Illinois-based industrial metal outfit Ministry have announced their forthcoming UK and EU “Moral Hygiene” tour, which will commence in Dortmund, Germany on the 28th of October. The group will be accompanied by Finnish rock band and Nuclear Blast labelmates The 69 Eyes. Tickets will go on sale tomorrow (Friday March 25th) at 10AM GMT.
The tour’s namesake comes from the group’s fifteenth studio album Moral Hygiene, which was originally released on October 1st of last year. The album was warmly received by critics and fans alike, with Sonic Perspectives praising both the sonic power of the album and its themes, saying: Not many bands know how to make a statement quite like Ministry, who have long brandished tenets of antifascism, staunch distaste of political corruption, and strong belief in equal rights…With blistering and aggressive riffage, “Moral Hygiene” tears through the wreckage and devastation of a broken world to make a statement while affirming Ministry’s legacy in industrial metal.”
Since their inception in the early 1980s, Ministry have put out a steady stream of musical releases, commencing with their debut full length With Sympathy in 1983. For anyone who know Ministry for their blistering riffs and monstrous vocals, it might come as quite the surprise that the band’s debut was actually a synthpop album, sharing more in common with bands such as Depeche Mode or New Order than the heavy industrial metal sound that the group would later hone. With Sympathy even featured singer Al Jourgensen singing in a somewhat convincing British accent, which he later stated was a homage to bands he loved at the time.
The group ventured into heavier territory with their 1986 sophomore album Twitch, which once again fit snugly into the “new wave” category, but was notably harsher and more intense. This record seems like a natural bridge to the territory that Ministry would inhabit with their next album, 1988’s The Land of Rape and Honey, which saw the band incorporating heavy metal style electric guitars into their sound. Their third album The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste put even more emphasis on the use of guitars, making for a record filled to the brim with urgent, thrashy songs and nightmarish soundscapes.
Ministry’s upcoming UK tour dates can be viewed down below, and full tour information can be found at this link.
02/11/2022- O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire- London
03/11- SWG3 TV Studio- Manchester
04/11- National Stadium- Dublin
05/11- Damnation Festival- Manchester
