Ministry have announced summer headline shows in the UK and Europe around their planned festival appearances.
Al Jourgensen's industrial-metal berserkers, who today release The Squirrely Years Revisited, a reworked 12-song compilation of their best early synth-pop work, will kick off their summer adventures on July 26, at the Tolminator festival in Tolmin, Slovenia, alongside Kreator, Cradle of Filth and more.
Light of Eternity, featuring Killing Joke's 'Big' Paul Ferguson, will support Jourgensen's band on a number of their headline shows.
Ministry's summer in Europe will see them visit:
Jul 26: Tolmin Tolminator, Slovenia
Jul 28: Munich Free & Easy, Germany (with Light Of Eternity)
Jul 29: Karlsruhe Substage, Germany (with Light Of Eternity)
Jul 31: Wacken Open Air, Germany
Aug 01: Hamburg Markthalle, Germany (with Light Of Eternity)
Aug 02: Full Rewind festival, Germany
Aug 05: Katowice MCK, Poland (with Mastodon)
Aug 06: Brutal Assault, Czech Republic
Aug 08: Kortrijk Alcatraz, Belgium
Aug 09: Bloodstock festival, UK
Aug 11: London Electric Brixton, UK (feat. Light Of Eternity)
Aug 14: Koln Essigfabrik, Germany (with Light Of Eternity)
Aug 15: Reload festival, Germany
Aug 16: Dynamo Metal Fest, Holland
Last year, Jourgensen revealed to Metal Hammer that he will be reuniting with his former bandmate Paul Barker for what will be his band's final album.
“It's set in stone,” Jourgensen told Metal Hammer. “We're going to be working on this album for the next year in between Ministry tours. He's not going to come on tour with us, that's [ex-Tool bassist] Paul D'Amour. But when we're done with the touring schedule over the next year, me and Paul are going to be working in my studio on the final album.
Jourgensen continued: “He's coming back into the fold to get us over that final hump of doing something that you haven't heard from Ministry in 20 or 30 years. We had a really good writing relationship in the 90s and we work well in the studio together. I think it's the perfect way to go out, wrapping a bow on the entire Ministry career, doing one final world tour and we're done.”
“There's only so far you can go before you bore yourself to death,” he said of his decision to bring Ministry to an end. “Do it until you puke, you know? And I don't want to get to that puke point. I'm going to be pre-emptive.”