Ministry | Photo by Erick Smith
Al Jourgensen has made it abundantly clear over the years that he dislikes Ministry’s 1983 debut With Sympathy immensely, regardless of its status as a gem of the synthpop era. He’s begun softening up on the subject of Ministry’s earliest work of late, though, and now is apparently ready to reclaim some of those songs, Taylor Swift-style.
In an interview with Yahoo! Entertainment last week, Jourgensen acknowledges his history with With Sympathy — “My hatred for this record was so deep” — while also announcing plans to record a new “metal arena-rock” version of “Revenge,” something more in line with the much harder-edged sound the band adopted after its very, very brief synthpop era.
Jourgensen tells Yahoo!’s Lyndsey Parker:
“We’re doing ‘Revenge’… this version that we have, it’s going to be different. Let’s turn it from this synthpop thing into a metal arena-rock song… and then we’ll take it from there and see where it goes. If we can make it sound the way I want it, when I originally came up with these songs, then yes, I will do it. If not, I won’t. … So, we’re working our way towards putting a bow on the whole thing and calling it a career. And then everyone can leave me the fuck alone so I can do what the fuck I want.”
Jourgensen, who says he’s “going to stop Ministry in an album or two,” tells Parker that if he’s happy with the revved-up version of “Revenge,” he’ll do the same with “Effigy,” “Work for Love” and “Here We Go.”
He says fans may hear the new versions “sooner than you think.”
Read about the interview at Yahoo! Entertainment and watch the whole thing below.
PREVIOUSLY ON SLICING UP EYEBALLS
- Al Jourgensen debuts unreleased ‘With Sympathy’-era Ministry song ‘Anything For You’
- Vintage Video: Ministry at First Avenue, 1983 — watch full ‘With Sympathy’-era set
- Ministry’s ‘With Sympathy’ expanded reissue finally due to be released?
- Stream: Ministry live at Misfits in Chicago, March 1982 — earliest live recordings
- Al Jourgensen goes pop? Ex-Ministry frontman threatens to make ’80s synthpop album
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Ah, Uncle Al at his best. Disregarding what sounds good, in favor of punishing his fans with unlistenable noise that channels his hate. Al: “With Sympathy” was THE BEST MUSIC YOU EVER MADE, and your defiling it and making it shitty won’t change that. Get over it, and yourself, already. Thanks in advance.
Al has earned the right to do whatever he wants to at this point. He isn’t “threatening” us with anything. He’s had a (mostly) brilliant 40 year career, and had the balls to change his style on numerous occassions. The band run from 1983 through 1999 is incredible, and his comeback with the Bush trilogy was a strong return to form. I haven’t loved any of his albums since he came out of his first retirement with “Relapse” in 2012, but even these albums always have a couple of songs that are great.