JUDAS PRIEST have been presented with a special plaque commemorating an incredible 50 years in music and over 50 million album sales worldwide. The presentation was made on the eve of the band’s induction in to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Los Angeles last month.
Pictured with the band, left to right are: Jo Kalli (Sony Music UK), Scott Carter (Sony Music US), Jayne Andrews (Manager), Michael Closter and Scott Rubin (Reach Music Publishing).
JUDAS PRIEST Over the past 50 Years Judas Priest’s music has come to define the metal genre with benchmark albums that have sold in their millions globally and sold out tours that have seen them headline the world’s biggest stadiums. With their evolving music and live performances also came a powerful unique identity – a look which has both defined the group and influenced future generations of metal bands.
Mexico’s original metal festival MONTERREY METAL FEST have announced the full line-up for the festival’s comeback edition which is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, December 6, 2022 at the Estadio Mobil Super in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico.
One of heavy metal’s all-time greats, JUDAS PRIEST, will get the opportunity to celebrate their 50th anniversary again this year with the launch of a new North American fall tour. The 50 Heavy Metal Years Tour will also feature Queensryche as openers and is being fueled by the highest charting album of Priest’s career, ‘Firepower,’ which peaked at #5 on the Billboard 200.
Additionally in 2022, Priest band members Rob Halford, Glenn Tipton, Ian Hill and Scott Travis will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
“Defending the heavy metal faith for fifty years, the Priest is back!” – Rob Halford
“Time to don the leather and studs and roll out the Priest Machine – celebrating our 50 Heavy Metal Years!!” – Glenn Tipton
“After the horrific last few years of restrictions we’ve all had to endure, what better place to break free, than the land of the free – the USA!” – Ian Hill
Judas Priest originally formed in 1970 in Birmingham, England (an area that many feel birthed heavy metal). The original nucleus of musicians would go on to change the face of heavy metal. Throughout the 70’s Priest were responsible for helping trail blaze metal with such classic offerings as ‘Sad Wings of Destiny’ (1976) ‘Sin After Sin’ (1977) and ‘Hell Bent for Leather’ (1978) as well as one of the genre’s top live recordings ‘Unleashed in the East’ (1979) among others.
It was during the 80’s that Priest conquered the world, becoming a global arena headliner on the strength of such all-time classics as ‘British Steel’ (1980) and ‘Screaming for Vengeance’ (1982), as well as being one of the first metal bands to be embraced by the then-burgeoning MTV, plus performing at some of the decades biggest concerts (1980’s Monsters of Rock, 1983’s US Festival, and 1985’s Live Aid) and being the first to exclusively wear leather and studs – a look that began during this era and would eventually be embraced by metal heads throughout the world. Priest’s success continued throughout the 90’s and beyond with the addition of drummer Scott Travis, as evidenced by such additional stellar offerings as ‘Painkiller’ (1990) ‘Angel of Retribution’ (2005) and ‘A Touch of Evil: Live’ (2009) the latter of which saw Priest win a Grammy Award for a killer rendition of the classic ‘Dissident Aggressor’.
In 2011 new guitarist Richie Faulkner came in to replace the previous guitarist who had left in 2010 – the move seemed to have reinvigorated the band, as evidenced by a show-stealing performance on the ‘American Idol’ TV program that also served as Faulkner’s debut performance with the band (also in 2011 was the release of a new compilation ‘The Chosen Few’ which included Priest classics selected by some of metal’s biggest names) and the ‘Epitaph’ concert DVD in 2013.
Priest’s next studio effort would arrive in 2014 ‘Redeemer of Souls’ which was supported by another strong tour. In 2018, Priest unleashed their latest studio album ‘Firepower’ (produced by Andy Sneap and Tom Allom) which received global success and critical acclaim. In 2020, a fully official and authorized photographic book, ‘Judas Priest: 50 Heavy Metal Years,’ was issued, followed in 2021 by the 42-CD box set, ‘Judas Priest: 50 Heavy Metal Years of Music.’
Few rock or metal acts remain as much of a must-see live attraction as Judas Priest.
FALL 2022 U.S Tour dates:
October 13 in Wallingford, CT @ Toyota Oakdale October 15th in Albany, NY @ MVP Arena October 16 in Boston, MA @ MGM Music Hall Fenway October 18 in Uniondale, NY at Nassau Veterans October 19 in Wilkes-Barre, PA @ Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza October 21 in Kalamazoo, MI at Wings Event Center October 22 in Detroit, MI at Masonic Temple Theatre October 24 in Cincinnati, OH @ The Andrew J Brady Music Center October 25 in Waukegan, IL @ Genesee Theatre October 27 in Green Bay, WI @ Resch Center Theater October 29 in Moline, IL @ TaxSlayer Center Moline October 30 in Mankato, MN @ Mayo Clinic Event Center
November 1 in Sioux City, IA @ Tyson Events Center November 2 in Rapid City, SD @ The Monument November 7 in Ontario, CA @ Toyota Center November 8 in Tucson, AZ @ TCC Arena November 10 in Loveland, CO @ Budweiser Events Center November 12 in Park City (Wichita), KS @Hartman Arena November 13 in St. Charles, MO @ The Family Arena November 15 in Corbin, KY @ The Corbin Arena November 17 in Southaven, MS @ Landers Center November 18 in Baton Rouge, LA @ Raising Canes River Center November 20 in Oklahoma City, OK @ Paycom Center November 22 & 23 in San Antonio, TX @ Tech Port Center & Arena November 25 in Dallas, TX @ The Factory in Deep Ellum November 26 in Corpus Christi, TX @ Concrete Street November 28 in Edinburg, TX @ Burt Ogden Arena November 29 in Houston, TX @ 713 Music Hall
Jimmy Kay and Alan Dixon from Canada’s The Metal Voice Spoke to Judas Priest’s guitarist Richie Faulkner. Faulkner spoke about the bands upcoming North American tour with Queensryche, gave a new album update, talked about the fan backlash touring as a four piece and a lot more.
Excerpt from interview
When asked about an update for the next Judas Priest album “Since the Firepower tour we went our separate ways like we do and we always got ideas coming up, me Rob and Glenn start putting ideas down. We got together in early 2020, me Rob and Glenn, Andy Sneap was there as well and we pulled all our ideas together and started the first writing sessions. We got together a batch of songs, by no means finished but they were developed enough we could call them songs, so we could give them working titles. They were demos. So we had a batch of demos and since then we have been trying to find an opportunity where we can all get together and develop them further and record them. Obviously with the restrictions at the time, lockdowns and the pandemic, we wanted to be together as a band to iron out those creases, it becomes evident when you play together what songs need. We have started recording some and getting it put together with those restrictions it has obviously been taking longer than we would like. We are working on it but obviously we are nowhere near a release date.”
When asked about the musical direction of the new music, will it be Firepower part 2 or another era of Priest? “Whenever you start a record you never know how it’s going to turn out, so you might start with an idea of what it’s going to be and as it kind of rolls on it comes out something different, so you don’t quite know. It is also kind of hard to sum up your own music I find. But I think this one stands on it’s own, it is not Firepower two, it is it’s own animal. If anything I would say it is a bit more progressive in places and in places it’s got a bit more of that Killing Machine swagger. I think it is a little more progressive than Firepower and like I said it has a little bit of that Killing Machine angry swagger attitude going on. But like I said it can turnout completely differently. “
Z2 Comics proudly announces that one of the biggest acts in the history of heavy music JUDAS PRIEST will team with the rapidly growing entertainment brand for an original graphic novel to be released in 2022, in time for the anniversary of their highest selling album of all time, the indisputable classic: Screaming for Vengeance.
Teaming with writers Rantz Hoseley (Comic Book Tattoo, the Heroin Diaries) and Neil Kleid (Savor), and artist Christopher Mitten (Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.), the multi-platinum selling Metal Gods bestow upon their generations of fans their first-ever graphic novel!
500 years from now, a ring of cities orbit high above the surface of a dead world, controlled by a ruling elite that maintains power through manipulation and brutality. When a naïve engineer inadvertently threatens the status quo with his vital scientific discovery… A BLOODSTONE… he is betrayed by those he trusted and cast out to the broken planet below. In the wreckage and desolation of a broken world where every day is a battle for survival, he must choose between accepting his new life in exile…or SCREAMING FOR VENGEANCE.
“I cannot overstate what an inspiration Judas Priest has been to me, personally.” said Hoseley. “I was already a fan of the band, when Screaming for Vengeance was released, but no one was ready for the impact it had. That incredible cover art? Those songs? That album became my daily soundtrack and creative fuel, to the point where I wore the cassette out in my car. To be able to contribute to a project inspired by these songs that mean so much to me? Well, that is an honor and a responsibility I take very seriously.”
To further celebrate the creative legacy of this monumental album and landmark anniversary, the graphic novel includes an extensive interview with original cover artist Doug Johnson in which he discusses the process of creating the award-winning album cover design, and the origin of the metallic bird of prey, now known as “The Hellion.” Additionally, as part of the expansion of Z2’s product offerings, newly appointed Z2 Vice President of Collectibles and Aggronautix founder Clint Weiler has designed a detailed Hellion statue, with working “electric eyes” in celebration of both the original album design, and the dramatic conclusion of the story in the SCREAMING FOR VENGEANCE graphic novel”
Certified double platinum in the United States, Screaming for Vengeance was released in July of 1982, and marked the beginning of the band’s success in North America, transcending the “new wave of British heavy metal” sound they had come to define, and moving them into the mainstream despite a heavier-than-ever sound. The album’s first single “You’ve Got Another Thing Coming” would prove to be one of the biggest hard rock hits in history and continues to inspire fists in the air around the world to this day. The album was ranked #3 on Rolling Stone’s 2017 list of “100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time,” and is celebrated throughout the world as one of the genre’s most defining moments, ushering in the success of heavy music in the 1980s up through today.
Judas Priest: Screaming for Vengeance will be released in both softcover and hardcover formats in finer bookstores, comic shops and record stores everywhere in July 2022, with special limited deluxe and super deluxe versions featuring an exclusive anniversary vinyl LP, prints and more available to preorder now exclusively through the Z2 website.
CASSIUS KING – led by guitarist Dan Lorenzo (Hades, Non-Fiction, Vessel Of Light) with Dangerous Toys/Broken Teeth vocalist Jason McMaster – have just released their cover for JUDAS PRIEST‘s ‘All the Way’. Available digitally everywhere by Halloween. The song is feat. Jason McMaster vocals and bass, Ron Lipnicki drums, Dan Lorenzo guitars.
Furthermore the band reveals that their second album will come out in 2022, including 10 original songs.
CASSIUS KING released their debut album ‘Field Trip’ on California’s Nomad Eel Records on July 23rd 2021.
Metal Shock Finland (World Assault ) 