Al Jourgensen is not leaving the door open. In a new interview with Hit Parader, reported by Blabbermouth on Saturday, Oct. 17, the 68-year-old Ministry founder explained why the Ministry final album, Hate To Go (Take Out Or Delivery), really is the end of the line. “I just think that MINISTRY has run its course,” he said. The record lands Oct. 30 on Cleopatra Records, and a 2027 farewell tour follows.
The Ministry final album and the farewell plan are not new. Both were announced in July. What is new is Jourgensen talking at length about why he is done, and how little he wants to keep making this kind of music at all.
Why Jourgensen Says It’s Time
According to Blabbermouth’s report on the Hit Parader interview, Jourgensen framed the decision as creative, not just physical:
“I figure it’s time. We’ve taken our genre and this band as far as we can go.”
He called the Ministry final album “a culmination of 40 years of the same elements” and “a good one to go out on,” then went further than most retiring frontmen do:
“I’m really happy with the way this came out. But I’m not enthused about continuing to keep doing this kind of music or music in general.”
Asked about a follow-up to the Ministry final album, he said another record “would get boring, and it would get really repetitive,” and that he doesn’t “think the product would be as good if I tried to do another one.” He pointed to his age, tipped his hat to the Rolling Stones still recording in their 80s, and said, “I just have other interests.”
Then the line longtime fans will recognize: “Basically, I never wanted to do this anyways.” Jourgensen repeated that he wanted to be a history professor, that he auditioned “like 10 or 12 singers” before ending up at the mic himself, and that “I always wanted to be Jimmy Page, not Robert Plant.” He compared the whole run to Michael Corleone in The Godfather Part III: “Every time I try and get out, they pull me back in.”
Back in July, his statement to Rolling Stone was blunter: “I’m fucking done… It’s time to herd goats.”
Inside the Ministry Final Album
Rolling Stone and Blabbermouth both describe Hate To Go (Take Out Or Delivery) as Ministry’s 17th studio album. It was previewed with the single “Burned Out.” The Ministry final album closes with “We’re Still Here,” which features one final collaboration with legacy member Paul Barker.
The rest of the Ministry final album was made with the current lineup:
- Monte Pittman – guitar
- Cesar Soto – guitar
- Paul D’Amour – bass
- John Bechdel – samplers/synths
- Pepe Clarke Magaña – drums
Rolling Stone lists ten tracks: “Crickets,” “Voices of Hate,” “Clown Car,” “We Hate,” “Delete,” “Grifter,” “The White Man Lied,” “Singularity,” “Burned Out” and “We’re Still Here.” The magazine says the record will come on vinyl, CD, cassette and digital, with several vinyl variants and box sets.
Goodbye Europe First, America After
The tour behind the Ministry final album opens overseas. The “Hate To Go – Goodbye Europe 2027” run with German industrial veterans Die Krupps starts April 2, 2027, at Ronda in Utrecht, Netherlands, and ends May 1, 2027, at the House of Culture in Helsinki, Finland, according to the date list posted by Die Krupps. In between are 19 more shows, including London’s Troxy (April 10), Paris’ Bataclan (April 12) and Berlin’s Columbiahalle (April 24). Rolling Stone says the European dates come with meet-and-greet packages with Jourgensen.
After Europe, both the band’s announcement and the new Blabbermouth piece promise “a full U.S. run.” That is where the facts stop. As of Oct. 17:
- No U.S. farewell dates have been announced. Rolling Stone said in July that “exact dates and venues” were “coming soon.”
- No San Diego or Southern California stop has been announced.
- U.S. support acts are unknown, including whether Die Krupps stay on the bill.
- It has not been announced when the U.S. leg starts beyond following the European run.
The only 2026 U.S. shows Rolling Stone mentioned in July were Chicago’s Salt Shed, Red Rocks in Colorado, Louder Than Life and Sick New World Texas. None of them were in California.
What the Ministry Final Album Closes Out
Jourgensen started Ministry in Chicago in 1981. Blabbermouth’s background traces the path from four Wax Trax! 12-inch singles and the synth-pop debut With Sympathy (1983) to the records that made the band industrial metal’s loudest export: Twitch (1986), The Land Of Rape And Honey (1988), The Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Taste (1989) and Psalm 69 (1992), which brought the first of six Grammy nominations. After a break in 2013, the band returned with AmeriKKKant (2018), then Moral Hygiene (2021), Hopiumforthemasses (2024) and the synth-era rework The Squirrely Years Revisited (2025).
That sound runs straight through bands SDMETAL covers every week, from the Fear Factory tour that hits House of Blues San Diego to the Soulfly and Nailbomb night at Soda Bar. For a wider look at where heavy music stands right now, see our state of metal in 2025 rundown.
For now, the Ministry final album arrives Oct. 30. SDMETAL will update this story if a U.S. farewell date in San Diego or anywhere in Southern California is announced.
SDMETAL