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Ministry – The Land of Rape and Honey
It has to be said that I’ve definitely mellowed since I first heard
Ministry and am not the metal head I once was. The reason I bought this CD
(other than being quite cheap) was that early Ministry really did change the
part of music world that they inhabited. Taking a page from early industrial
bands like Throbbing Gristle and adding the metallic edge now so irremovably
associated with the genre. The music is basically Paul Barker’s riffing and Al
Jourgenson’s distorted screams over a backdrop of fast and heavy beats with a
handful of sampling thrown in for good measure. The best examples are the well
known songs like Stigmata and the title track. There is a good amount of
variation to the kinds of riffs, screams and beats used in the songs themselves
but not to the basic formula itself, which can lead to the album getting a bit
tiring by the end for anyone who isn’t a complete industrial nutcase. A lot of
it seems a bit dated too; it is very obvious that this was an album recorded in
the eighties at times. I’m being a bit cruel really, none of this adds up to
it being bad, just not as good as it once was perhaps. The best track for me is
Hizbollah, a slightly odd piece of electro music with strange vocals in a
mysterious foreign language (sounding a bit Middle Eastern). A good album,
especially if it’s the kind of music you’re into anyway, and very definitely
an important album in the history of heavy music which is reason enough for it
to be in your collection.
7 out of 10