Al Jourgensen says Ministry is approaching its final curtain: one last album, followed by a farewell tour, and then the end of the band.
The 68-year-old founder insists the 10-track Hate to Go (Take Out or Delivery) will be Ministry’s final studio statement. Once the group finishes touring behind it next year, Jourgensen plans to step away after what he describes as 45 years in the same job.
“It is so — final album, final tour,” he told Billboard during a Zoom interview from his home in Southern California. “In 14 months from now I will be just a simple goat herder.”
Jourgensen, who founded Ministry in 1981, made clear that he does not envision another comeback after the farewell. “There’s no regrets. There’s no turning back,” he said. “We’re excited for new possibilities in life instead of doing the same job for 45 years.”
A Final Album Built as a Celebration
Jourgensen had previously considered 2024’s Hopiumforthemasses a possible ending for Ministry. But after making the 2025 project The Squirrely Years, he said the musicians decided “we had one more left in us.”
Hate to Go (Take Out or Delivery) opens with “Crickets” and closes with the defiant “We’re Still Here,” which features the return of longtime Ministry member Paul Barker. Jourgensen said bringing Barker back after an acrimonious departure was a deliberate part of completing the band’s story.
“Our relationship has evolved over the years,” Jourgensen explained. “Instead of being in court, now we’re in a pub together.” He added that placing Barker on the final song “felt like it was the right send-off to Ministry.”
The album combines the humor, politics and social commentary that Jourgensen considers central to the band. Cesar Soto’s guitar solos feature prominently on “Clown Car,” a song attacking the country’s current political leadership, and “Singularity,” which addresses Jourgensen’s fears about artificial intelligence.
AI was also part of the album’s creation. Jourgensen used the technology to locate spoken samples from presidents including Barack Obama and Donald Trump, reducing a process that he said once required listening to many hours of political speeches.
Even after using it as a production tool, Jourgensen remains alarmed by AI’s development. “I’m terrified,” he said, arguing that he does not want to spend another 17 albums warning listeners about the technology. Social media also comes under fire on the track “Delete.”
Jourgensen described the completed record not as a mournful goodbye but as a compact overview of Ministry’s career. “It was more like a celebration,” he said, adding that listeners unfamiliar with the catalog could begin with the new album and then work backward.
Four Decades of Ministry
Jourgensen formed Ministry after playing in the post-punk band Special Affect. The new group released early singles through Chicago’s Wax Trax! Records and made its live debut on New Year’s Day 1982.
An Arista Records deal produced the synth-pop album With Sympathy in 1983, a period during which Jourgensen says producer, backing-vocal and lyric decisions were imposed on him. He revisited a number of those songs on The Squirrely Years.
After moving to Sire Records, Ministry released Twitch in 1986. Albums including 1988’s The Land of Rape and Honey, 1990’s The Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Taste, 1992’s platinum Psalm 69 and 1996’s Filth Pig followed. “N.W.O.,” the opening track from Psalm 69, brought the first of Ministry’s six Grammy Award nominations, while Filth Pig reached No. 19 on the Billboard 200.
Although Ministry became a leading name in industrial rock, Jourgensen has pushed back against that classification. He says the band draws from rock, punk, country, jazz and experimental music while retaining conventional elements such as verses, choruses, melodies and hooks.
ShowBiz Take
Jourgensen is framing Ministry’s exit as a planned conclusion rather than an open-ended hiatus. The return of Barker, the album’s career-spanning character and plans to represent every Ministry album onstage all reinforce that intention.
The significance is not simply that another record and tour are coming. Jourgensen is presenting both as the final pieces of a project that began in 1981, with the new material addressing the political and technological anxieties that continue to occupy him while also reconnecting with the band’s past.
What Happens Next?
Ministry will take the farewell campaign on the road, beginning with three Good Things Festival appearances in Australia and two additional dates. A European run with Die Krupps is scheduled to start April 2; Die Krupps also remixed two songs from Hate to Go (Take Out or Delivery).
North American dates have not yet been announced, although Ministry is confirmed for the Sonic Temple Art & Music Festival on May 16 in Columbus, Ohio.
Jourgensen expects the farewell shows to feature 20 to 25 songs each night, with material representing every Ministry album. He has also been approached by unnamed artists about guest appearances, but says anyone joining the band will need to rehearse and contribute to the performance as part of the team.
“We’re really focused on just going out proper,” he said. “And then drop the mic and not have to do this anymore.”