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The Houses of the Molé is the latest album by industrial metal band Ministry with all songs starting with the letter "W" except for the first song and one hidden track. The album was released on June 21, 2004 internationally and a day later in the United States through Sanctuary. There is one theory behind the title, the most popular seems to be that it is a parody of Houses of the Holy, the 1973 album by the famous rock group Led Zeppelin.
The album "Houses of the Molé" was released in the run up to the 2004 United States of America presidential elections and it is an intensely political album, with quite a few of its songs highly critical of George W Bush junior, president of the United States of America at the time of its launch. (One theory behind the "W" naming scheme is that this was inspired by George W Bush's middle initial, W.) The first track on the album, No W, features numerous satirical samples of George W Bush's speeches, particularily sampling speeches in which he spoke of his war on terror. This political stance has divided fans, some of whom themselves voted for George Bush junior, or who at least agree with his views, and believe that Ministry should stay out of politics. They also state that this political stance has taken Ministry's views away from their music, distracting them and preventing them from producing albums of their expected quality. Other fans counter that Ministry has always been quite a political band, who have on numerous occasions in the past made condeming statements regarding George Bush seniors war on drugs and the gulf war. These fans also counter that music, as an expression of an artists views and feelings, is at times going to be unavoidably political and that condemning an artist's moral stance is akin to censorship.
No "W" is available as a free online single here (http://www.noiserecords.com/downloads/Ministry@www.noiserecords.com-No_W.mp3) and the video here (http://launch.yahoo.com/artist/videos.asp?artistID=1018130) or here (http://ministry.nu/no_w_video.php).
Track listing
- No "W" (Ministry) - 3:24
- Waiting (Ministry) - 5:02
- Worthless (Ministry) - 4:09
- Wrong (Ministry) - 4:54
- Wrap City (Ministry) - 4:01
- WTV (Ministry) - 4:25
- World (Ministry) - 5:13
- WKYJ (Ministry) - 5:14
- Worm (Ministry) - 9:10
Hidden Tracks
- Psalm 23 (Ministry) - 5:41
- Walrus (Ministry) - 2:45
Psalm 23 is an alternate version of "No W" (minus the Carmina Burana samples) preceded by a mysterious rendition of The Star-Spangled Banner (source of the recording unknown).