We got a few questions regarding this, so yes, the Chicago-based industrial band, Project .44, have unleashed their first album in sixteen years, “(The Storm Before) Reform”. It’s the band’s first full album output although there has been a sporadic single, some compilation contributions, and an EP and lead-man Chri5 Harri5 has been busy for a few years with Sean Payne (Cyanotic) on the Glitch Mode Recordings offshoot CONFORMCO.

Harri5 explains the 16 years of album silence: “Well after we released our debut, ‘The System Doesn’t Work’ on Invisible Records, we put out a follow up remix CD in ‘07 and then still had five years left on our deal. We were in limbo. Recording had started and demos have lived, some, up to ten years. After we were free we got the braintrust together, Louis Svitek, Charles Levi, MTL, and long time producing friends The Thump and Seibold and went full bore into finishing the jams.”

After seven more years, two reissued releases from the Give/Take label, appearances at SxSW, Mechanismus Fesival and Sanctuary Festival, Project .44 was able to take the final sprint and complete work on their new album.

You get 11 tracks of brutal Chicago industrial with Chri5 Harri5 and fellow industrialists Louis Svitek (Ministry/ReVco), Charles Levi (Thrill Kill Kult/Pigface), Seibold (Hate Dept.) and guest appearances from En Esch (KMFDM/Pigface) and Lady E (Slick Idiot).

The CD features 3 bonus tracks with remixes from Jim Marcus (Die Warzau), Phildo Owen (Skatenigs) and Sean Payne (Cyanotic) The cassette and vinyl features 2 bonus tracks with remixes from Walter Flakus (Stabbing Westward) & Mark Trueman (Choke Chain).

Check out the video for “Murder Weapon” featuring En Esch.

And here is the full release.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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Genre/Influences: Industrial-metal, industrial-rock

Background/Info: Al Jourgensen is the charismatic pioneer, musical genius, innovator and iconic founder of the industrial-metal genre (the fusion of repeating metal guitar riffs, samples, keyboards and distorted vocals on a danceable beat). This fully authorized visual history with 248 pages of rare and unseen photos, artwork, and other stuff that spans Ministry’s entire career, shows how the band (that everyone wanted to sound like) evolved from ’80s synth-pop, over EBM/industrial to trash-metal. Ministry has been nominated six times for a Grammy award and is definitely a band you must have seen live at least once in your life!

Content: The four-pages introduction is done by Al’s good old friend Jello Biafra, explaining some hilarious anecdotes. Then this limited 9″ x 9″ casebound book is divided into six chronological chapters starting from the early Wax Trax! era (1981) until the latest release “AmeriKKKant”. We get to see lots of nice rare (promo and live) pictures, cut-outs, artwork, flyers and posters. On almost every page there are interesting quotes or anecdotes from befriended artists like Charlie Clouser (Nine Inch Nails), Moby, Billy Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins), Ian MacKaye (Fugazi), Gary Numan, Perry Ferrell (Jane’s Addiction), Jaz Coleman (Killing Joke), Phildo Owen (Skatenigs), Jeordie White (Marilyn Manson), Alexander Hacke (Einsturzende Neubauten), David J (Bauhaus), Robin Zander (Cheap Trick), Paul D’Amour (Tool), Page Hamilton (Helmet), Scott Ian (Anthrax), Franz Treichler (The Young Gods), Gibby Haynes (Butthole Surfers), Sean Yseult (White Zombie), Dave Lombardo (Slayer), Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top), Till Lindemann (Rammstein), Mark Gemini Thwaite (The Mission), Chris Connelly (Revolting Cocks) and many more. Just like the music of Ministry changed from soft to very hard, it is clearly shown how Al’s style has changed all over the years ending up with dreadlocks, tattoos and piercings. The author of the book is Aaron Tanner (who also created a visual history for Pixies) and features artwork from Brian Shanley and Paul Elledge.

+ + + : We get an exclusive look at Uncle Al’s personal collection of behind-the-scenes pictures together with contributions from band members past and present.

– – – : Although many well-known artists are featured in this book, some (expected ones) are missing …

Conclusion: There’s only one thing we can conclude: Ministry has had a huge influence on many artists and Al is still going strong after all these years! This book is definitely a must have for the fans!

Artist: www.ministryband.com / www.facebook.com/WeAreMinistry
Label: www.melodicvirtue.com / www.facebook.com/melodicvirtue Read the news on ‘Prescripture: The Visual History’.

About Ministry

Ministry began in Chicago in 1981 when Al Jourgensen launched the project as an outlet for new wave and synth-pop with funk and disco influences, releasing a first 12″ on Wax Trax! Records before signing to Arista for the 1983 debut album “With Sympathy”. After parting ways with Arista, Jourgensen returned to Wax Trax! for a run of 12″ singles, including “Everyday Is Halloween”, before signing to Sire for 1986’s more EBM-influenced “Twitch”. The band’s sound kept evolving toward the industrial-metal blend documented in this book, and Ministry has remained active since, releasing the 2024 album “Hopiumforthemasses” and announcing “The Squirrely Years Revisited”, a 2026 collection revisiting its early synth-pop material.