Metal Anarchy

During a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Ministry’s Al Jourgensen offered an update on the band’s final album. Work on the effort will commence in June and it will find the group rejoined by Paul Barker.

Jourgensen said the following about the album, while discussing his reunion with Barker:

“We realized it was both of our ex-wives suing each other instead of us. He just moved close to me here. I have a recording studio in my house, so we’re going to start the final album together in June. We’re best buddies now. We should have always been, but literally it was two other people suing each other in our names. It was really bizarre.”

He continued:

“I just heard some of his ideas. What Ministry is doing now is kind of like arena rock — it’s just much more simple and guttural — where Barker is much more ethereal and it’s more like a Brian Eno–type. So the two styles combined is what makes Ministry “Ministry.” What he played me the other day was just extraordinary.”

He also explained his decision to retire:

“I’m 65 now. I was hoping to retire at 65, but two years of Covid made it so I can’t afford that yet. So I’ll do another couple years, and then that’s it. There’s no point in touring. And touring gets harder as you’re older anyways, and I don’t really want to do the whole casino circuit.”

He then added:

“I’m not divulging my medical records, so there might be underlying reasons why it’s also time to go. I’ll just put it at that.”

Aside from the final album, Ministry also re-recorded songs from “With Sympathy” and are planning to perform them at the Cruel World festival in Pasadena, CA. Jourgensen said the following about that:

“We turned them into arena-rock songs. People at Cruel World are going to freak out. I feel empowered, and it’s very cathartic for me to finally be able to own these songs instead of run from them. This Cruel World thing is going to be literally a public exorcism.”