Al Jourgensen has begun softening up on the subject of Ministry’s earliest work of late, and now is apparently ready to reclaim some of those songs, Taylor Swift-style.

Paul Barker, the longtime Ministry bassist and producer, has released the second song off of The Eternal Present, the third record by his reactivated Lead Into Gold.

Paul Barker has just released the first song off the third record by his reactivated Lead Into Gold project, the percussive title track “The Eternal Present.”

Ministry’s Industrial Strength Tour has been been rescheduled for a third time due to the pandemic, moving from summer 2020 to spring 2021 to fall 2021 and, now, spring 2022.

Ministry’s Industrial Strength Tour has been been rescheduled for a second time due to the COVID-19 pandemic, moving from summer 2020 to spring 2021 and now fall 2021, this time with Helmet joining Front Line Assembly as openers rather than KMFDM. See the new dates right here.

Cleopatra Records today digitally released two newly unearthed and previously unreleased mixes of Ministry’s classic 1985 single “Everyday (Is Halloween),” along with thepreviously unreleased song “Playground” and an unissued instrumental version of “I See Red.” Hear the whole thing right here.

Cleopatra Records next month will release a new 12-inch vinyl single featuring a pair of newly unearthed and previously unreleased mixes of Ministry’s classic 1985 single “Everyday (Is Halloween),” with another previously unreleased song on the B-side. Full details and tracklist right here.

Ministry this week premiered a new song called “Alert Level” off the band’s upcoming 15th studio album that Al Jourgensen and Co. had begun recording earlier this year before the coronavirus pandemic disrupted the music industry and all manner of daily life. Hear the new song right here.

Bill Rieflin, the thunderous drummer who made his name in Chicago’s late-’80s/early-’90s industrial scene pounding out beats for Ministry, Revolting Cocks, Pigface and more before manning the kit for R.E.M. over the last eight years of that band’s career, died on Tuesday of cancer, according to former bandmates. He was 59.

Ministry will celebrate the 30th anniversary of The Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Taste this summer by recreating that album’s famed tour, enlisting original opener KMFDM and fellow heavyweight Front Line Assembly — and possibly a chained-link fence — for the Industrial Strength Tour. Full dates right here.

Hot on the heels of the well-received Wax Trax! Records documentary comes a broader look at Chicago’s role in the development of industrial music in the 1980s and ’90s, a film that backers are hoping fans of the genre can help get completed via a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign. Watch the trailer right here.

Ministry performed the first of six special Record Store Day-related sets in Chicago on Saturday night, with frontman Al Jourgensen enlisting old bandmate Chris Connelly to help perform what was billed as a “Wax Trax!-era” set that largely focused on the band’s late-’80s, early-’90s albums. Video and setlist here.

As we reported last month, Vans is sponsoring a half-dozen special Record Store Day-related screenings of the “Industrial Accident: The Story of Wax Trax! Records” in April that will include a panel discussion and a “Wax Trax!-era” live set by Ministry. And many of you have asked how to get tickets.