The Covenant, The Sword, and the Arm of the Lord | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 14 October 1985 [1] | |||
Genre | New wave, synthpop, EBM | |||
Length | 45:07 (original LP release) | |||
Label | Virgin, Caroline Records | |||
Producer | Cabaret Voltaire | |||
Cabaret Voltaire chronology | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Encyclopedia of Popular Music | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
The Great Rock Discography | 6/10 [4] |
MusicHound | 4/5 [5] |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Spin Alternative Record Guide | 7/10 [7] |
The Covenant, The Sword and the Arm of the Lord is the seventh full-length studio album by the electronic band Cabaret Voltaire. The album was released through Some Bizzare Records in November 1985. The album's title was shortened to The Arm of the Lord for the United States. [8]
Cabaret Voltaire struggled with several censorship issues with Some Bizarre and Virgin Records upon the release of the album. The original title, The Covenant, the Sword, and the Arm of the Lord , was forced to be shortened in the US to avoid reference to a former American white supremacist organisation. Musically, the album featured a more abrasive, sample-heavy sound than its predecessor and contained many sexual innuendos in the lyrics, to which Virgin Records took objection. Several speeches by Charles Manson were also mixed in between songs. Cabaret Voltaire were warned by their record label to produce a charting single or risk being dropped, so the group subversively released a music video for the track "I Want You", which Richard H. Kirk later admitted was about masturbation.
The album peaked at #57 in the UK, [9] securing Cabaret Voltaire's future with the label. However the group switched to EMI for the release of Code , their 1987 follow-up album.
11 and 12 are CD bonus tracks from the Drinking Gasoline EP.
Industrial music is a genre of music that draws on harsh, mechanical, transgressive or provocative sounds and themes. AllMusic defines industrial music as the "most abrasive and aggressive fusion of rock and electronic music" that was "initially a blend of avant-garde electronics experiments and punk provocation". The term was coined in the mid-1970s with the founding of Industrial Records by members of Throbbing Gristle and Monte Cazazza. While the genre name originated with Throbbing Gristle's emergence in the United Kingdom, artists and labels vital to the genre also emerged in the United States and other countries.
Cabaret Voltaire were an English music group formed in Sheffield in 1973 and initially composed of Stephen Mallinder, Richard H. Kirk, and Chris Watson. Named for the Zürich nightclub that fostered the early Dada movement, the band are often characterized as among the most innovative and influential electronic acts of their era.
Old Wave is the ninth studio album by English rock musician Ringo Starr. It was originally released in June 1983, on the label Bellaphon, and is the two-year follow-up to his 1981 album Stop and Smell the Roses. The title is a play on new wave music.
Richard Harold Kirk was an English composer, musician and producer. Kirk is best known for his work in electronic music, and for co-founding the influential music group Cabaret Voltaire in 1973. As a solo artist, Kirk released music under his own name as well as under more than 30 aliases. He also collaborated with other artists in a range of groups such as Sweet Exorcist and Acid Horse.
Stephen William Mallinder is an English artist and musician who was a founding member of Cabaret Voltaire, and went on to work as Sassi & Loco, the Ku-Ling Bros., Hey, Rube!, Wrangler, and Creep Show.
Children of God is the fifth studio album by American experimental rock band Swans. It was released on October 19, 1987, through record label Caroline.
Balaam and the Angel are a Scottish rock band founded by Mark, James (Jim), and Desmond (Des) Morris in Cannock, England in 1984.
Drinking Gasoline is a 1985 EP release by Cabaret Voltaire, originally released on the Some Bizzare label and distributed through Virgin Records. All four tracks are featured on the band's "Gasoline in Your Eye" videocassette, also issued in 1985. All known copies of the original UK pressing had labels on the wrong discs It peaked at #71 in the UK.
Code is the eighth studio album by the English electronic band Cabaret Voltaire, released in October 1987 by EMI Records.
International Language is the twelfth studio album by English electronic band Cabaret Voltaire, released in October 1993 on the band's own label, Plastex.
Mix-Up is the debut studio album by English band Cabaret Voltaire. It was released on 23 October 1979, through record label Rough Trade.
Live at the Y.M.C.A 27-10-79 is a live album by industrial/post-punk band Cabaret Voltaire, recorded in 1979 and originally released in 1980 by Rough Trade. It was re-released on CD in 1990 on Mute Records in the UK and on Restless Records in the US. The album contains a cover of The Velvet Underground's "Here She Comes Now" from their album White Light/White Heat.
The Crackdown is the fifth studio album by English electronic band Cabaret Voltaire, released in August 1983 jointly through record labels Some Bizzare and Virgin. It was produced by the band themselves and Flood.
Red Mecca is the third studio album by English industrial band Cabaret Voltaire, released in September 1981 through Rough Trade Records.
A Factory Sample is a 7-inch double sampler EP released in January 1979 by Factory Records of Manchester, England. Funded by a small inheritance which had recently been bequeathed to Tony Wilson, it was the first vinyl recording to be released by the label. The cover of the EP is made of rice paper, dyed silver and sealed inside a thin plastic bag.
The Voice of America is the second studio album by English band Cabaret Voltaire. It was released in July 1980, through record label Rough Trade.
Hai! is a 1982 live album by the U.K. industrial band Cabaret Voltaire. It was recorded at the Tsubaki House in Tokyo, Japan on 23 March 1982, and was released on CD in 1991 by Mute Records Ltd. The original master tapes being lost, the CD was transferred from a vinyl copy.
Gifts & Messages is an album by the jazz multi-instrumentalist Roland Kirk. It was originally released on the Mercury label in 1964 and features performances by Kirk with Horace Parlan, Michael Fleming and Steve Ellington.
Groovy, Laidback and Nasty is the ninth studio album by English electronic band Cabaret Voltaire, released in April 1990 by record label Parlophone.
Body and Soul is the tenth studio album by English electronic band Cabaret Voltaire, released in March 1991 by Belgium-based label Les Disques du Crépuscule.