Last month, Metallica frontman James Hetfield made headlines with an onstage speech at one of his band’s concerts at Las Vegas’ Sphere, when he told the crowd, “Metallica is not here, like some other entertainers, to influence you with their bullshit, OK?”
Hetfield appeared to be calling out music acts who use the stage as a political platform, as he continued, “We are here…no bullshit…we’re here to forget about all the outside shit, OK? Metallica’s agenda is love, energy and heavy music, baby!”
Heavy Consequence recently caught up with Ministry mastermind Al Jourgensen, who is as political as music artists come, with his band’s newest and final album, Hate To Go (Take Out or Delivery), serving as yet another takedown of the Trump administration in the legendary industrial act’s latter discography.
“My thoughts are each artist should do what feels comfortable for them,” Jourgensen said of Hetfield’s speech, “whether it’s Metallica taking a neutral stance, although they’ve taken stances before, but now they’re in a phase where they wanna do that. I think that the artist should be comfortable in what they’re doing.”
Jourgensen went on to say, “I’m not gonna be one of these people that are gonna be piling on Metallica, like, saying, ‘Well, you, you have to take a stand right now.’ It’s, like, do what you feel comfortable doing. But I would like it so people would feel more comfortable taking a stand without having to realize that your words are alienating half of the populace.”
The Ministry frontman then wondered why Metallica would be so concerned about losing fans, reasoning, “What are they worried about? More royalties? I mean, they’ve made a lot of money. So what are they worried about? That’s my only thing, and that’s this climate of fear that we have going on between media and government, in cahoots of silencing artists, which are actually some of the best minds because they live outside society, and they’re able to view society with a different lens.”
Jourgensen concluded, “We’re being silenced. I’m not silenced. But on the other hand, I don’t give a shit. I made enough money, not Metallica money, but I made enough money that I never thought I’d be here 45 years later. So, I can still speak my piece.”
As mentioned, Ministry just released their final album, Hate To Go (Take Out or Delivery). The band will embark on a farewell tour that includes a UK/European spring 2027 leg (tickets here), with an as-yet-unannounced North American outing to follow.
Metallica, meanwhile, have a couple more 2026 dates of their Sphere residency on tap for this week, before hitting the Mohegan Sun Arena in Connecticut for two shows in late November, and then resuming their Sphere residency in January. They’ve also mapped out a spring North American tour, with tickets to their upcoming shows available here.
