Ministry “The Land of Rape and Honey” released 30 years ago today, October 11th, 1988. Also 2 days ago on Oct. 9th, Ministry’s frontman Al Jourgensen turned 60. The Land of Rape and Honey was Ministry’s third album (which actually charted, making it to #164) and is super-heavy industrial metal/dance noise rock; Jourgensen considers it Ministry’s first true album as well as his favorite. I really love the album – it totally brings me back to late ‘88 and ‘89, heading up to the northside of Green Bay where a dance club, The Option, had a night that focused on alternative music and “Stigmata,” the only single released off of The Land of Rape and Honey, was often on heavy rotation. “Stigmata” is one of my top tracks from the LP (sadly, Ministry did not play it when they performed at Turner Hall this past spring). But I also really like the high speed insanity of “The Missing,” the hypnotic stomp of “Destruction” and the brutal title track “The Land of Rape and Honey.”

Allmusic says about the album “The Land of Rape and Honey represented Ministry’s stylistic breakthrough, combining assaultive percussion, samples, synths, and (sometimes) crunching guitars with distorted, barking vocals. For all the emphasis on the group’s metal/industrial fusion, it’s really only the first three (and best) tracks on Rape and Honey – “Stigmata,” “The Missing,” and “Deity” – that employ guitars extensively. The remainder of the album merely suggests heavy metal aggression through its electronic and sampled elements; it is far more industrial in feel, even though it’s just as dark. Ministry was the industrial band that, more than any other, appealed to metal fans, and it was The Land of Rape and Honey that began to lay claim to that status.”