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Judas Priest To Record New Album In 2016

By Ryan Stabile
Published on: 06:10 PST, Mar 14, 2016

The year 2016 is going to be a big one for British heavy metal band Judas Priest. According to singer Rob Halford, Judas Priest is going to return to the studio to record their next album. This would be the 18th studio album for Judas Priest and their first in just two years.

The band recently premiered several videos from their upcoming 94-minute live concert CD/DVD/Blu-ray titled Battle Cry, to be released on March 25. The footage found on Battle Cry was taken from a Judas Priest performance on August 1, 2015, at Wachen Open Air Festival in Germany in front of over 85,000 Judas Priest fans.

The live recording found on their upcoming Battle Cry is just one of many shows Judas Priest played after their previous album. Judas Priest toured extensively in support of Redeemer of Souls, playing 130 shows in 33 countries.

Judas Priest’s 2014 album, Redeemer of Souls, sold over 32,000 copies in the United States just in its first week after release. Judas Priest’s 2014 album was also their highest charting album in the United States, debuting at the number 6 position on the Billboard Top 200 albums chart.

One of the reasons attributed to the success of Redeemer of Souls was the addition of Judas Priest’s new guitarist, Richie Faulkner. Shortly after the release of their 2014 album, singer Rob Halford told Sixx Sense that he was already planning for their next album.

“That really motivated us to crack the whip and get on with making the next record pretty quickly.” Rob Halford told Sixx Sense. “It won’t be a rush job, because we treasure everything we do – but I think that the mindset is there to make this record efficiently, and hopefully have it out there as soon as we can.”

“The clock is ticking. We can’t afford to wait three years, or five years now, to make the record. Who wants to go home and sit down for a year? And especially while the band is buzzing and the energy’s there creatively.

“We had so much stuff happening in the studio we had to put blocks on because we were on a time schedule with the label. So we do have some stuff kind of left over from Redeemer of Souls.”

While Judas Priest did not announce a definite release date or title for their upcoming album, the band is certainly not shy on material.

Rob Halford recently spoke to Digital Trends about the process of creating Judas Priest’s new album.

“The writing sessions will come first. I think much like any band, you start off the day in a writing session, and you’ve got nothing, you know. And you turn the amps on, and you start riffing and jamming, and maybe by the end of the day, you’ve got something that will turn into a really good piece of music that’ll potentially last forever. So that creative side of Judas Priest is as strong as it ever was, and we’re all very, very pumped up and thrilled for the opportunity that’s about to come to us again to get in the writing sessions and start banging away at songwriting. It’s a funny thing, songwriting, ’cause sometimes you hit the wall, or the well dries up, and you just go, ‘Oh, God. What are we gonna do now?’ And then the next day, it’s just overflowing with ideas. So we’re looking forward to that and all the challenges that come into play. It’s on the way.

“There’s a new Judas Priest record on the way, and when it’s ready, we’ll be letting everyone know that it’s on the horizon. I would like to think that by the end of this year we’ll have the bulk of it created. The thing about Judas Priest is that we treasure everything that we do. We so love being in this band, Judas Priest, and we’re so aware of the legacy of Judas Priest, all of the songs on the albums and the shows that we’ve made. It’s probably more important to us now than it ever was. But we can guarantee that we’ll give you another big solid dose of ‘Priest metal. When it’s ready, it’s ready.”

For updates on Judas Priest’s upcoming album, visit their website here.

[Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images]

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