Ministry sets final album ‘Hate To Go (Take Out Or Delivery)’ for 30 October on Cleopatra Records
Ministry release farewell album “Hate To Go (Take Out Or Delivery)” on Cleopatra Records on 30 October 2026, ahead of a 2027 tour.
Ministry release their farewell studio album, “Hate To Go (Take Out Or Delivery)”, on Cleopatra Records on 30 October 2026. The Chicago industrial band’s 17th studio album closes a 45-year career and arrives on CD, cassette and vinyl, alongside a digital edition available to pre-save.
Al Jourgensen, Ministry’s founder and only constant member since 1981, confirmed the album ends the band. The current lineup pairs Jourgensen’s vocals with guitarists Monte Pittman and Cesar Soto, bassist Paul D’Amour, synth player John Bechdel and drummer Pepe Clarke Magaña. Paul Barker, Jourgensen’s main collaborator through the 1980s and 1990s who left Ministry in 2003 and rejoined in 2024, guests on the closing track, “We’re Still Here.”
Jourgensen summed up the decision plainly: “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.”
“Hate To Go (Take Out Or Delivery)” runs ten tracks on CD and digital, trimmed to nine on cassette and vinyl:
- “Crickets”
- “Voices of Hate”
- “Clown Car”
- “We Hate”
- “Delete”
- “Grifter”
- “The White Man Lied” (CD and digital only)
- “Singularity”
- “Burned Out”
- “We’re Still Here” (feat. Paul Barker)
Three singles preceded the album. “Burned Out,” out 24 July with a video directed by Joshua Bradford, formerly of Revolting Cocks, opened the campaign. “We Hate,” released 21 August with a second Bradford-directed video, paired the band’s commentary on the US political climate with heavy use of AI-generated imagery. “Singularity,” the most recent single, followed on 18 September with a video directed by Ben Garcia, taking anxieties around artificial intelligence as its subject.
Ministry’s 2027 ‘Goodbye Europe’ tour dates
Ministry support the album with a 21-date “Goodbye Europe” tour starting in April 2027, with Die Krupps as special guests throughout:
- 2 April 2027 – Utrecht, Ronda (Netherlands)
- 3 April 2027 – Saarbrücken, Garage (Germany)
- 4 April 2027 – Brussels, Ancienne Belgique (Belgium)
- 6 April 2027 – Manchester, O2 Victoria Warehouse (UK)
- 7 April 2027 – Dublin, 3Olympia (Ireland)
- 9 April 2027 – Nottingham, Rock City (UK)
- 10 April 2027 – London, Troxy (UK)
- 12 April 2027 – Paris, Bataclan (France)
- 14 April 2027 – Madrid, La Riviera (Spain)
- 15 April 2027 – Barcelona, Paral-lel (Spain)
- 17 April 2027 – Lausanne, Docks (Switzerland)
- 18 April 2027 – Munich, Tonhalle (Germany)
- 19 April 2027 – Vienna, Gasometer (Austria)
- 21 April 2027 – Prague, Forum Karlín (Czech Republic)
- 22 April 2027 – Warsaw, Progresja (Poland)
- 24 April 2027 – Berlin, Columbiahalle (Germany)
- 25 April 2027 – Hamburg, Grosse Freiheit 36 (Germany)
- 26 April 2027 – Copenhagen, Amager Bio (Denmark)
- 27 April 2027 – Oslo, Rockefeller (Norway)
- 29 April 2027 – Stockholm, Fållan (Sweden)
- 1 May 2027 – Helsinki, House of Culture (Finland)
About Ministry
Ministry formed in Chicago in 1981 around Al Jourgensen, who had moved to the city in 1978 after playing guitar in the post-punk group Special Affect. The original lineup featured keyboardists Robert Roberts and John Davis, bassist Martin Sorenson and drummer Stephen George, with Jourgensen taking over vocals. Ministry’s debut single, “I’m Falling / Cold Life,” came out on Chicago label Wax Trax! Records in 1981 and became the label’s first hit. Situation Two licensed it in the UK. Arista Records signed the band in 1982 and steered it toward synth-pop on the 1983 debut album “With Sympathy,” a record Jourgensen later distanced himself from. Ministry returned to Wax Trax! in 1984, then signed to Sire Records/Warner Bros. in 1985, debuting there with the single “Over the Shoulder.”
Paul Barker and Bill Rieflin became Ministry’s core collaborators through the mid-1980s after Stephen George left over the band’s move toward drum machines. With Barker as Jourgensen’s main co-writer, Ministry released “Twitch” (1986), “The Land of Rape and Honey” (1988) and “The Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Taste” (1989) on Sire/Warner Bros., followed by “Psalm 69” (1992) and “Filth Pig” (1996). Martin Atkins joined as a second drummer for the 1989-90 touring lineup, which also featured Chris Connelly, Nivek Ogre of Skinny Puppy and Mike Scaccia. Rey Washam replaced Rieflin in 1994. “Dark Side of the Spoon” followed in 1999, still on Warner Bros.
Barker left Ministry in 2003-2004. During his years away, he revived his own project Lead Into Gold with a new album, “The Eternal Present,” in 2023. Ministry itself continued through “Animositisomina” (2003, Sanctuary), “Houses of the Molé” (2004), “Rio Grande Blood” (2006, 13th Planet) and “The Last Sucker” (2007), with a rotating cast that included Louis Svitek, Duane Buford, Paul Raven, Tommy Victor and Sin Quirin. Mike Scaccia, John Bechdel, Aaron Rossi and Tony Campos formed the touring and recording lineup after Ministry’s 2011 reunion, which produced “Relapse” (2012) and “From Beer to Eternity” (2013). Scaccia died in December 2012. Ministry’s side projects across these decades included Revolting Cocks, formed in 1984 with Richard 23 and Luc Van Acker; PTP, whose track “Show Me Your Spine” appeared in “RoboCop”; Lard, with former Dead Kennedys singer Jello Biafra; and the country project Buck Satan and the 666 Shooters, whose “Bikers Welcome Ladies Drink Free” came out on 13th Planet in 2012.
Ministry moved to Nuclear Blast for “AmeriKKKant” (2018) and “Moral Hygiene” (2021), the latter made with the lineup that still includes Bechdel and bassist Paul D’Amour, who joined in 2019. Ministry announced its 16th album, “Hopiumforthemasses,” for a March 2024 release. Cleopatra Records, which had already issued Ministry’s archival live albums since “Toronto 1986” (2015), brought Jourgensen back to the band’s early synth-pop years for the “Squirrely Years Revisited” reissue in March 2025. Drummer Pepe Clarke Magaña joined in 2024, the same year Barker rejoined after two decades away. Side-Line covered Ministry’s “Dancing Alone” revival with a Jurgen Engler remix in March 2026, a release tied to Die Krupps’ Engler, whose band joins Ministry’s 2027 tour as special guests. “Hate To Go (Take Out Or Delivery),” out 30 October on Cleopatra Records, is billed by Jourgensen as Ministry’s last studio album and the close of a 45-year career.
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