Photo credit: Stephanie Cabral

JUDAS PRIEST have issued, via their Official Webpage, that the tour dates are to be announced soon, read more details below:

It has been confirmed that Judas Priest will be playing selected dates in support of their latest studio triumph, ‘Redeemer of Souls,’ with a full listing and details to follow soon via the band’s official site, judaspriest.com.

‘Redeemer of Souls’ will be made available from Epic Records on Tuesday, July 15th, 2014, as both a standard version and a deluxe edition with five bonus tracks. When asked what fans can expect from Priest’s 17th album overall, guitarist Glenn Tipton replied, “Sometimes in the past we may have come under fire for being too adventurous musically – so we have listened!! From start to finish ‘Redeemer of Souls’ is 13 songs of pure classic Priest metal!!”

Judas Priest is comprised of Rob Halford (vocals), Glenn Tipton (guitar), Richie Faulkner (guitar), Ian Hill (bass), and Scott Travis (drums).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION VISIT: http://judaspriest.com

JUDAS PRIEST have announced the tracklisting for their upcoming 17th album “Redeemer Of Souls.” The list was unveiled via their official website and can be seen below:

DRAGONAUT
REDEEMER OF SOULS
HALLS OF VALHALLA
SWORD OF DAMOCLES
MARCH OF THE DAMNED
DOWN IN FLAMES
HELL & BACK
COLD BLOODED
METALIZER
CROSSFIRE
SECRETS OF THE DEAD
BATTLE CRY
BEGINNING OF THE END

Bonus tracks:

SNAKEBITE
TEARS OF BLOOD
CREATURES
BRING IT ON
NEVER FORGET

There are only a select number of bands that have accomplished what JUDAS PRIEST has throughout their career (as well as having served as a stylistic influence on such a wide variety of bands). Soon the group – singer Rob Halford, guitarists Glenn Tipton and Richie Faulkner, bassist Ian Hill and drummer Scott Travis – will be offering up more classic Judas Priest metal with the release of ”Redeemer of Souls”.

To be released in the US on July 15th, 2014 via Epic Records (as a standard version and a deluxe edition with five bonus tracks), ‘Redeemer of Souls’ is Judas Priest’s latest collection of epic metal – “raising the bar is consistent for us and ‘Redeemer’ hits the ground running” – it matches up perfectly to earlier Priest classics as evidenced by the album’s lead off single ‘March of the Damned’ (“we are forging ahead, slamming the pedal to the metal!”) – the band mean business once again.

“We feel ‘Redeemer of Souls’ reinforces our passion for what we believe in from the Judas Priest style heavy metal.” The album also marks Richie Faulkner’s studio debut with Priest and is the co-writer of the material along with Glenn Tipton and Rob Halford.

First bursting onto the scene with 1974’s ‘Rocka Rolla’ Judas Priest is responsible for some of heavy metal’s all-time great albums – 1980’s ‘British Steel’, 1982’s ‘Screaming for Vengeance’, 1990’s ‘Painkiller’ etc – and anthems ‘Breaking the Law’, ‘Living After Midnight’, ‘You’ve Got Another Thing Coming’ etc – as well as trailblazing metal’s now instantly identifiable look – leather and studs – 2014 marks the 40th anniversary of the band.

And while fans are undoubtedly starved for more Priest (their last studio album ‘Nostradamus’ was released in 2008) the band themselves are eager for the world to hear their latest studio triumph. “Classic combination of all the statements we love to create with raging guitar riffs and solos, thundering drums, thick grooves of bass and vocals tearing it all up!”

Photo credit: Stephanie Cabral

According to Blabbermouth, British heavy metal legends JUDAS PRIEST have set “Redeemer Of Souls” as the title of their long-awaited new album. The CD will be released through Epic/Columbia on the following dates:

Photo credit: Stephanie Cabral

Friday, July 11:

Australia
Austria
Benelux
Finland
Germany
Ireland
New Zealand
Norway
Sweden
Switzerland
Turkey

Monday, July 14:

Asia (excluding Japan)
Czech Republic
Denmark
France
Greece
Hungary
Poland
Portugal
South Africa
UK

Tuesday, July 15:

Canada
Italy
Latin America
Russia
Spain
USA

Wednesday, July 16:

Japan

The “Redeemer Of Souls” title track can be streamed in the YouTube clip below.

Speaking to Artisan News at last month’s VIP listening party for the Ronnie James Dio tribute album “This Is Your Life” and awards gala at the Avalon in Hollywood, California, JUDAS PRIEST singer Rob Halford stated about the band’s new CD: “The record is finished; it’s absolutely finished as of today.” He added: “It’s a relief. It’s a relief because whenever PRIEST makes an album, like any band, you put your heart and soul into it; it is that typical ‘blood, sweat and tears.’ It’s not an easy thing to do 40 years later. But PRIEST has always been up for the challenge of that, and it’s one of things that we love to do more than anything else as we move on through our metal years. So this is a great time for PRIEST: 40th anniversary, a brand new record. Life couldn’t be better.”

In a 2013 interview with Billboard.com, Halford described the new PRIEST CD’s sound as “hard. It’s heavy. It’s something we think our PRIEST fans will be thrilled with. We know we have a reputation to maintain, and we know we have to deliver something really strong and solid. The album is going to be full of all the great things you love about JUDAS PRIEST — I don’t think I can say anything more than that without being hung, drawn and quartered.”

Speaking to VH1 Radio Network’s Dave Basner, Halford said about what fans can expect from JUDAS PRIEST’s next LP: “We felt it was very important to follow up [2008’s] ‘Nostradamus’, the last release, and that was a concept experiment and it was a real success for us and the fans loved it, but I think our fans and ourselves as a band, we want to get back to the side of PRIEST that we haven’t heard for a few years and reemphasize and remake those big, heavy metal statements again.”

PRIEST’s next album will mark the band’s first release with Richie Faulkner, most recently guitarist in the backing band for Lauren Harris (daughter of IRON MAIDEN bassist Steve Harris).

Faulkner joined PRIEST as the replacement for original PRIEST guitarist Kenneth “K.K.” Downing, who announced his retirement from the band in April 2011.

Asked how it has been collaborating on new music with Faulkner, Halford told Guitar World in a 2012 interview: “Really, really strong. Exciting. He’s riffing and saying, ‘Robby, I’m thinking of this and this and this.’ It’s really exciting to have that kind of energy, because you feed off of it.”

He added: “[Richie] went through the ritual on [the ‘Epitaph’] tour, did great work on stage, the fans embraced him, so it’s now time to see what we’re capable of, the writing trio of Glenn [Tipton] and Richie and myself.”

Regarding whether technology has changed JUDAS PRIEST’s songwriting process at all, Halford said: “It’s dangerous to walk around with a flash drive on a bunch of keys. [Laughs] To a great extent, it doesn’t really change. The technology is amazing in terms of the advantages it brings to music now, some of it good, some of it very bad. It’s all about discipline and self-belief, determination, wanting to do the best you can do and not accepting anything that’s below par. We’ve always had that attitude in PRIEST. We’ve always felt really strongly about any track that goes out for our fans. We’re still doing it like we always have: firing up the riffs and finding a vocal melody to go with it, me going into me wonderful world of the Roget’s Thesaurus and trying to come up with a new lyric and a new idea. And that’s what we’ve been doing for four decades.”