JUDAS PRIEST’S “FIREPOWER” AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER, VIDEO FOR “LIGHTING STRIKE” RELEASED
Judas Priest could easily rest on their laurels at this stage of their highly successful and influential career. However, the legendary metal band – singer Rob Halford, guitarists Glenn Tipton and Richie Faulkner, bassist Ian Hill, and drummer Scott Travis – refuse to do so as evidenced by the arrival of their eighteenth studio album overall – Firepower, which can be pre-ordered here.
Set for release on March 9th through Epic Records – the album is comprised of fourteen tracks of pure and highly inspired metal. To mark the occasion Priest has reunited with producer Tom Allom (the man behind the board for all of the band’s releases from 1979-1988, including such stellar classics as Unleashed in the East, British Steel, Screaming for Vengeance and Defenders of the Faith) and with Grammy Award-winning producer Andy Sneap also helping to raise the sonic bar even higher.
“Tom Allom has got this classic metal thing,” explains Halford. “And Andy is a bit more of a ‘modern metal producer’ but his thinking is a little bit different to Tom’s. And I think to get this balance between that classic old school metal to what Andy’s world is was just a remarkable coalescence.” “Tom Allom has been with us since 1979, so his knowledge of ourselves and our music in general is immense,” adds Hill. And according to Travis Priest returned back to a recording method that worked incredibly well on the band’s earlier classics – “We went back to the organic way of recording where it’s all of us in a room and we got to play together.”
The album’s first single, Lightning Strike will be available worldwide today (January 5th), watch the video below.
Full album pre-order and a PledgeMusic pre-order will also begin the same day which includes exclusive limited autographed colored vinyl, autographed vinyl test pressings, an exclusive Judas Priest t-shirt and an extremely limited number of Judas Priest autographed guitars.
Firepower track listing:
1. Firepower
2. Lightning Strike
3. Evil Never Dies
4. Never The Heroes
5. Necromancer
6. Children of the Sun
7. Guardians
8. Rising From Ruins
9. Flame Thrower
10. Spectre
11. Traitors Gate
12. No Surrender
13. Lone Wolf
14. Sea of Red
For more information, visit judaspriest.com.
Sounds similar to a track from Angel of Retribution and Painkiller…still sounds damn good, though. Seeing them in April \mm/
don’t bury rock just yet…god bless the mighty judas priest!
2018 is looking good!
1/17 Jackson Browne
1/28 NHL All-Star Game
2/13 Bad Company
3/09 Bowling with the Metal Gods!
– you can never have enough “Firepower!” Cheers!
O.K…..
Judas Priest, until 2011, were my second favourite band. K.K Downing retires, and the plan was for the band to retire as well.
Suddenly the plans were changed and Richie Faulkner was put in place of K.K. One of the reasons that K.K retired was, and I’m paraphrasing here, was because: “The band didn’t have the same energy that it used too.”
Sadly I think that the others didn’t get the memo….
I listened to Redeemer of Souls, and I posted a message on this website in July of 2014 where I broke it down as to why I hated it and why, maybe, the band should have followed Mr. Downing.
Having listened to this song, this is very much NOT Judas Priest. However….. call it a Halford band song, different story.
I cannot personally accept Mr Faulkner as a member of this band. Is he a bad guitar player? Absolutely not. I just don’t feel his style fits the band.
Now whenever a band changes a member, things will not be the same. Would Black Sabbath be the same without Tony Iommi? No. Would Van Halen be the same without EVH? No. KISS isn’t the same without Ace and Peter…
Sorry, had to go there!!
I just don’t feel it with this line-up of Priest as I used to do when it was the Tipton/Downing partnership. I have the two studio albums with Ripper Owens, but even that’s different to a point. The only thing that is the same is the guitar partnership.
I would rather Priest was put to bed and Rob Halford continued with the Halford band. Seeing as I doubt he will ever be able to get Patrick Lachman back in the band, I would see nothing wrong with a “Metal” Mike/Richie Faulkner partnership.
I’m sure some of you won’t agree with me, but that’s fine. But like the previous album, I don’t think that this upcoming one will make it into my collection either.
D.J.H., i understand your point about band partnerships changing, particularly a change of an iconic member who also happens to be a major song contributor of a very well established band that’s much closer to the end of its career that at the beginning. As a loyal fan of any band i really enjoy, it is very difficult for me to accept the new “version” of that band, regardless of the circumstances of the band member change. I believe it’s the passion we have that spurs these emotions.
When Faulkner replaced Downing, I initially felt the same way. But, after seeing Faulkner perform live and listening to both Redeemer and the couple of songs that have been teased from the forthcoming Firepower album, i think Faulkner is a fine addition to Judas Priest. I don’t think Faulkner has changed the sound of the band, rather has complimented it. I still think it sounds like Priest and i have really enjoyed this new lineup. Considering that Tipton is 70 years old, and both Ian Hill and Halford are well into their 60s, I think it awesome the band can still “deliver the goods” by continuing to create great metal music. And I’m looking forward to buying Firepower when its released and hopefully see Priest, and Saxon, when they tour together later this year.
You may not have KK Downing in the band anymore D.J.H., but you do have, besides the metal god uhhhmmmm, a guy named Tipton and that guy, what was his name? Ian Hill. Oh, and they brought in a guy that produced everything from 79-88, what was his name again? Oh yeah, Tom Allom. Don’t know specifics yet, but I don’t remember hearing anything about Roy Z or Mike Chlasciek being involved on Firepower. I can see the similarities in the sound with Resurrection, Roy Z is an excellent producer, as is Tom Allom. They know how to get that Priest sound properly. It’s not 1982 or ’78, It’s Judas Priest style heavy metal 2018. One song does not an album make.
Hi Greg
You are right: One song doesn’t make an album. I never said that it did. I also never mentioned Roy Z, considering along with the legend Tom Allom the producer is Andy Sneap.
Mike Chiasciek also isn’t involved. What I basically said was that I thought within the confines of the “Halford” band, he and Richie Faulkner would be a good partnership.
Yes, Halford is still there, as is Mr Tipton and Mr Hill. But as I posted originally, when you change something within something that is established, it will not, whether for better or for worse, be the same. I’ll put it another way: Let’s say you have a car that’s fuel cell is Diesel, and by mistake you fill it with, and I’ll use the American term here, Gasoline. (We call it Petrol here in England).
Will that car work the same?
No.
Or let’s say you tune the engine from 250b.h.p to 400b.h.p
Is the performance the same?
No…It’s better
Same thing can be said about bands: A member leaves and the replacement can be better, or a member leaves and the replacement can be not as good.
I’m also not hung-up on K.K no longer being there. I stand by his decision to retire when he did.