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The Land of Rape and Honey stands as Ministry’s purest expression of intent—one thing, one song, done again and again, perfectly. The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste saw an explosion of creativity—that one song got stretched in a hundred directions, scattered to the wind, and blown the fuck up into something else altogether. Psalm 69, or ΚΕΦΑΛΗΞΘ as the CD spine calls it, took everything that came before and ripped it wide open. The guitars suddenly felt real. No longer an exotic seasoning, metal became the main course. It’s Ministry’s finest moment—the high water mark for industrial metal, and the template for every Ministry album from Animositisomina onward. On July 14, Psalm 69 celebrates its 20th birthday.
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Right out of the gate we’re hit by the two strongest songs Ministry ever wrote. “N.W.O.” is a jackhammer; Al Jourgensen’s resident shredder Mike Scaccia pounds out a staccato blast while the programmed drums smash concrete. It’s as hard as anything Godflesh ever did, and more insidious for the hooks they don’t bother to hide. Paul Barker’s bass throbs like a rhythmic hip thrust, while the vocals spray political rage like buckshot. It’s dance music for killing, heavy metal for fucking.
“Just One Fix” is even better. “Gimme the thorazine, man.” The drums stomp like an elevated pulse as something slams into your vein. Uncle Al cries out for a fix, and Scaccia’s guitar keeps him company. “Blood keeps drinking away, certain of its destination.” The pulse pounds in your ears, and you’re scrounging for something to put in your arm, up your nose, up your ass. Collectively, we are a fiend in need of drugs and a nation in need of oil; Jourgensen hammers home the parallel by the time the guitar throttles forward to match the pounding heartbeat. A late-blooming lead guitar sounds an awful lot like “Night on Bald Mountain“, and why not? Samples scream and the noise floor builds… only to nod off and fade away.
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“Just One Fix”
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Gibby Haynes steps out of nowhere for “Jesus Built My Hotrod”, and we’re off like a shot. It’s Motörhead gone motorik on speed, and the metaphors just write themselves. “Psalm 69″ takes us to the church of the final solution, all fervor and apocalyptic conviction, which is all the better by the time you realize they’re mostly joking. Peel back the filth and the mocking samples and there’s legitimate social discontent and frustration, but Al buries his screams behind a layer of distortion, keeps his face a mask behind the ever-present Aviators and that twitching junkie smile. It’s hard to call Ministry’s music subtle, but there’s a nuance in the details, the choice of samples and pacing of the album–something they would lose in later years. “Scarecrow” is Zeppelin done harder than anyone, with a wailing sample that sounds like “How Soon Is Now?” played in a scrapyard. “Grace” is a fuck you of noise and static that almost goes on too long, but then it’s over, and so is the album, and you’re already jonesing for more.
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20 years on, and there’s still nothing like Psalm 69. Paul Barker quit too many albums ago, and he is missed. Al put the band to rest after trying and failing to replicate Psalm 69 too many times in a row. Like any good junkie, he’s already back at it with his latest album, Relapse—what else would he call it? Industrial metal never produced anything else at this level, and it never needed to—not after Psalm 69 said it all and said it right the first time around. We’ll always have Psalm 69, and it’s all we need—listening today, the high is just as dirty, just as harsh, just as good as it ever was.
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BUY PSALM 69
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Yes. In terms of personal history, Psalm 69 was one of the first metal albums that really resonated with me. My elder brother had played me stuff from Land Of Rape And Honey and A Good Mind and at the time I remember being confused by the robotic vocals. Then Psalm 69 came out, and it all made sense. I saw them tour on it in 94 or 95 and they were fucken incredible.
20 years, shit. No wonder I feel so old and tired.
Such a good album. I can’t believe I haven’t listened to it in years.
“NWO”, “Jesus Built My Hotrod”, “TV Song”, and especially “Scarecrow” all fucking day.
FUCKING GREAT ALBUM.
SHIT IS MEMORABLE AS FUCK.
By the way: Am I the only one who’s of the opinion that “Filth Pig” is their actually best?
(nothing against Psalm69 though, it’s huge)
You’re not alone.
This dB series had a few great posts, including on Filth Pig
http://www.decibelmagazine.com/featured/justify-your-shitty-taste-ministrys-filth-pig/
It was only 10+ years after the fact that I learned to love it.
There’s hope for St Anger after all!
isn’t that ‘late blooming lead guitar’ more like ’south of heaven’? or maybe ’south of heaven’ is more like ‘night on bald mountain’?
Good call on South of Heaven!
I doubt it’s intentional either way, I just always think of Night on Bald Mountain when I get to that riff.
I got into industrial way before I got into diy punk/metal, I jammed this album incessantly. The Land Of Rape And Honey I may have jammed a bit more often.
Personally I’m all about A Mind is a Terrible Thing and Filth Pig, but Psalm definitely has its high points. Just One Fix makes me want to do horrible things in public–I legitimately try not to listen to it too much for that reason.
I still think the last two songs were the best (if not the most accessible) – and if he’d delivered on the promise I recall, that the next album would sound like those, I’d have approved immensely.
But it was not to be.
The extended versions of “N.W.O” and “Just One Fix,” especially the latter, are much better than the album versions. Same with the single version of “Jesus Built My Hotrod.” The best songs on this album are the most metal ones – “Hero” and “Scarecrow.”
Agreed on all counts. A doc on the making of this–specifically the guitars which are so perfectly machine-like and all played without samples–would be very welcome, indeed.
I think these anniversary posts need to stop. This isn’t the first 20 year post on an album really important to me, but this one just really, really, really makes me feel old. And that time flies in a scary way.
Man, I remember right after that Gibby and the Butts put out Independant Worm Saloon, which was another fantastic album. Helmut release Meantime and Tool put out Undertow right around the same time. Tours were off the hook, too many great shows to remember them all.
The more I think about it, that whole 1992-93 period was an excellent time both in music and life in general.
Yeah – I remember getting a lot of those albums on cassette. “you kids don’t know what its like with your ipods and downloads…in my day we had to buy things on cassette. And weird music like Tool, we had to get the record store to order them in.”
I was an angry young man, now i’m a grumpy old shit.
It all came together for Al and Paul on this one. It all gelled perfectly. Weirdly it was their undoing. First they spent 10 years trying to distance themselves from it’s commercial appeal by releasing a string of obtuse and flat sounding albums (Filth Pig has its moments, but it was a real damp squib compared with Psalm 69) and then another 10 years of trying to recapture it, sometimes with fun results, often dissapointing ones.
Still – LORAH, MIATTT and Psalm 69 still stand up as the best that late 80’s early 90’s industrial had to offer.
It’s weird how prolific and creative Al’s circle was at this point. It’s Still worth listening to from this era and immediately after:
Revolting Cocks: Beers Steers & Queers, and Linger Ficken Good,
LARD: The Power of Lard, Last Temptation of Reid and (to a lesser extent) Pure Chewing Satisfaction. Acid Horse. PTP etc, etc. Yet every Ministry release post 1992 is pretty unnecessary.
This album was only okay … still think “Mind Is a Terrible Thing …” and “Land Of Rape …” were better albums!
Plus that Live Album, “In Case You Didn’t Feel …”, was f@#%^n’ killer!!!
I’m more the ‘Mind is a Terrible Thing’ guy. But I still get goosebumps thinking about an awesome Ministry show at converted church Paradiso in Amsterdam (after loud as fuck opener Godflesh). 7 guitar players in a row, Al in the middle starting the show:
“First of all, we are Ministry.” (cheers and applause) “Second of all, I’m gonna have a cigarette.” (whoops and laughter while Al walks to his amp, gets a cigarette, lights it, and walks back to his mic) “And third of all, this is Psalm 69.” (insanity)
My first taste of industrial metal and one kick ass album. I remember MTV actually playing the videos for “N.W.O.” and “Jesus Built my Hotrod” quite often in the early 90’s. Two great tracks with good videos to match.
Ministry was on an incredible tear from ‘88 to ‘92 with their live album being the absolute pinnacle for me — those songs from LOFH & MIATTT are so much heavier and crazier live than on record. Crazy shit! Then Psalm 69 came along and flattened all — as dark and heavy as death metal but with that unhinged industrial edge like that Terminator future war had finally happened. Anyone who saw the Ministry/Godflesh tour from that era is one lucky bastard.
Or the Ministry/Helmet/Sepultura tour. Or the Ministry/Skinny Puppy/KMFDM tour. It seems like Ministry always had dope openers.