Judas Priest Follow Up

In a June 2006 interview with MTV.com, Rob Halford said of the group's concept album about the 16th-century French writer Nostradamus, "Nostradamus is all about metal, isn't he? He was an alchemist as well as a seer – a person of extraordinary talent. He had an amazing life that was full of trial and tribulation and joy and sorrow. He's a very human character and a world-famous individual. You can take his name and translate it into any language and everybody knows about him, and that's important because we're dealing with a worldwide audience." In addition to digging new lyrical ground for the band, the album would contain musical elements which might surprise fans. "It's going to have a lot of depth", Rob Halford said. "There'll be a lot of symphonic elements. We might orchestrate it, without it being overblown. There may be a massive choir at parts and keyboards will be featured more prominently, whereas they've always been in the background before." The album Nostradamus was released in June 2008; the band began a support tour in that same month.

In early February 2009, the band joined the ranks of bands speaking out against ticket-touting ("scalping"), issuing a statement condemning the practice of selling tickets at well above face value, and urging fans to buy tickets only from official sources. In the same month, Judas Priest continued their tour, bringing their "Priest Feast" (with guests Megadeth and Testament) to multiple arenas in England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland in February and March 2009.

From there the tour progressed to multiple venues in Sweden. Later in March, Judas Priest performed in Portugal (at Lisbon on the Atlantic Pavilion), which they had not visited since 2005. The tour then continued to Milan, Italy, and then Paris, France; Rob Halford had last performed with Judas Priest in Paris in 1991. From June through August 2009, Judas Priest completed a North American tour to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the release of British Steel (1980); the album was performed in its entirety on each tour date,

with some other songs thrown in. This tour was to be a joint effort with fellow Englishman  David Coverdale and Whitesnake. Unfortunately, Whitesnake would have to leave the tour after the show in Denver, Colorado on August 11, 2009 due to David falling ill with a serious throat infection; he was advised to stop singing immediately to avoid permanently damaging his vocal cords.

On July 14, 2009, Judas Priest released a new live album, featuring 11 previously unreleased live tracks from the 2005 and 2008 world tours, A Touch of Evil: Live. The performance of "Dissident Aggressor" won the 2010 Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance.

In May 2010, Rob Halford said the band had been offered a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, "but we've just never been there when they wanted to do the ceremony." He also revealed that a Nostradamus tour was still being contemplated: "We were in Hollywood recently and met with some producers and agents, so there are a lot of things going on behind the scenes."

Judas Priest announced on December 7, 2010, that their Epitaph World Tour would be the band's farewell tour and would run up until 2012. In a January 2011 interview, Rob Halford said about the band's impending retirement: "I think it's time, you know. We're not the first band to say farewell, it's just the way everyone comes to at some point and we're gonna say a few more things early next year, so I think the main thing that we just want to ask everybody to consider is don't be sad about this, start celebrating and rejoicing over all the great things we've done in Judas Priest."

On January 27, 2011, it was announced that Judas Priest were in the process of writing new material; the band also clarified their plans for the future, saying, "this is by no means the end of the band. In fact, we are presently writing new material, but we do intend this to be the last major world tour." Speaking at a press conference in Los Angeles on May 26, of the new material Glenn Tipton said: "It's quite a mixed bag. Really, there's more sentiment on this album. In a way, I suppose, it's also our farewell album, although it might not be our last one.

There are some anthems on there, which pay tribute to our fans".

On April 20, 2011, it was announced that K. K. Downing had retired from the band and would not complete the Epitaph World Tour. Downing cited differences with the band and the management, and a breakdown in their relationship. Richie Faulkner, guitarist for Lauren Harris' band (Steve Harris´ daughter), was announced as his replacement for the Epitaph World Tour. Downing's retirement left bassist Ian Hill as the longest-serving member of the band.

On May 25, 2011, Judas Priest played during the finale of American Idol season 10 with James Durbin, making it their first live performance without K.K. Downing. The band played a mixture of two songs: "Living After Midnight" and "Breaking the Law".

On June 7, 2011, the band announced that it planned to release the box set Single Cuts, a collection of singles, the following August.

In an August 2011 interview with Billboard, Rob Halford explained that he and Glenn Tipton had "about 12 or 14 tracks completely mapped out" for a new studio album, with four of those tracks already recorded and mixed. The band made a point to take its time with the album, with Rob Halford explaining "I'm of the attitude it'll be ready when it's ready ... I don't think we're going to slack off. We're determined to do a lot of work and be just as dedicated as we've always been and take a lot of care and attention with all the songs. We're not going to just bang this one out, so to speak."

On September 13, 2011, Judas Priest announced its plans to release a new compilation album, The Chosen Few, a set of Priest songs chosen by other iconic heavy metal musicians.

On June 5, 2013, Rob Halford confirmed that the Epitaph World Tour would not be the band's final tour. On December 22, Judas Priest released a short Christmas message on their official website, which confirmed that they would be releasing their next album in 2014.

On March 17, 2014 at the Ronnie James Dio Awards in Los Angeles, Rob Halford announced that the band's 17th studio album was finished. On April 28, the band released the album's title track Redeemer of Souls for streaming on their official website. On May 14, 2014, the band's original guitarist Ernie Chataway died at the age of 62 from cancer, as reported by vocalist Al Atkins. Redeemer of Souls was released on July 8, 2014. It sold around 32,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to land at position No. 6 on The Billboard 200 chart, the band's highest charting position in the US after the double-disc concept album, Nostradamus, debuted at No. 11. This was the band's first top 10 album in the US. The band went on tour in support of the album which ran from October 1, 2014 until December 17, 2015. The Redeemer of Souls Tour led to the sixth live album Battle Cry, which was released on March 25, 2016 after being recorded at the Wacken Open Air festival in Germany on August 1, 2015.

In a November 2015 interview with Reverb.com, Richie Faulkner said that the band would start work on their eighteenth studio album in 2016. In April 2016, Loudwire posted a photo showing Rob Halford, Glenn Tipton and Richie Faulkner himself in the studio beginning the process of the album, with Rob Halford confirming in a radio interview that it would be ready by early 2017.

During an interview at the 2016 edition of the Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy Camp, Halford expressed dissatisfaction on making an album similar to Redeemer of Souls. Faulkner then stated that the band would begin recording in January 2017 and also said that they would not go on tour until 2018. In March 2017, the band entered the studio to begin the recording process, with support from long time producer Tom Allom, along with former Sabbat guitarist and producer Andy Sneap and engineer Mike Exeter, who worked with the band on the previous album.

This marked the first time since 1988's Ram It Down that they had worked with Allom. In an April 2017 interview with Planet Rock, Halford said that the band was "coming to some of the final moments" of completion of the new album. He also promised "a very exciting 2018 period" with a world tour taking place in 2018. In an Instagram post in June 2017, Sneap said that the band completed tracking.

The eighteenth album, Firepower, was released on March 9, 2018, with a world tour taking place thereafter, beginning in North America with Saxon and Black Star Riders as their support acts.

On February 12, 2018, Glenn Tipton revealed that he had Parkinson's disease and would step down from touring. According to the band, the disease's progression left him unable to play the more challenging material. Tipton stated that he was still a member of the band despite his diagnosis and did not rule out future on-stage appearances. Andy Sneap was then announced as his replacement for the tour. Richie Faulkner later assured fans that Tipton would perform with the band "at some point in the tour." At the March 20, 2018 show in Newark, New Jersey, Tipton joined the band on stage to perform "Metal Gods", "Breaking the Law" and "Living After Midnight", then "Victim of Changes" and "No Surrender" on later dates. He continued to appear for encores throughout the remainder of the Firepower World Tour.

On January 29, 2019, Judas Priest's European tour with Ozzy Osbourne was cancelled after Osbourne experienced a severe upper-respiratory infection. The band later confirmed that the tour was rescheduled to 2020.

In a March 2019 interview with Australia's May the Rock Be with You, Rob Halford stated that there would be a new studio album in the near future, and that Glen Tipton had already started composing riffs. Bassist Ian Hill said that the band had "some very strong ideas that were left out of Firepower which we never got around to completing. So it's very much on the cards. When that will happen, I don't know." Despite Tipton's condition, Faulkner said that he would "very much be involved in the creation of the next record." Halford said that the band began compiling ideas for the next album, but said that Firepower would be difficult to top.

The writing sessions began in February 2020, with Andy Sneap and Tom Allom returning to contribute to the album's production. Richie Faulkner said that a month's worth of songs was written prior to the COVID-19 lockdowns, and that the band would eventually begin composing material. Rob Halford said that Glenn Tipton contributed material during the writing process, describing the songs as "monsters. Even in a very, very rough, primitive stage, they're great, they're really, really good." He explained that the album would capture "the emotion of what we're going through together."

Judas Priest were originally scheduled to embark on the 50 Heavy Metal Years Tour in 2020 in Europe and North America, but was pushed back to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic; however, due to its continued presence, the European leg was pushed back to 2022. They returned to the stage on August 15, 2021 as they headlined the Bloodstock Open Air festival, once again rejoined by Glenn Tipton for the encore songs. As the tour began on September 8, the remainder of the US tour was postponed as Richie Faulkner was hospitalized for major medical heart condition issues. It was rescheduled for the spring of 2022 with Queensrÿche as their support band, while the European leg with Ozzy Osbourne was rescheduled for 2023. However, Osbourne cancelled all shows for that year for health reasons.

On April 29, 2021, former drummer John Hinch died at the age of 73, as confirmed by Rob Halford on Instagram. When speaking about the upcoming album, Halford said that the band had "a bunch of great new ideas for tracks, lots of really strong demos", describing it as being "a very potent record". Ian Hill said that there was enough material for at least an album or two, expressing doubt that it would be released before 2023 due to the band's tour schedule. Halford confirmed Tipton's appearance on the album.

In January 2022, Judas Priest announced the departure of Andy Sneap as he would shift his focus on his production work while the band continued as a quartet; however, the decision was retracted and he was reinstated. In regards to the album's musical direction, Richie Faulkner and Rob Halford said that it would take a more progressive approach than Firepower, but Faulkner elaborated on its meaning. Glenn Tipton assured that it would be "what every Priest fan will want", while explaining that the tracks may or may not fancy the fans’ taste, but expressed satisfaction in its sound.

Faulkner described it being different to Firepower. While the album was completely written, he said that "we need to record it properly and everything like that. So it's not really anywhere near done. But when it's done, it's done." Halford indicated that it would not be released until 2023 or 2024, but later confirmed its release for 2024. On November 5, 2022, Judas Priest were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as they received the Musical Excellence Award. The other inductees included were former members K.K. Downing, Les Binks, and Dave Holland.

The band performed a three song set with Downing and Binks on stage.

Before the band's performance at the Power Trip festival on October 7, 2023, they revealed their next album Invincible Shield, which was released on March 8, 2024. (March 6, in Japan) Its lead single "Panic Attack" was made available for streaming on October 13. The album's second single "Trial by Fire" was released on November 17, 2023, followed in January 2024 by "Crown of Horns" and a month later by "The Serpent and the King".

In a February 2024 interview with Audio Ink Radio, Richie Faulkner was asked if Judas Priest had "many more albums left" in them. His reply was, "I know personally, whenever we kind of put the writing sessions to bed and we finish the writing and everything, I always feel spent. I'm out of ideas. I've got nothing left, I've given everything to it. Where the hell am I gonna get more ideas from if we choose to do another record? But somehow they always, over the next couple of years, you start banking new riffs and melodies and stuff, and somehow you get a new ones. So you never know what the future holds."

Judas Priest's style has always been rooted in Heavy metal, and many of their albums reflect diverse aspects of the genre; for example, their debut album, Rocka Rolla (1974), is primarily rooted in heavy Blues rock. From Sad Wings of Destiny (1976) through Stained Class (1978), the band's style was somewhat progressive, with complex guitar passages and poetic lyrics.

Songs would often shift in dynamics and tempo, and the music was some of the heaviest of its day. This would later have a major influence on Progressive metal and Stoner rock bands. Sin After Sin (1977) used a combination of double bass drum (or "double kick") and rapid 16th-note bass rhythms combined with rapid 16th-note guitar rhythms used by Black Sabbath, Venom, and Motörhead that came to define the genre. While the double-bass rhythms used by Judas Priest are generally measured and technical, the song "Dissident Aggressor" (from Sin After Sin) pushed an increase in "tempo and aggression",

which was later adopted by other bands with a much harder-edged approach.

Starting with their fifth album, Killing Machine (1978), the band began to incorporate a more commercial, radio-friendly style to their music. British Steel has been referred to as the "record that, more than any other, codified what we mean by heavy metal". The lyrics and music were simplified, and this style prevailed up to their seventh album, Point of Entry (1981). With their eighth album, Screaming for Vengeance (1982), the band incorporated a balance of these two styles. This continued on Defenders of the Faith (1984). With the follow-up album, Turbo (1986), the band incorporated guitar synthesizers into its signature heavy metal sound. On 1988's Ram It Down, the band retained some of the more commercial qualities of Turbo but also returned to some of the fast tempo heavy metal found on their earlier works. This fast-tempo style continued with 1990's Painkiller. Jugulator (1997) tried to incorporate some of the 1990s contemporary Groove metal styles. Demolition (2001) has a more traditional Heavy metal sound with Nu metal elements. Following the return of Rob Halford for Angel of Retribution and  Nostradamus, the band returned to the style of its early albums.

The band's popularity and status as one of the exemplary and influential heavy metal bands has earned them the nickname "Metal Gods" from their song of the same name.

Judas Priest have been cited as both an influence and an inspiration to the Thrash metal, Speed metal  and Groove metal genres, including bands such as Annihilator, Anthrax, Exciter, Dark Angel, Death Angel, Destruction, Exodus, Flotsam and Jetsam, Heathen, Kreator, Megadeth, Metal Church, Metallica, Nuclear Assault, Onslaught, Overkill, Pantera, Possessed, Sacrifice, Sepultura, Slayer, Sodom, Testament, and Voivod.

In addition to the sound, Judas Priest are also known for being revolutionary in heavy metal fashion. In the band's early years, they dressed in hippie-style 1970s outfits, but as the decade drew to a close, the rise of Punk rock made this look outdated, so the band began wearing simplified wardrobes on their 1978 tour. For the 1979 tour, Rob Halford adopted his now-trademark leather-and-studs look, inspired by Punk fashion and Leather culture.

The rest of the band adopted a similar style which became prominent at the time of their 1978 release, Killing Machine. This style would go on to be adopted by many heavy metal bands in the early 1980s, especially those of the NWOBHM and early Black metal  movements. To this day, it is not uncommon to find metal artists and fans sporting such a look at concerts.

In a published quote on the back cover of K. K. Downing's autobiography Heavy Duty: Days and Nights in Judas Priest, K. K. Downing said that Judas Priest "had a bit of an identity crisis from the beginning. There was always a bit of a question mark about the band's look. To me, it never seemed to say anything—and in the earliest days of our career, I suppose I actually saw that as a good thing."

K. K. Downing claims that he was the one who came up with the band's black-leather look back when he first started in the music business. He explains, "I had this Heavy Metal attitude inside of me. I had it all of my life. (Sounds familiar) When I got into Judas Priest I knew I had a band that had a great name. I knew we were a great band ... but something was not quite complete. The leather and studs image came along and it all started to complete itself. We had the album cover with the razor blade ... and Heavy Metal was born, mate. I was a youngster and it came to me. Around 1976 is when it happened. The band took to it and got on with it, really."

Though he adopted gay leather fetish wear for the band's look, Rob Halford has stated that he "had no interest in S&M, domination or the whole queer subcult of leather and chains" because he is a vanilla gay man. He feels that fans of the era also did not suspect a homosexual or kink subtext in the leather-and-studs look. However, following Halford's coming out as gay, modern listeners often identify Judas Priest as having queer themes in their lyrics and fashion.

Despite their huge, loyal fanbase, Judas Priest have never been well received by much of the music press, partially because their late 1970s rise coincided with the Punk rock and New wave movements, which occupied much of the music press's attention at the time. The first edition of The Rolling Stone Album Guide gave their first three albums one star each and described the band as "for lovers of stolen Led Zeppelin riffs only".

The second edition of the guide a few years later also panned their entire discography. Village Voice  critic Robert Christgau was notably disdainful of the band, refusing to outright review any of their albums and relegating them to his "Meltdown" list (referring to artists he did not consider having any material worth listening to). In 2018, they were nominated for entrance into the  Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but failed to get in, a move the band was critical of.

They were however inducted into the Hall of Heavy Metal History at the Wacken festival in August 2018. Founder/CEO Pat Gesualdo thanked them "for the decades of hard work and dedication to heavy metal, an art form they helped establish." The band then stated that their induction "also sends a great message of inclusion for the metal community around the world, and keeps us defending the metal faith together." In May 2022, it was announced that the band were to be among the 2022 inductee class for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as the recipients of the committee selected "Award for Musical Excellence". Despite finally being inducted, many outlets, including MetalSucks and Loudwire, were critical of the band being inducted via "Award for Musical Excellence" rather than in the "Performer" category. Halford, after originally expressing excitement about the honor, shared this sentiment.

The American director Rob Reiner went to see Judas Priest in concert as part of his preparation for making the film This Is Spinal Tap (1984), which spoofs British heavy metal bands.

The drama-comedy film Rock Star (2001), starring Mark Wahlberg, is loosely based on the story of how Tim "Ripper" Owens replaced Rob Halford as the vocalist in Judas Priest.

On January 5, 2014, the band appeared in the episode "Steal This Episode" of comedy cartoon show The Simpsons playing a parody of their song "Breaking the Law". Their music was referred to as "Death metal", for which the producers subsequently apologised by having Bart Simpson write "Judas Priest is not 'Death Metal'" in the opening sequence chalkboard gag.

Rocka Rolla (1974)

Sad Wings of Destiny (1976)

Sin After Sin (1977)

Stained Class (1978)

Killing Machine (1978)

Unleashed in the East (1979) live

British Steel (1980)

Point of Entry (1981)

Screaming for Vengeance (1982)

Defenders of the Faith (1984)

Turbo (1986)

Priest...Live! (1987)

Ram It Down (1988)

Painkiller (1990)

Jugulator (1997)

Priest, Live and Rare (1998)

'98 Live Meltdown (1998)

Demolition (2001)

Live in London (2003)

Angel of Retribution (2005)

Nostradamus (2008)

A Touch of Evil: Live (2009)

Setlist: The Very Best of Judas Priest Live (2010)

Redeemer of Souls (2014)

Battle Cry (2016) live

Firepower (2018)

Invincible Shield (2024)