JUDAS PRIEST's GLENN TIPTON On 'Redeemer Of Souls': 'It's Nice To Get Back To What People Want To Hear'

June 6, 2014

JUDAS PRIEST members Rob Halford, Glenn Tipton and Richie Faulkner recently spoke to Ultimate Classic Rock about their forthcoming album, "Redeemer Of Souls". You can now watch the chat below.

"Redeemer Of Souls", will be released in North America on July 8 (pushed up a week from the originally announced July 15) via Epic Records. The CD's title track was made available for purchase via iTunes and other digital service providers on April 29.

"This album has got vikings, dragons, aliens, a bit of bible thumping and some guns," Halford said."That's what you need in a metal record. It's strong and it's intense, but there's a lot of fun and exploration, through at least that side, with the lyrical content."

The follow-up to 2008's double-disc concept album "Nostradamus", "Redeemer Of Souls" is being billed as a return to JUDAS PRIEST's heavy-metal roots. "It's nice to get back to what people want to hear," Tipton said."This album just typifies JUDAS PRIEST."

"We felt it was important to make another classic metal album, which is generally what PRIEST has been famous for over the last 40 years," Halford added. "We had great success with 'Nostradamus', which was something that we'd always wanted to try. I think there was a nice enough space of time, musically, to do a lot of things but primarily just to kind of get all of the pieces into place to make what we feel is one of our best records — with all of the elements of what classic PRIEST stands for."

Regarding why there are five "bonus" tracks that are included on the deluxe version of "Redeemer Of Souls" and do not appear on the CD's regular version, Glenn Tipton told the "Trunk Nation" show: "They are all great songs. The reason they are not on the album is because the 13 that we chose are very consistent with what we wanted to do, which was release an undisputable heavy metal album. The others, they are not lightweight by any chance, but they've got a different feel, a different texture. So it's not a case of trying to rip the kids off and trying to get more money for an extra album, it's just a case of, these five tracks seem to deserve to go on their own CD, and that's what we did."

Added Halford: "We didn't want to drop the energy. From the opening thunder-and-lightning on 'Dragonaut' right up 'till the end of 'Battle Cry', it's just full-on, it's relentless. It's great."

"Redeemer Of Souls" CD track listing:

01. Dragonaut
02. Redeemer Of Souls
03. Halls Of Valhalla
04. Sword Of Damocles
05. March Of The Damned
06. Down In Flames
07. Hell & Back
08. Cold Blooded
09. Metalizer
10. Crossfire
11. Secrets Of The Dead
12. Battle Cry
13. Beginning Of The End

Bonus tracks:

14. Snakebite
15. Tears Of Blood
16. Creatures
17. Bring It On
18. Never Forget

"Crossfire" preview:

"Halls Of Valhalla" preview:

"March Of The Damned" audio stream:

"Redeemer Of Souls" song audio stream:

"Redeemer Of Souls" album artwork:

judaspriestredeemberfinalcd

"Redeemer Of Souls" single artwork:

judaspriestredeemerofsoulssingle

Find more on Judas priest

Prev More News Next

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).