What do MINISTRY's Al Jourgensen and President George W. Bush have in common? Besides not a whole heck of a lot, both will soon be moving on from their current gigs. Yes, the last-ever MINISTRY studio album, "The Last Sucker", will be released on September 18 (13th Planet/Megaforce) followed by a world tour in 2008, and then, after 11 studio albums and 27 years, including four Grammy nominations ("N.W.O." in 1993, "Bad Blood" in 2000, "The Great Satan" in 2005, and the "Rio Grande Blood" track "LiesLiesLies" in 2006), Jourgensen will lay MINISTRY to rest and focus on expanding his borderland compound, 13th Planet Records.
"I've got a lot of side-projects and new projects I want to focus on," explained Jourgensen. "We have our our own label, 13th Planet Records, we're building, and I want to sign, produce and collaborate with other artists. Being in the studio writing, recording and collaborating is my favorite part of this snake-oil industry. I'd rather be behind the console than behind the mic. Plus, I kinda like the synchronicity of Dubya and MINISTRY riding off into the sunset hand in hand."
In addition to being MINISTRY's final studio album, the 11-track "The Last Sucker" is the third in an unrelenting and uber-critical CD trilogy aimed at exposing the plethora of foils, failures and fabrications perpetrated by the George W. Bush administration. "The Last Sucker", which follows "Houses of the Mole" (2004) and "Rio Grande Blood" (2006), is the final nail in the Dubya coffin. To represent the Prez accurately, Jourgensen interspersed snippets of Dubya sound bites and samples throughout "The Last Sucker". "My engineer and I were hunched over a computer for nights on end listening to this fucking idiot until our minds were numb," he said. "I mean, I'm absolutely stupider for listening to his drivel for such concentrated periods of time, but I viewed including these sound bites as a necessary evil."
Another prime target in the Bush administration who takes it on the chin from Jourgensen's finger-pointing on "The Last Sucker" is our beloved Veep. The track "The Dick Song" pretty much sums up Jourgensen's sentiment: "I've got a person that scares me to death...First name is Dick and you all know the rest... Dick Cheney Son of Satan...He is the Chosen One." The new album also features a propane-powered cover of THE DOORS' "Roadhouse Blues", and the album's dual closers, "The End of Days" (Parts One and Two) captures every single element of MINISTRY's pioneering uniqueness in the world of industrial music.
"The Last Sucker" was produced and recorded this past spring by Jourgensen at his 13th Planet compound just outside of El Paso, TX, and sees the return of "Rio Grande Blood" musicians Thomas Victor (PRONG) on guitars, Paul Raven (KILLING JOKE, PRONG) on bass, with newcomer guitarist Sin Quirin from THE REVOLTING COCKS 2006 touring line-up. Jourgensen and his engineer John "Bixby" Bilberry handled all the drum programming. In addition, Burton C. Bell from FEAR FACTORY makes a vocal appearance on "Die In A Crash", as well as the album's final two songs, "End of Days" parts One and Two.
Jourgensen, whom the Chicago Sun-Times' music critic Jim DeRogatis called "smart, outrageous [and] bitingly funny," remembered, "I lived through Watergate. I was twelve years old and already briefed and reading the [Watergate] papers, so I was very cognizant at an early age of the corruption that can exist in the U.S. government. So I don't grab my heart and have a heart attack over the 'shock' of how corrupt things are today."
"The Last Sucker" track listing:
01. Let's Go
02. Watch Yourself
03. Life Is Good
04. The Dick Song
05. The Last Sucker
06. No Glory
07. Death and Destruction
08. Roadhouse Blues
09. Die In A Crash
10. End of Days Part One
11. End of Days Part Two
