Houses of the Molé

Houses of the Molé is the ninth studio album by American industrial metal band Ministry, released on June 21, 2004 by Sanctuary Records. It is noteworthy for being the first Ministry album not to feature bassist and longtime collaborator Paul Barker since Twitch (1986). It was also the first album to feature Mike Scaccia on guitar since 1996's Filth Pig.

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Overview

The album is the first part of the band's anti-Bush trilogy, followed by Rio Grande Blood (2006) and The Last Sucker (2007). It was released in the run up to the 2004 American presidential elections, in the last few months of Bush's first term as president. Nearly all songs start with the letter "W" in their title, except for "No W" and the hidden track "Psalm 23". The first track on the album, "No W", features numerous satirical samples of Bush's speeches, particularly samples in which he spoke of his war on terror. Compared to its subsequent follow-ups, the musical style of the album is more thrash metal-oriented.

Al Jourgensen describes Houses of the Molé as a "rebirth" album as he started Ministry anew without long time collaborator Paul Barker who left after the Animositisomina tour due to a falling-out.^[1] In his autobiography, Jourgensen describes that he wrote "Walrus" as a way to "celebrate" Barker's departure. In it, it has the words "Paul is no longer with us" played backwards on repeat.^[2]

Jourgensen has stated that the name Houses of the Molé is a tribute to Led Zeppelin's 1973 album Houses of the Holy.^[2] Mole itself is a Mexican sauce made from chocolate that is nearly black in color, an image that Jourgensen believes represents crude oil.

Former Ministry drummer Rey Washam stated in an interview that he worked on Houses of the Molé, for which he received no credit, and also stated that Ministry had problems properly compensating all of the musicians who contributed to their records. He also referred to "someone" in Ministry as being a "liar" and "full of shit", and disputed the statement and common belief that Al Jourgensen was solely responsible for writing almost all of Ministry's material. He also said "Houses of the Molé" was "the worst [album] title in the world".^[3]

This was the first Ministry studio album to not chart on the Billboard 200. Due to slow sales, the band left Sanctuary.

Reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	75/100^[4]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	^[5]
The Austin Chronicle	^[6]
Billboard	favourable^[7]
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal	8/10^[8]
Playlouder	^[9]
Q	^[4]
Rock Hard	10/10^[10]
Rolling Stone	^[11]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	^[12]

In 2005, Houses of the Molé was ranked No. 434 in Rock Hard magazine's book of The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time.^[13]

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"No W"	Al Jourgensen	3:24
2.	"Waiting"	Jourgensen Mike Scaccia Max Brody	5:02
3.	"Worthless"	Jourgensen Scaccia Brody	4:09
4.	"Wrong"	Jourgensen Scaccia Brody John Monte	4:54
5.	"Warp City"	Jourgensen Scaccia Brody Monte	4:01
6.	"WTV"	Jourgensen Scaccia Brody	4:35
7.	"World"	Jourgensen	5:13
8.	"WKYJ"	Jourgensen Scaccia Brody	5:14
9.	"Worm"	Jourgensen Scaccia Brody	9:11
23.	"Psalm 23" (hidden track)	Jourgensen	4:41
69.	"Walrus" (hidden track)	Jourgensen	2:43
Total length:			55:00

Alternate printing track listing
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"No W Redux"	Jourgensen	2:55
2.	"Waiting"	Jourgensen Scaccia Brody	5:02
3.	"Worthless"	Jourgensen	4:09
4.	"Wrong"	Jourgensen Scaccia Brody Monte	4:54
5.	"Warp City"	Jourgensen Scaccia Brody Monte	4:01
6.	"WTV"	Jourgensen Scaccia Brody	4:25
7.	"World"	Jourgensen	5:13
8.	"WKYJ"	Jourgensen Scaccia Brody	5:14
9.	"Worm"	Jourgensen Scaccia Brody	9:11
13.	"Bloodlines" (hidden track)	Jourgensen	7:14
69.	"Walrus" (hidden track)	Jourgensen	2:43
Total length:			57:27

The original release of Houses of the Molé featured "Psalm 23", an alternate version of "No W". Later releases feature a Redux version of "No W" (with the "O Fortuna" samples removed), dropped "Psalm 23", and added another (hidden) track titled "Bloodlines". "Walrus" is hidden track on track 69, just like their song "Everybody" on their 1999 album Dark Side of the Spoon. Every other track on the CD editions of the album consists of five seconds of silence.

Personnel

Ministry

Al Jourgensen – vocals, guitars (1–4, 8, 9), bass (1, 7, 8), programming, slide guitar (5), harmonica (9), production
Mike Scaccia – lead guitar (1–3, 8), guitars, bass (2, 6, 9), background vocals (5, 9)
John Monte – bass (3–5), background vocals (5)
Mark Baker – drums (3–5), percussion (3), background vocals (5)

Additional personnel

Max Brody – programming (2, 6, 7, 9), drums (8), saxophone (9), background vocals (9)
Angie Jourgensen – background vocals (5, 9)
Odin Myers – background vocals (5)
Carl Wayne – background vocals (5)
Kol Marshall – B3 organ (8, 9)
Turner Vanblarcum – DJ voice (8)
Lawton Outlaw – original cover, inside tray art, art direction, design
Paul Elledge – photography
Rey Washam – drums (uncredited)^[3]

Chart positions

Chart (2004)	Peak position
French Albums (SNEP)^[14]	162
UK Albums (OCC)^[15]	135

References

^ Acharya, Kiran. "Revolting Lots: Al Jourgensen's Favourite Ministry Albums". The Quietus. Retrieved October 5, 2016.
^ ^a ^b Jourgensen & Wiederhorn 2013, p. 234.
^ ^a ^b Prindle, Mark. "Rey Washam - 2005". MarkPrindle.com. Retrieved August 16, 2016.
^ ^a ^b "Critic Reviews for Houses of the Molé". Metacritic. Retrieved November 10, 2012.
^ Loftus, Johnny. "House of the Molé - Ministry". AllMusic.
^ Chamy, Michael (September 3, 2004). "Ministry: Houses of the Molé". The Austin Chronicle. Retrieved November 10, 2012.
^ Paoletta, Michael, ed. (July 24, 2004). "Ministry, Houses of the Molé". Billboard Picks. Billboard. Vol. 116, no. 30. p. 53. Retrieved September 29, 2018 – via Google Books.
^ Popoff, Martin; Perri, David (2011). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 4: The '00s. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Collector's Guide Publishing. p. 323. ISBN 9781-926592-20-6.
^ Robb, John (June 16, 2004). "Houses of the Molé". Playlouder. Archived from the original on July 12, 2004. Retrieved November 10, 2012.
^ Mühlmann, Wolf-Rüdiger. "Rock Hard review". issue 206. Retrieved May 22, 2013.
^ Hoard, Christian (August 5, 2004). "Ministry: Houses Of The Molé : Music Reviews". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on October 2, 2007. Retrieved September 29, 2018.
^ McLeod, Kembrew (November 2004). "Ministry". In Brackett, Nathan (ed.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide. New York: Simon & Schuster. p. 544. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8 – via Internet Archive.
^ Best of Rock & Metal - Die 500 stärksten Scheiben aller Zeiten (in German). Rock Hard. 2005. p. 35. ISBN 3-89880-517-4.
^ "French chart positions" (in French). lescharts.com.
^ "Chart Log UK: M - My Vitriol". Zobbel.

Bibliography

Jourgensen, Al & Wiederhorn, Jon (July 9, 2013). Ministry: The Lost Gospels According To Al Jourgensen (loan required). Boston, MA: Da Capo Press. ISBN 9780306822186. OCLC 811206550 – via the Internet Archive.

External links

Houses of the Molé at Metacritic

v t e Ministry
Al Jourgensen John Bechdel Cesar Soto Paul D'Amour Roy Mayorga Monte Pittman Martin Atkins Paul Barker Max Brody Tony Campos Jason Christopher Chris Connelly Stephen George Zlatko Hukic John Monte Nivek Ogre Casey Orr Paul Raven Bill Rieflin Aaron Rossi Mike Scaccia Louis Svitek DJ Swamp Tommy Victor Rey Washam Derek Abrams Sin Quirin London May
Studio albums	With Sympathy Twitch The Land of Rape and Honey The Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Taste Psalm 69: The Way to Succeed and the Way to Suck Eggs Filth Pig Dark Side of the Spoon Animositisomina Houses of the Molé Rio Grande Blood The Last Sucker Relapse From Beer to Eternity AmeriKKKant Moral Hygiene Hopiumforthemasses
Live albums	In Case You Didn't Feel Like Showing Up Sphinctour Adios... Puta Madres Toronto 1986
Compilations and remixes	Twelve Inch Singles (1981–1984) Tapes of Wrath Greatest Fits Early Trax Side Trax Rantology Rio Grande Dub Ya Cover Up The Last Dubber MiXXXes of the Molé Every Day Is Halloween: The Anthology Undercover
Singles	"Cold Life" "I Wanted to Tell Her" "(Every Day Is) Halloween" "Over the Shoulder" "Stigmata" "Burning Inside" "Jesus Built My Hotrod" "N.W.O." "Just One Fix" "The Fall" "Lay Lady Lay" "Bad Blood" "No W" "Keys to the City" "Thunderstruck" "99 Percenters" "Double Tap" "PermaWar"
Other songs	"Thieves" "LiesLiesLies"
Related articles	Discography 1000 Homo DJs Acid Horse The Blackouts Defibrillatour Lard Lead into Gold Pailhead Pigface PTP Revolting Cocks Surgical Meth Machine Trax! Box
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This page was last edited on 12 March 2024, at 04:07

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