Ministry’s 16th studio album HOPIUMFORTHEMASSES is out today via Nuclear Blast Records and streaming on all networks. After months of teasing album singles and videos for “Goddamn White Trash,” plus “Just Stop Oil,” and “B.D.E.” the six-time GRAMMY® Award-nominated multiplatinum act also has another new track out today with “New Religion.”
Says band founder and leader AlJourgensen of the track, “All traditional faiths seem to pale in comparison to our new ‘Deity’ Media.”
Over the course of the album’s nine tracks, Jourgensen is righteously cantankerous as ever about a f***ed up world ripe for a boot up its ass. Like always, he’s merely looking around at the same dumpster fire we all are, but he’s got a microphone and uses it well to rage on about the state of the world.
Joined by Ministry’s current frontline of musicians – John Bechdel (keyboards), Monte Pittman and Cesar Soto (guitars), Roy Mayorga (drums) and Paul D’Amour (bass) – HOPIUMFORTHEMASSES also has a slew of special guest contributors including Gogol Bordello’s Eugene Hutz, long-time collaborator and Lard companion Jello Biafra and Corrosion of Conformity frontman Pepper Keenan.
Says media of the album:
“If Al Jourgensen did not exist, we would have to invent him. A perennially essential antidote to political stupidity and dim-witted mainstream thinking, Uncle Al is one of heavy music’s greatest subversives … Jourgensen’s ability to entertain the hell out of like-minded miscreants, while firing nails into the hearts of the corrupt and the moronic remains undimmed.” —Blabbermouth
“No matter what era of Ministry you might be a fan of, there’s really something for everyone here. There’s a bit of the early 80’s club-inspired synth-pop first wave, a really nice dose of heavy guitars from Ministry’s 90’s sounds and a natural progression from 2021’s vastly underrated Morale Hygiene. … [Al Jourgensen’s] work feels more invigorated than ever.” —Metal Injection
“This is Ministry’s best record since we were all young and good-looking.” —Classic Rock Magazine
The most arena-ready album from Ministry in decades.” —Glide Magazine
HOPIUMFORTHEMASSES is now available in three vinyl variants, a CD jewelcase and via digital/streaming platforms. The vinyl variants include:green with yellow splatter (in stores everywhere); blue with pink splatter (nuclear blast exclusive); red with white splatter (band/tour exclusive).
Ministry is now playing the new songs live on the band’s Spring 2024 tour, which kicked off February 27, supported by Gary Numan and Front Line Assembly. It runs through April 5 with tickets and VIP upgrades available now.
Born in 1981 in Chicago, Ministry has been the lifetime passion project of founder Al 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” 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. The 2021 album Moral Hygiene marked a new creative era of Jourgensen and the band. Ministry’s 16th studio album, HOPIUMFORTHEMASSES, was released March 1, 2024 via Nuclear Blast Records.