Ethereal Metal

Ryan Murray | Co-Owner | Chief Editor | Contributor | Photographer

r.m.music84@gmail.com

After more than four decades of pushing boundaries, provoking audiences, and helping define industrial music as we know it, Ministry is preparing to close the book on one of the genre’s most influential careers.

The legendary industrial outfit has announced that its 17th and final studio album, Hate To Go (Take Out Or Delivery), will arrive October 30 via Cleopatra Records, marking the end of a journey that began in Chicago in 1981 under the vision of founder Al Jourgensen.

Alongside the announcement, Ministry has released the album’s first single, “Burned Out,” offering fans an early glimpse into what will serve as the band’s farewell statement.

For generations of industrial, metal, and alternative music fans, Ministry’s impact extends far beyond their own catalog. While the band’s earliest recordings embraced the synth-pop sounds of the early 1980s, Jourgensen’s relentless creative evolution transformed Ministry into one of the defining forces behind industrial metal. Landmark releases including The Land of Rape and Honey, The Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Taste, and Psalm 69: The Way to Succeed and the Way to Suck Eggs helped reshape heavy music, influencing countless artists across industrial, metal, hardcore, and alternative genres.

Throughout a career spanning 45 years, Ministry has released 17 studio albums, earned six Grammy nominations, toured extensively across five continents, weathered multiple hiatuses and reinventions, and remained unapologetically outspoken through decades of political and social commentary.

For Jourgensen, however, the time has finally come.

“I’m fucking done. I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished. I’m amazed at the path that it’s taken, from With Sympathy to where we’re at today, and all points in between. It’s been quite a ride, but I’m completely at peace with the fact that it’s done. It’s time to herd goats.”

The farewell album also brings one final reunion with longtime collaborator and legacy member Paul Barker, who appears on the closing track, “We’re Still Here.” The record additionally features current Ministry members Monte Pittman, Cesar Soto, Paul D’Amour, John Bechdel, and Pepe Clarke Magaña.

The album’s track listing is as follows:

1. Crickets
2. Voices of Hate
3. Clown Car
4. We Hate
5. Delete
6. Grifter
7. The White Man Lied*
8. Singularity
9. Burned Out
10. We’re Still Here (featuring Paul Barker)

*Track 7 does not appear on cassette or vinyl editions.

To accompany the release, Ministry will embark on a farewell world tour beginning with the Goodbye Europe Tour in April 2027 alongside Die Krupps before launching a full U.S. farewell run, which will be announced at a later date. Before then, fans will have one final opportunity to catch the band at a handful of U.S. performances later this year, including appearances at Red Rocks, Louder Than Life, Chicago’s Salt Shed, and Sick New World Texas.

Whether you first discovered Ministry through the synth-pop beginnings of With Sympathy, the groundbreaking aggression of Psalm 69, or their politically charged modern-era releases, it’s difficult to overstate the band’s influence on heavy music. Their fearless experimentation helped lay the foundation for industrial metal while inspiring generations of artists who followed.

With Hate To Go (Take Out Or Delivery), one of industrial music’s most important chapters is preparing to come to a close.