MINISTRY founder/mainman Al Jourgensen recently discussed his health, the band's new Relapse album, and his BUCK SATAN AND THE 666 SHOOTERS album with Loudwire. An excerpt from the interview is available below:

Loudwire: "you’ve got a lot of great things on your plate right now…

Al: "Yeah, I’m doing good. I’m just really happy with these last two records I’ve done. I’m just really happy to be above ground (laughs. That was kind of intense about a year-and-a-half ago when I went down to the emergency room. As soon as you hear the word 'clear!' you know you’re not doing good. CLEAR! (makes defibrillator noise and laughs)."

Loudwire: So how were you able to balance doing the new Ministry and Buck Satan records pretty much at the same time?

Al: "The thing with Buck Satan is that we did that first because after my near-death s—, I had promised to do a country record before I was 'done' and that showed me that life is short. I got out and as soon as I could walk again I did this Buck Satan record, but Mikey Scaccia — we’ve been jamming on the bus with this Buck Satan stuff for years. Like 28 years I’ve been talking about this record. I called him up and he had some time off, so he came out and I couldn’t have done it without him, man.

I mean I was pretty sick at this point with all this recording, but I wanted to get it done and Mikey really pulled up the slack – but what’s funny is that it was such a seamless segue into Ministry from Buck Satan because in between country songs, me and Mikey would just jam on heavy riffs, which turned out to be the new Ministry record. We were just jamming, you know? Then later Mikey called up and goes, 'You have to do this [Ministry] record. I know you said no more Ministry but you have to do this record because the riffs are so cool.' So then we arranged it all, but it all spawned out of Buck Satan. That’s all I really wanted to do – Buck Satan – but this Ministry thing is a real blessing in disguise because I really think it’s the best Ministry record ever."

Go to this location for the complete interview.

Ministry return this summer for a UK/Irish tour. Defibrillatour starts July 16th and hits Bristol, Belfast, Dublin, London and Manchester. Tickets are on sale now.

Dates include:

July

16 - Academy - Bristol, England
17 - Mandela Hall - Belfast, Ireland
18 - Vicar St. - Dublin, Ireland
20 - HMV Forum - London, England
21 - Academy - Manchester, England

Deep in the heart of Hell Paso, Texas, Ministry's Al Jourgensen re-opened the doors of his industrial compound studio in fall 2011 and invited his favorite co-conspirators Mike Scaccia (RIGOR MORTIS), Tony Campos (STATIC X), Tommy Victor (PRONG) and Casey Orr (Rigor Mortis/GWAR) to climb on board the Ministry pirate ship and de-construct and re-construct Jourgensen’s monsterpiece Relapse.

They have issued the following update:

"As the dog-days of recording descend upon Uncle Al and his Ministry pirate co-conspirators, sanity departs and chaos ensues. Watch as El Paso videographer Omar Mena risks life and limb to capture the demise.

Warning: This video contains graphic audio and visual imagery not suitable for audiences who want Al to record another Twitch."

Thirty years and 12 albums later, as well as a near-death experience in 2010, Jourgensen rises as a phoenix from the ashes with Relapse - still angry, still political and very very pissed off. Relapsing back into the music industry after a four-year hiatus, Jourgensen launches his audio assault with "Ghouldiggers," a no-holds-barred metal bullet aimed directly at the pitfalls of the industry he has survived. Everything Jourgensen predicted on Houses of the Molé, Rio Grande Blood and The Last Sucker has transpired and as we approach the Mayan calendar of the End of Days in 2012, Jourgensen, re-invigorated by the global 99 Percenters and Occupy Wall Street movement, navigates through Relapse once again as a reluctant prophet accusing, dissecting, cajoling and exhorting greed, corruption and lies.

Reaching back to his punk rock roots, Jourgensen and his Ministry pirates cover S.O.D’s 'United Forces' - a track written 20 years ago still relevant today as a call to arms for the unrighteous and to those who feel disenfranchised by the “system” as it stands today. Leave it to Jourgensen to make a comeback with a relapse.

Relapse was released on March 3rd via their new deal with AFM Records. The tracklisting is as follows:

'Ghouldiggers'

'Double Tap'

'FreeFall'

'Kleptocracy'

'United Forces'

'99 Percenters'

'Relapse'

'Weekend Warrior'

'Git Up Get Out 'n Vote'

'Bloodlust'

'Relapse Defibrillator Mix' (Special Limited Edition)

'Double Tap' will be released as a maxi-single on February 24th.