Ministry - Land Of Rape and Honey

Label: Sire
Catologue Number: 9 25799-2
Format: LP
Date: 1987
Style: Industrial Metal / Techno-Industrial
Rating: 8/10
Reviewer: Sidney James

With this album Alien Jourgensen and Paul Barker re-invented what we know as industrial music and influenced a generation of musicians. (NIN, Marilyn Manson and a legion of metal bands with samplers)

The land of rape and honey was one of the first albums to combine the heavy Teutonic rhythms of the fledgling European Body Music scene and the harsh guitar sound of Thrash metal. The sound of Ministry also took a huge leap as well, moving on from the comical synthpop sound of With Sympathy and hardening the electronic sounds of Twitch.

The opening triumvirate of Stigmata, Deity and The Missing still ranks as one of the most powerful and aggressive moments in the annals of industrial music. Sure others have attacked the listener with pure noise and pulsating beats but Ministry's sonic assault is controlled and surgically precise. While this trio of tracks finally buried the ghosts of Jourgensen's pop career (Images of a clean shaved Jourgensen wearing a top hat and tails still haunt me)

The rest of the album builds on the electronic sound of Twitch. The electronic rhythms of that album are pushed into a tougher shape, the beats harder and the bass heavier. Tracks like You know what you are? and the Land of Rape and Honey still sound impressive today.

Ministry with the Land of Rape and Honey created a landmark album. Later Ministry albums saw them developing a more guitar based sound, which sold by the bucket load, but never reached the levels of originality and invention they showed on this album.

The Land of Rape and Honey is one of those albums that anyone into heavy music should own.