Rio Grande Blood

Rio Grande Blood, the 2nd part of Ministry’s Anti George W. Bush Trilogy (Also Including, 2004’s Houses of the Molé and 2007’s The Last Sucker), is Ministry’s tenth studio album. It was released on May 2, 2006.

The title of the album is a parody of the 1972 ZZ Top album Rio Grande Mud.

The album contains very political lyrics, making frequent allusions to the current George W. Bush administration. In fact, the album’s cover uses what appears to be a heavily modified portrait of George W. Bush face with the body of a crucified Christ. Also, some of the issues raised include the occupation of Iraq by U.S. troops, U.S. immigration policy and U.S. military policy (particularly the US Marine Corps in the song “Gangreen”). The Halliburton corporation is also quoted and linked to the Bush administration. The track “Señor Peligro” appears to come out in support of Hugo Chávez - the President of Venezuela - against the U.S. government: “Señor Peligro” is Spanish for “Mr. Danger,” a nickname that Chávez uses for Bush.

The album also contains allegations of Bush administration complicity in the 9/11 attacks in the track “Lieslieslies,” which contains audio samples from the conspiracy documentary Loose Change. The song received a nomination for Best Metal Performance at the 49th annual Grammy Awards.

A remix of the song “The Great Satan” from Rantology 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.”

Track listing

1. "Rio Grande Blood" – 4:24 (Jourgensen)
2. "Señor Peligro" – 3:38 (Jourgensen, Victor)
3. "Gangreen" (ft. Sgt. Major) – 6:00 (Jourgensen, Victor)
4. "Fear (Is Big Business)" – 4:51 (Jourgensen, Victor)
5. "LiesLiesLies" – 5:16 (Jourgensen, Victor)
6. "The Great Satan (Remix)" – 3:09 (Jourgensen)
7. "Yellow Cake" – 4:35 (Jourgensen, Raven)
8. "Palestina" – 3:18 (Jourgensen, Victor)
9. "Ass Clown" (ft. Jello Biafra) – 6:42 (Jourgensen, Raven)
10. "Khyber Pass" (ft. Liz Constantine) – 7:31 (Jourgensen, Raven, Victor)
11. "Silence" - 0:04
12. "Silence" - 0:06
13. "Sgt. Major Redux" (ft. Sgt. Major) – 1:45

Personnel

Ministry

• Al Jourgensen - vocals, guitars (1-3, 5-10), bass (1, 6), keyboards, drum programming (1, 6), producer
• Tommy Victor - guitars (2-5, 7-10), bass (2-4)
• Paul Raven - keyboards (2, 3, 10), background vocals (2, 3), bass (5, 7-10), guitar (7, 9, 10) drum programming (7, 9), drums (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), engineer
• Mike Scaccia - lead guitar (6)
• Jello Biafra - intro vocals (9)
• Liz Constantine - additional vocals (10)
• John Gray - engineer

Trivia

• Track number 10, "Khyber Pass", appears at the end of The Hurt Locker, a movie set in the Iraq War.
• The album spawned 2 Grammy nominated tracks for Best Metal Performance: "The Great Satan" in 2005 and "Lieslieslies" in 2006.
• The song "Palestina" has featured in 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.
• 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.
• The songs Lieslieslies and The Great Satan are available as downloadable content on the video game Rock Band 2.

Charting Positions

Album