ...

, quoting the English translation of the First Enochian Key. #

"Hizbollah" #*"Kad Ataka" -

Fairuz Nouhad Wadie' Haddad ( ar, نهاد وديع حداد, ; born November 21, 1934), known as Fairuz ( ar, فيروز, ; also spelled Fairouz, Feyrouz or Fayrouz), is a Lebanese singer. She is considered by many as one of the leading vocalists a ...

"The Land of Rape and Honey" #*"Sieg..." "...Heil!" hanting- ''

The Tin Drum ''The Tin Drum'' (german: Die Blechtrommel, ) is a 1959 novel by Günter Grass. The novel is the first book of Grass's ' (''Danzig Trilogy''). It was adapted into a 1979 film, which won both the 1979 Palme d'Or and the Academy Award for Best ...

''. 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. This was still misinterpreted by

white power skinheads White power skinheads, also known as racist skinheads and neo-Nazi skinheads, are members of a neo-Nazi, white supremacist and antisemitic offshoot of the skinhead subculture. Many of them are affiliated with white nationalist organizations an ...

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. #

"You Know What You Are?" #*"You know what you are" - closing dialog by Tuco from ''

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly ''The Good, the Bad and the Ugly'' ( it, Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo, literally "The good, the ugly, the bad") is a 1966 Italian epic spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Leone and starring Clint Eastwood as "the Good", Lee Van Clee ...

'' #* acabre Laugh- ''

A Fistful of Dollars ''A Fistful of Dollars'' ( it, Per un pugno di dollari, lit=For a Fistful of Dollars titled on-screen as ''Fistful of Dollars'') is a 1964 Spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Leone and starring Clint Eastwood in his first leading role, a ...

'' #*"Die, Motherfucker!" - ''

Aliens Alien primarily refers to: * Alien (law), a person in a country who is not a national of that country ** Enemy alien, the above in times of war * Extraterrestrial life, life which does not originate from Earth ** Specifically, intelligent extrate ...

'' #*"C'mon, motherfuckers!" "Dance, motherfucker!" - ''

Platoon A platoon is a military unit typically composed of two or more squads, sections, or patrols. Platoon organization varies depending on the country and the branch, but a platoon can be composed of 50 people, although specific platoons may range ...

'' #

"Flashback" #*"Now hold up, man!" "Do it," "Everybody's got to die sometime," "I'm hurtin' real bad inside" - ''

'' #"Abortive" #*"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 The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

Personnel

Ministry

–

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 without ...

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 stri ...

, programming,

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 ...

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

– bass,

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

, programming, production, engineer

Additional personnel

William Rieflin William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Eng ...

– drums, programming, keyboards, guitar, background vocals * Chris Connelly – background vocals (2 & 3), lead vocals (9) * Eddie Echo – production (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

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Land Of Rape And Honey, The 1988 albums Ministry (band) albums Albums produced by Al Jourgensen Albums produced by Adrian Sherwood Sire Records albums Warner Records albums