Al Jourgensen says Ministry has 'run its course' ahead of final album Hate To Go

Al Jourgensen has said he is bringing Ministry to an end after the touring cycle for the band's final album, Hate To Go (Take Out Or Delivery), which is released on 30 October 2026 through Cleopatra Records. The Ministry leader gave his reasons in an interview with Hit Parader, which was reported by Blabbermouth on 17 October.

Asked why now was the right time, Jourgensen said: "We've taken our genre and this band as far as we can go." He described the new record as a culmination of 40 years of the same elements and a good one to go out on, though he said he was not enthused about carrying on with this kind of music, or music in general.

'It would get really repetitive'

Jourgensen was blunt about the creative risk of continuing. "It would get boring, and it would get really repetitive," he said, adding that he did not think another album would be as good. He also pointed to his age, 68, and said he had other interests.

"I never wanted to do this anyways."

He went on to say that he had wanted to be a history professor, and that demo tapes which began to sell pulled him into a band. By his account he auditioned ten or twelve singers because he did not want to sing himself, and he said he had always wanted to be Jimmy Page rather than Robert Plant. He compared his experience to Michael Corleone in Godfather 3: "Every time I try and get out, they pull me back in." He said he had been able to sustain a 45-year career, but that "there comes a time".

The album and the goodbye tour

Hate To Go (Take Out Or Delivery) is Ministry's 17th studio album. According to the report, it features a final collaboration with former member Paul Barker on the closing track, We're Still Here. The current line-up on the record comprises guitarists Monte Pittman and Cesar Soto, bassist Paul D'Amour, sampler and synth player John Bechdel and drummer Pepe Clarke Magaña.

Ministry will take the new material and older songs on an international farewell tour in 2027. The Goodbye Europe leg, with Die Krupps as special guests, begins in April 2027 and will be followed by a full US run. The source does not give dates, cities or venues, and UK shows are not confirmed.

Forty-five years of Ministry

Ministry formed in Chicago in 1981. They began with four 12-inch singles on Wax Trax! Records and a synth-pop debut album, With Sympathy, released through Arista in 1983. The band then moved towards a harsher sound on albums including The Land Of Rape And Honey (1988) and Psalm 69 (1992), which brought their first Grammy nomination. They have received six in total.

Ministry went on an indefinite break in 2013 and returned in 2018 with AmeriKKKant. The previous album, Hopiumforthemasses, came out in 2024, and The Squirrely Years Revisited, a set of reworked synth-pop-era songs, followed in 2025.