Al Jourgensen says Ministry's new album will be the band's last

Al Jourgensen, leader of American industrial metal band Ministry, says the group's new album, “Hate To Go (Take Out Or Delivery)”, out on 30 October, will be its last. He announced the end of the band in an interview with Hit Parader, reported by MusicRadar. Ministry will take its final bows on a world tour starting in April 2027.

“I figure it's time,” Jourgensen said, arguing that the band and its genre have gone as far as they can. He is very happy with the new record, which he sees as the culmination of 40 years of the same elements, but he is no longer keen on making this kind of music, or music at all. Now 68, he says he has other interests, that Ministry has run its course and that he has no regrets.

Jourgensen also insists he never wanted to be a rock star. He had planned to teach history at high school and college level, until his demo tapes started selling and he suddenly found himself in a band. He auditioned 10 or 12 singers because he did not want the job himself, and says he always wanted to be Jimmy Page rather than Robert Plant. He likened himself to Michael Corleone in “Godfather III”, pulled back in every time he tried to get out.

Jourgensen formed Ministry in Chicago in 1981. In the late 1980s the band released “The Land Of Rape And Honey” (1988) and “The Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Taste” (1989), ranking alongside Nine Inch Nails among the pioneers of industrial music. Its best-selling album, “Psalm 69: The Way To Succeed And The Way To Suck Eggs” (1992), earned a Grammy nomination.