Last month, Ministry premiered the music video for the new track “Search And Destroy”. The song is a unique take on The Stooges’ hit that offers a uniquely slowed down tempo and front-man Al Jourgensen’s guttural howl that amplifies the song’s wartime critique.
In this new video interview, released today, Jourgensen discusses the inspiration for the cover, featuring Billy Morrison (Billy Idol, Royal Machines) who worked closely with Al to hone Ministry’s version. It was an idea they came up with after teaming up on the track in a moment of accidental kismet at the Above Ground benefit concert in Los Angeles in 2019. Hear Al Jourgensen discuss “Search And Destroy” in detail in the new interview video below.
“Search And Destroy” will appear on Ministry’s upcoming 15th studio album “Moral Hygiene”, which will be released via Nuclear Blast Records on October 1. With some of Ministry’s strongest and most inspired material to date, he 10 tracks are a follow-up to 2018’s lauded “AmeriKKKant” and put forth Jourgensen’s societal manifesto and plea for civilization to get back to a set of standards that lives up to and embraces our humanity.
“Moral Hygiene” also includes the previously released “Good Trouble” (a tribute to late Congressman and Civil Rights icon John Lewis) as well as “Alert Level” that sounded the alarms about our collective dissonance towards the pandemic, climate change and the man formerly in the White House, bolstered by the song’s overarching question posed to listeners: “How concerned are you?”
“Moral Hygiene” was recorded with engineer Michael Rozon (also behind the boards on “AmeriKKKant”) at Scheisse Dog Studio, Jourgensen’s self-built home studio and creative lab. As with all Ministry albums, all songs are written and performed by Al Jourgensen. Additional contributions come from Billy Morrison (Billy Idol, Royal Machines), Cesar Soto (Man The Mute), John Bechdel (Killing Joke, Fear Factory), Roy Mayorga (Stonesour, Soulfly, Nausea), Paul D’Amour (Tool, Feersum Ennjin), Arabian Prince (N.W.A.), Jello Biafra (Dead Kennedys) and sitar player Flash.
The new album also adds perspective to the countless lives that were tragically lost to the COVID-19 pandemic on the haunting track “Death Toll” while “Disinformation” describes the too frequent willingness to accept everything — even mistruths — as fact.
Other musical jewels on the upcoming release include a collaboration with Jello Biafra (Jourgensen‘s cohort in side project LARD) on “Sabotage Is Sex” and a unique take on THE STOOGES‘ “Search And Destroy” that features guitar virtuoso Billy Morrison (BILLY IDOL, ROYAL MACHINES). Morrison is also heavily featured on a number of songs on the album.
“Moral Hygiene” will be available in CD, vinyl and digital download formats. For the record label preorder visit this location, and for the band preorder, go here.
“Moral Hygiene” track listing:
1. Alert Level
2. Good Trouble
3. Sabotage Is Sex
4. Disinformation
5. Search And Destroy
6. Believe Me
7. Broken System
8. We Shall Resist
9. Death Toll
10. TV Song #6 (Right Around The Corner Mix)
Ministry will be debuting the new songs live – as well as celebrating the 30th anniversary of seminal album The Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Taste – on the upcoming Industrial Strength Tour, kicking off on October 3 for 23 dates across the country. The trek will include special guests Helmet and Front Line Assembly. Get all the tour details here.
Born in 1981 in Chicago, MINISTRY has been the lifetime passion project of Jourgensen, considered to be the pioneer of industrial music. In its early days, MINISTRY was identifiable by its heavy synth-pop material in line with the new sounds and technology that were being developed in the ’80s. MINISTRY‘s output began with four 12-inch singles on Wax Trax! Records in 1981 before the first LP, “With Sympathy”, in 1983 via Arista Records. As time progressed, however, so did MINISTRY, quickly developing a harsher, and more stylized sound that the band soon became infamous for on seminal albums “Twitch” (1986), “The Land Of Rape And Honey” (1988), and “The Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Taste” (1989). With the release of “Psalm 69: The Way To Succeed And The Way To Suck Eggs” (1992), MINISTRY hit an all-time high in the mainstream musical realm and received its first Grammy nomination. In total, MINISTRY has been nominated for a Grammy Award six times. Eight more albums would follow before an indefinite break in 2013, only to be unearthed again in 2018 with “AmeriKKKant”, continuing to reflect Jourgensen‘s views on the frightening state of society and politics.
