JUDAS PRIEST Working On New Studio Album; 'Epitaph' DVD, Blu-Ray Coming Soon

According to a new post on JUDAS PRIEST's official web site, the British heavy metal legends "are working in the studio on their new album — and all is going is really well!"

In other news, JUDAS PRIEST's "Epitaph" DVD and Blu-ray, containing professionally filmed video footage of the the final show of the band's "Epitaph" world tour on May 26, 2012 at the Hammersmith Apollo in London, England, will be released later in the year.

The band's setlist was as follows:

01. Rapid Fire
02. Metal Gods
03. Heading Out To The Highway
04. Judas Rising
05. Starbreaker
06. Victim Of Changes
07. Never Satisfied
08. Diamonds & Rust (JOAN BAEZ cover)
09. Prophecy
10. Night Crawler
11. Turbo Lover
12. Beyond The Realms Of Death
13. The Sentinel
14. Blood Red Skies
15. The Green Manalishi (With The Two Pronged Crown) (FLEETWOOD MAC cover)
16. Breaking The Law
17. Drum Solo
18. Painkiller

Encore:

19. The Hellion (taped intro) / Electric Eye

Encore 2:

20. Hell Bent For Leather
21. You've Got Another Thing Comin'

Encore 3:

22. Living After Midnight

Fan-filmed video footage of the show can be seen below.

PRIEST's forthcoming album will mark the recording and songwriting debut of the band's new guitarist, Richie Faulkner, who replaced co-founder K.K. Downing in 2011.

Asked what fans can fans expect from the group's next CD, JUDAS PRIEST lead singer Rob Halford said in an August 2012 interview, "We've already got a strong cross-section of ideas, some of them complete, some of them in bits and pieces. It's shaping up to be quite intense, in terms of the riffage and the strength of certain tracks. Much like every time you try and talk about music, it's practically impossible to capture it. You can only point it in the direction of where things are shaping up, and it's just glorious. If I try to pinpoint it, there are elements of 'British Steel' and there elements of 'Painkiller' in terms of the vibe. We've got a really solid record coming together slowly in a strong metal way that will make all of our PRIEST fans around the world very happy and content. At least I hope it does."

Regarding a possible release date for the new PRIEST album, Halford said, "I'm not really sure. It'll be ready when it's ready. We're not under the same clock as we used to be. I remember in the '80s we were banging out a record almost every year, and that was on top of putting in a world tour. We have the luxury now, if you want to call it that, of taking our time. And that's just because that's the way it is. We're just as eager to get this done as ever, but we do it at a slower pace. It's that British thing, you know? [laughs] It's that monarchy thing. Let's look forward to that moment for another PRIEST record for everyone to bang their heads to."

In a November 2011 interview with Ultimate Classic Rock, Halford stated about PRIEST's plans for the upcoming CD, "Glenn and I started to write in the early part of January [of 2011]. We just went to it from the heart really, there was no specific agenda or idea, as opposed to what we had to do with 'Nostradamus', which was very focused and a real anchor of a project. This one has just been some straight-forward, classic British heavy metal. Some of it feels a bit like 'Painkiller', some of it feels like 'Sad Wings Of Destiny', some like 'British Steel'. We didn't do much research, we didn't bother checking some of our previous releases, we didn't do any homework, we just sat down and played, you know? Glenn came up with riffs and I came up with vocal melodies. There was no outside influence or interference in the writing sessions. We just started the day, plugged in some amps, got the mic up and made the metal that way. It's a very pure record, in that respect."