MINISTRY Launches Mystery Countdown Clock

Industrial metal pioneers MINISTRY have launched a countdown clock on their web site that is scheduled to hit zero on Friday, April 24 at 8:00 a.m. PT / 11:00 a.m. ET.

The band recently entered the studio to begin recording the follow-up to 2018's "AmeriKKKant" album.

MINISTRY mainman Al Jourgensen originally floated the idea of making a new album in a November 2018 interview with Consequence Of Sound. He stated at the time: "I have a studio in my house that is currently under construction to make it ready for next year. So when I go back, we'll go right into production on a new MINISTRY record and just record for, like, the next six months — very similar to what we did for [1988's] '[The Land Of] Rape And Honey' — and just record a bunch."

Released in March 2018, "AmeriKKKa" was produced by Jourgensen and was recorded at Caribou Studios in Burbank, California. The LP's opening track, "I Know Words", saw Jourgensen taking aim at President Donald Trump and sampling one of his speeches, pairing it with dissonant sounding strings, turntable scratches and stuttering electronic beats.

Asked by the Cleveland Scene if he secretly hoped Trump will win a second term so he can continue to make albums like "AmeriKKKa", Al said: "Dude, if I said yes to that, that would make me as much of narcissist and psychopath as Donald Trump himself. No! I hope to never do anything record like that. I hope I make the shittiest record of all time, and I hope we take back at the House and Senate, and I can slink off to my vegan enclave and be happy until the end of my life."

He continued: "I don't need to do another record, but I feel compelled to do records. I didn't have a MINISTRY record planned when Trump won. It's like a calling, starting with Reagan and Bush Senior. They just piss me off. I don't understand why we're arguing over issues that go back to the 1860s. We're ready for another Civil War. It's the same set of issues. I can't believe we're still talking about Roe v. Wade like it's a current issue. I don't understand why society doesn't progress. Technology sure progresses, but society doesn't. It bamboozles me and freaks me out. That's why I have to throw my hat in the ring and at least say something about it."

Last year, MINISTRY recruited former TOOL member Paul D'Amour as its new bassist.

A founding member of TOOL, D'Amour played on the band's classic albums "Opiate" and "Undertow" and recorded some of the early demos for 1995's "Aenima" before leaving due to personal differences and being replaced by Justin Chancellor.