Ministry - Sphinctour (CD) (UK Import)

American band from Chicago, essentially the brainchild of Al Jourgensen. Beginning in 1981, playing new wave & synth-pop with funk & disco influences, they released their first 12" on , before being signed to and releasing their debut in 1983. After a falling out with the label and the direction of the project, Jourgensen returned to to release a series of 12" singles, including , which became an instant club favorite and would go on to become one of the band's most popular songs.

Jourgensen then signed to / in 1985. Ministry's second album was produced by Adrian Sherwood, and had a more menacing sound reflecting Jourgensen's interest in the international EBM (electronic body music) scene of the time. Ministry's third album (1988), was both a natural evolution of their aesthetic and a sharp break with previous pop tendencies.

With the arrival of Paul Barker and other new members, Ministry's sound developed into a crossover between EBM, industrial, and heavy metal. Their experimentation with heavy metal was then continued with (1989), where the guitar began to take on more importance, as heard on their breakthrough album (1992), that saw the band moving further into thrash metal while still retaining elements of industrial music and noise. (1996), and (1999), showcased a much more straightforward heavy metal sound, selling less. The band released their first 'best of' collection in 2001, and were then dropped by Warner.

In 2003, the band moved to and released . Paul Barker left the band in January 2004, leaving Jourgensen to put together a new line-up for . After 2004's Evil Doer Tour there was yet another change in personnel with Prong founder Tommy Victor on guitar and Paul Raven (who had also played in Prong and in Killing Joke) on bass. In May, 2006, Ministry released , which was followed in 2007 by what was announced as their final album, , and by a collection of covers titled in 2008.

Despite Jourgensen's claim that the band was over, 2010 saw another collection, mixing covers and remixes, entitled . Following a serious illness, Al Jourgensen decided to restart the band with Mike Scaccia and two new Ministry albums followed, in 2012 and in 2013. Scaccia's death in 2012 made Jourgensen put the band on pause until early 2017 when he began working on a new album. Since 2018 a handful of new albums have been released.

Source: Discogs