JUDAS PRIEST's RICHIE FAULKNER Says Making 'Redeemer Of Souls' Was 'An Incredible Creative Process'

Jim Barber of Lithium Magazine recently conducted an interview with JUDAS PRIEST guitarist Richie Faulkner. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

On being included in the songwriting process for JUDAS PRIEST's new album, "Redeemer Of Souls":

"It was like joining a family from day one.

"When you are truly in a band, you are in a band of brothers and that has gone over the songwriting process too.

"The writing has always been with the two guitarists and vocalist and we kept it the same for this album. Also, we had been through the 'Epitaph' tour and we knew each other pretty well by the end. We had built relationships with one another to gain trust and respect.

"If I had an opinion, I knew it would be heard, and for my part, I valued everyone else's opinion.

"The whole concept of travelling together and performing together night after night really strengthens those bonds. So when you go into the studio and you've got an idea or there is something you think doesn't quite work, you feel safe putting your opinion forward."

"Even before we started rehearsals they included me. They asked me if I had any ideas for my stage gear; any designs that I wanted to put into the leather and studs. They asked my opinion on the setlists, what we should take out and what we should put in; should we change the arrangements. Everyone had their opinion on those things, including me. It wasn't like a dictatorship, like you can imagine in some scenarios where there are maybe one two guys running everything."

On how the songs for "Redeemer Of Souls" came together:

"[While we were on the road] I might be working on a riff or some melody ideas and Rob [Halford, vocals] would poke his head into the room and ask me to replay it for him, or he might hear it and say that he had an idea that would work with what I was doing. And Glenn [Tipton, guitar] would also come in and ask if he could lay down some ideas. So my involvement in the songwriting process started right there with putting some riffs down, because you never know when inspiration is going to hit you. As Rob says, you want to capture lightning in a bottle. When you get that first emotion from a riff that you fall upon or come up with, you want to preserve it straight away.

"When we got to the point where we were going to start putting the songs for the album together, me, Rob and Glenn would go into the studio and put all the ideas into a big metal cauldron to see what would come out. We already had some riffs from the road and we had some time off so we all did some stuff. We all had different parts that we just threw in and saw if any of it fit together. And even the two or three songs they had started before I joined the band, they were also put into that pot to refine and hone and make them into better songs. All of a sudden, we had three songs, then seven and 13 and before long, we were up to 18 songs. It was an incredible creative process for the three of us."

Read the entire interview from Lithium Magazine.

"Dragonaut" preview:

"Crossfire" preview:

"Halls Of Valhalla" preview:

"March Of The Damned" audio stream:

"Redeemer Of Souls" song audio stream:

"Redeemer Of Souls" album artwork:

"Redeemer Of Souls" single artwork: