''Rio Grande Blood'' is the tenth studio album by American

industrial metal Industrial metal is the fusion of Heavy metal music, heavy metal and industrial music, typically employing repeating Heavy metal guitar, metal guitar riffs, sampling (music), sampling, synthesizer or music sequencer, sequencer lines, and Distor ...

band Ministry, released in 2006. It is their first release through 13th Planet and

Megaforce Records Megaforce Records is an American independent record label founded in 1982 by Jon Zazula and his wife Marsha Zazula to release the first works of Metallica, and devoted primarily to hard rock and heavy metal. It has offices in New York City (whe ...

Overview

The album is the second installment in the band's anti-

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...

trilogy, preceded by 2004's '' Houses of the Molé'' and followed by 2007's '' The Last Sucker''. The title of the album is a parody of the 1972

ZZ Top ZZ Top is an American rock band formed in Houston, Texas, in 1969. For almost 56 years, it consisted of vocalist-guitarist Billy Gibbons, drummer Frank Beard (musician), Frank Beard, and bassist-vocalist Dusty Hill prior to his death in 2021. ZZ ...

album '' Rio Grande Mud''. Just like ''Houses of the Molé'', ''Rio Grande Blood'' contains very political lyrics, making frequent allusions to the

George W. Bush administration George W. Bush's tenure as the 43rd president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2001, and ended on January 20, 2009. Bush, a Republican from Texas, took office following his narrow electoral college vict ...

. The second track makes an explicit reference to Bush as Señor Peligro, which translates to ''"Mr. Danger"'' in Spanish. Some of the issues raised include the then-current

Iraq War The Iraq War (), also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with 2003 invasion of Iraq, the invasion by a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition, which ...

, U.S. immigration policy and U.S. military policy (particularly the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expeditionar ...

in the song "Gangreen"). The

Halliburton Halliburton Company is an American multinational corporation and the world's second-largest oil service company which is responsible for most of the world's fracking operations. It employs approximately 55,000 people through its hundreds of su ...

corporation is also quoted and linked to the Bush administration. The album also contains allegations of the Bush administration complicity in the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

in the track "Lieslieslies," which contains audio samples from the conspiracy documentary series ''

Loose Change ''Loose Change'' is a series of films released between 2005 and 2009 that argue in favor of certain conspiracy theories relating to the September 11 attacks. The films were written and directed by Dylan Avery and produced by Korey Rowe, Jason ...

''. The song received a nomination for

Best Metal Performance The Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance is an award presented at the Grammy Awards to recording artists for works (songs or albums) containing quality performances in the heavy metal music genre. The Grammy Awards is an annual ceremony, where ...

at the

49th Grammy Awards The 49th Annual Grammy Awards was a ceremony honoring the best in music for the recording year beginning October 1, 2005, and ending September 30, 2006, in the United States. The awards were handed out on Sunday, February 11, 2007, at the Stap ...

. A remix of the song "The Great Satan" from ''

Rantology ''Rantology'' is a compilation album by American industrial metal band Ministry. The album is made up of remixes of the band's singles and best known songs - with the exception of track 2 ("The Great Satan") which was first released here and bec ...

'' appears on this album. Along with "LiesLiesLies", "The Great Satan" was also nominated for a Grammy. Samples of genuine Bush soundbites are cut-and-pasted together at various points to satirical effect: for example, the title track begins with Bush stating "I have adopted sophisticated terrorist tactics and I'm a dangerous, dangerous man with dangerous, dangerous weapons." Jourgensen ranks ''Rio Grande Blood'' as his second-favorite Ministry album, saying that not only he liked the songs but he had a good time working with Paul Raven and Tommy Victor. He was also proud that some of the songs were used in the 2008

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

winning film ''

The Hurt Locker ''The Hurt Locker'' is a 2008 American war action thriller film directed by Kathryn Bigelow and written by Mark Boal. It stars Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty, Christian Camargo, Ralph Fiennes, David Morse, and Guy Pearce. T ...

''.

Track listing

Personnel

Ministry

Al Jourgensen Alain David Jourgensen (born Alejandro Ramírez Casas; October 9, 1958) is a Cuban-American singer, musician and music producer. Closely related with the independent record label Wax Trax! Records, his musical career spans four decades. He is t ...

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...

(1),

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

s (1–3, 5–10),

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

(1, 6), keyboards (1–10),

drum programming Programming is a form of music production and performance using electronic devices and computer software, such as sequencers and workstations or hardware synthesizers, sampler and sequencers, to generate sounds of musical instruments. These mu ...

(1, 6),

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stat ...

Tommy Victor Thomas Michael Victor (born 1961/1962) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, and producer. He is best known as the lead singer and guitarist for heavy metal band Prong, which he founded in New York City in 1986, as well as the guitaris ...

- guitars (2–5, 7–10), bass (2–4) * Paul Raven - keyboards (2, 3, 10),

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are us ...

(2, 3), bass (5, 7–10), guitars (7, 9, 10) drum programming (7, 9),

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

(10) * Mark Baker - drums (2, 3, 5, 8, 10)

Additional personnel

* Isaias Martinez - Latin vocals (2) * Freddie Macias - background vocals (2, 3) * Sgt. Major - drill instructor vocals (3, 13) * Bobby Torres - background vocals (3) * Jim Ward - background vocals (3) * Justin Leeah - drum programming (4),

engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

Mike Scaccia Michael Ralph Scaccia ( ; June 14, 1965 – December 22, 2012) was an American musician, best known as a guitarist for several heavy metal and alternative rock acts, including Rigor Mortis, Ministry and Revolting Cocks. Life and career Scacci ...

- lead guitar (6) *

Jello Biafra Eric Reed Boucher (born June 17, 1958), known professionally as Jello Biafra, is an American singer, spoken word artist and political activist. He is the former lead singer and songwriter for the San Francisco punk rock band Dead Kennedys. Init ...

- intro vocals (9) * Liz Constantine - additional vocals (10) * John Gray - engineering * John Bilberry - assistant engineering * Dave Donnelly - mastering * Lawton Outlaw -

art direction Art director is a title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, live-action and animated film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to super ...

, design, layout

In popular culture

*The song "Palestina" is used in the skateboarding game '' Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam''. *The sound after the opening speech at the album's beginning is sampled from the track "Snagglepuss" by

John Zorn John Zorn (born September 2, 1953) is an American composer, conducting, conductor, saxophonist, arrangement, arranger and record producer, producer who "deliberately resists category". His Avant-garde music, avant-garde and experimental music, ex ...

. *The song "Señor Peligro" is used in the video game '' Scarface: The World Is Yours''. *The song "Lieslieslies" is featured in the 2007 film ''

Battle for Haditha ''Battle for Haditha'' is a 2007 drama film directed by British director Nick Broomfield based on the Haditha killings. Dramatising real events using a documentary style, ''Battle for Haditha'' is Broomfield's follow up to ''Ghosts (2006 film), ...

''. *The songs "Lieslieslies" and "The Great Satan" are available as downloadable content for the video game ''

Rock Band 2 ''Rock Band 2'' is a 2008 rhythm game developed by Harmonix, published by MTV Games, and distributed by Electronic Arts. It is the sequel to ''Rock Band (video game), Rock Band'' (2007) and the second installment in the Rock Band, ''Rock Band ' ...

''. *The songs "Fear (Is Big Business)", "Palestina", and "Khyber Pass" were used in the

-winning 2009 film ''

''.

Chart positions

Remix album

A remix album of dub remixes titled '' Rio Grande Dub'' was released on July 10, 2007.

References

Bibliography

* {{Authority control 2006 albums Albums produced by Al Jourgensen Megaforce Records albums Ministry (band) albums Cultural depictions of George W. Bush Obscenity controversies in music