Review Summary: Ministry's The Land of Rape and Honey was a step outside the box for Ministry, as it was their first album that features aggressive and angry industrial metal, and not the industrial goth of older albums.
Here's Ministry's
The Land of Rape and Honey in lame man's terms;
Nine Inch Nails' Broken on steroids. Much more angry; a lot louder; and a lot more noisy. This was the album that took them into uncharted metal waters; before, Ministry was an industrial band with dancefloor appeal.
With Sympathy and
Twitch sound nothing like this record. Al Jourgensen's vocals are no longer the goth, poppy vocals; they evolve into barking, creepy vocals which etch into your head and change your view of Ministry. This album was the beginning of an industrial dynasty beginning with this album and ending with
Filth Pig.
The Land of Rape and Honey is a full out assault on your ears; led by heavy percussion, synthesizers, keyboards, and guitars. Al Jourgensen's vocals are distorted and manage to creep into your brain hidden by the loud noise. This album isn't Ministry's best, (
Psalm 69 outdoes it by leaps and miles); but it is still an instant classic.
The Land of Rape and Honey is filled with angry, noisy, louder songs such as the opener,
Stigmata; an aggressive, angry opener that gets a bit repetitive with it's simple, loud guitar riffs and keyboard scales; but truly shows the more aggressive side of Ministry's industrial sound, as it features the typical industrial sounds Ministry is known for; but with much more sparse vocals and much more intense sound.
The Missing features some distorted vocals that managed to blend into the loud, barking percussion beats. The song is led by the percussion; it's just one simple drum beat that doesn't change the whole song but always manages to be powerful and overbearing; just what Ministry is known for.
Deity is another percussion-led industrial track featuring not-distorted Jourgensen vocals fused with an aggressive drum beat and furious yet quiet guitar riffs.
The Land of Rape and Honey's title track is by far the most furious and aggressive track with it's up-in-your-face guitar riffs and keyboards. The song is heavy on the percussion and Jourgensen barks out his dark, creepy vocals with power and anger.
You Know What You Are is filled with tempo-driven keyboards and percussion fused with Al Jourgensen's sparse, of-the-moment vocals that seem to scream at you when you hear them.
The Land of Rape and Honey features plenty of old Ministry-esque songs;
Golden Dawn sounds as if could have been featured in
Twitch with it's ever-present keyboard echo. There's not much guitars in this song; it's mostly percussion, and there's not much vocals; but it feels like an older Ministry song as is one of my favorites on this album.
Destruction features the electronica twinge of old Ministry with the loud, noisy feel of new Ministry. Al Jourgensen's vocals manage to add a frantic feel to the song while the keyboard twinges manage to add a simple, yet subtle 80s feel to the song which isn't a bad thing when it's not overused.
Hizbollah features some simple arabic voices and loops filled with Nine Inch Nails'
Pretty Hate Machine percussion sounds and keyboards.
I Prefer sounds like a song off of
Twitch featuring some heavily distorted vocals and heavy keyboard-reliant beats and tempos. The song is a lot faster than certain songs on the album, but still manages to come off as the middle product of a band in stasis between their two sounds; old keyboard-reliant Ministry and new, percussion-guitar riff driven Ministry.
Flashback features multiple voice loops and keyboard loops fused with furious percussion and guitar sounds.
Abortive ends this album; taking Ministry back a few years with echoing keyboard fused with distorted, synthesizer created noises. The song seems rather pointless and seems to be the only song that doesn't fit in well.
The Land of Rape and Honey is a good buy for any metal fan and a must buy for any industrial fan. It's furious and angry; driven by heavy, noisy percussion, sparse, barking vocals, aggressive guitar riffs, and atmospheric synthesizers and keyboards. Al Jourgensen is a true visionary; as Ministry's
The Land of Rape and Honey was a huge step forward for not only industrial, but for metal and rock as well.
