In a new interview with Steve Baltin of Hit Parader, MINISTRY leader Al Jourgensen spoke about his decision to call it quits after the touring cycle in support of the band’s final album, “Hate To Go (Take Out Or Delivery)”, which will arrive on October 30 via Cleopatra Records. Asked why now is the right time for him to hang it up, Al said: “I figure it’s time. We’ve taken our genre and this band as far as we can go.

“I’m really happy with this album and I think it’s a culmination of 40 years of the same elements,” he explained. “Like I said, it’s a good one to go out on. 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.

“I just think that MINISTRY has run its course,” Al added. “And I’m glad it was here when it was here. But I have no regrets looking back on it and everything. It would get boring, and it would get really repetitive. And I don’t think the product would be as good if I tried to do another one. So, I think it’s the proper time. Plus, I’m 68 years old. It’s, like, God bless THE ROLLING STONES. They’re in their 80s. They do a new record and this and that. But I just have other interests. Basically, I never wanted to do this anyways. It’s pretty well documented that I just wanted to be a history professor for high school and college. And then I had these demo tapes that started selling and all of a sudden, I’m in a band and I’m trying to put together the band. I auditioned like 10 or 12 singers. I did not want to be singer. If anything, I always wanted to be Jimmy Page, not Robert Plant. And here I was, it just kept dragging me in. I kind of felt like Michael Corleone in ‘Godfather 3’. Every time I try and get out, they pull me back in. So, it just kept getting to be more and more of this behemoth. I didn’t really set out to do this path to start with, but I guess I was able to do it well enough to sustain a 45-year career but there comes a time.”

In a 2023 interview with Yahoo! Entertainment ‘s Lyndsey Parker, Al Jourgensen revealed that he is close to putting MINISTRY to bed, more than 40 years after he launched the band in his former hometown of Chicago.

“My career is winding down with MINISTRY,” Jourgensen said. “I’m gonna stop MINISTRY in an album or two. I have to. I have other things I wanna do.”

He continued: “My public and my band are all in agreement that we are being shackled by… We are taking our genre to the farthest limits it can go, and we’re happy with that. And we’ll stop when it’s time instead of keep going and trying to just recreate the same stuff. We keep trying to push further. So, I figure there’s only maybe one more MINISTRY album to go. Maybe two, but probably one.”

Jourgensen added: “I have other things to do. I have projects that I’m working on with various people. I have film scores. And MINISTRY, now we’re being held to the standard of this new MINISTRY of, okay, either push further or do the most popular stuff over and over and over and over, which we have with ‘Psalm 69’ or something like that. I’m tired of that. We’re all tired of that. Well, we are. The fans aren’t. So I think this next year or two is gonna be really transformative in the sense that I’m wrapping a bow on my entire career and saying, ‘Drop mic. Thank you. Thank you for buying our t-shirts… Good night. And now I hope you follow me on my next journey.”

Al revealed that one of MINISTRY‘s final recordings might be a ‘remake” of the band’s first album, “With Sympathy”, which he claims he had little control over, with the record company at the time dictating its direction. According to Jourgensen, a new version of “With Sympathy” would “tie a bow on the whole thing, and just say, ‘Drop mic. Good night. I’m outta here.'”

The MINISTRY mastermind said that he and his bandmates are heading into the studio to commence work on a new recording of “Revenge”, one of three singles from “With Sympathy”, with the possibility that they will re-record three of the album’s other cuts: “Effigy”, “Work For Love” and “Here We Go”. As for when fans might hear these new versions, Al said: “I think it’s going to be sooner than you think.”