ROB HALFORD Says 'Made Of Metal' Is 'Just A Good-Time Metal Album'

Robert Gray of Ultimate-Guitar.com recently conducted an interview with JUDAS PRIEST/HALFORD frontman Rob Halford. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Ultimate-Guitar.com: How did [the new HALFORD album] "Made Of Metal" come together?

Halford: "Made Of Metal" came together quite quickly, really, because, as you know, PRIEST is having a bit of a break. Me, being who I am, I can't sit around; I just have to keep busy, and that's just the way I work. I thought it would be great just to get the lads together and do some shows, and as soon as the dates started to happen — later on this year, I'm doing Japan and South America — I thought, "Well, wouldn't it be great if we had some new songs to play?" That really started it all off. I just started to think about some ideas for some songs, and the bulk of the songs came together quite quickly here in San Diego where I'm talking to you from today. "Made Of Metal" is just a nice, simple, fast, straightforward heavy metal record in that the arrangements are very direct and straightforward. The album has lots of good riffs and vocal melodies which are really easy to get into, and I think that was my approach. I said to Roy [Z], my producer, "Let's be simple and very straightforward." "Made Of Metal" has a bit of a classic vibe about it, really; the album is a little bit similar to what "Resurrection" was all about, just the use of a bit of an atmosphere. "Made Of Metal" is obviously not "Resurrection", though, but is just a bunch of really, really good songs. That was it; keeping it simple, and keeping it moving. Now the album is almost about to launch. I can't believe how quickly "Made Of Metal" came together, though it wasn't a rushed job. The album sounds great in terms of production and standard of playing, and Mike [Chlasciak] and Roy Z pulled out all the stops in terms of the guitar playing.

Ultimate-Guitar.com: In what ways is "Made Of Metal" the most personal release of your solo career?

Halford: Just lyrically. Being a lyricist has been my main job with all of these years with PRIEST. Having the luxury of a solo band, and part of the reason for having a solo band, is just to talk about things that I wanna talk about as a lyricist and as a musician. There are some personal stories on "Made Of Metal", like "Twenty-Five Years". "Twenty-Five Years" is about my problems with drugs, which I've stopped doing now after twenty-five years. Again, there are songs about trust and relationships. They're just a little bit more intimate lyrically than the lyrics I'm mostly associated with.

Ultimate-Guitar.com: Has giving up drugs changed your perspective on writing music at all? Is there a difference between writing songs whilst under the influence of drugs, and when you're not?

Halford: Yeah, yeah. It's an interesting thought that is, because if you look at some of the things that've happened in music over the years, some musicians have been very open about saying, "Yeah, I was out of my head. I was bladdered. I was out of my brains when I wrote that song," and it can be a great song. I personally have found that I have a much better vision of what I want to try to do with a song when I'm writing, and not using drugs. You just get clarity, and I think you're also able to balance it out. Where I'm at now as a solo writer, I try to do stuff that I haven't done before, like the video for the title track "Made Of Metal". I'm in a clear head to do things like that, which makes things a lot easier, I think.

Ultimate-Guitar.com: Was "Till The Day You Die" possibly influenced by the passing of Ronnie James Dio in May? He was obviously still performing at the age of sixty-seven until his battle with stomach cancer.

Halford: That's a very good question, but I don't know. Maybe it was an influence. Maybe subconsciously it was. I don't know. He was a good mate of mine, and I still can't believe he's gone. Obviously, music comes at you from many different levels — consciously and subconsciously. Maybe it was. I honestly can't say, but as you get older, you... (laughs) occasionally think about your mortality. I turn sixty next year, and twenty years of your life goes by in a fucking blast in rock 'n' roll, doesn't it?

Ultimate-Guitar.com: Yeah, definitely.

Halford: Time moves differently in the music world. Five years just zip by, ten years zip by, and then you're sixty. Maybe that was what I was thinking about as well. I wasn't consciously thinking about it because I didn't want to write a massively depressing song, but there may be some value there to answer your question.

Ultimate-Guitar.com: Can we expect anything slightly different from you in future material? Like what happened with the project TWO?

Halford: I don't think so. I don't think I'm gonna go that extreme ever again. You probably heard "The Mower", which was out some months ago. I put that on "Made Of Metal" just because I thought, "Well, I might as well. I'll finish the record on that bang, that high note." "The Mower" uses the vocal technique that I still like to use, and it's probably the most extreme track on the record. "The Mower" has its place where it is; after "Matador", there's "I Know We Stand A Chance", and then there's "The Mower". "The Mower" just seems to round it all up, and is a very modern metal track, very unusual sounding. I enjoyed writing that song, but not as much as, say, "Undisputed" or "Hell Razor", those tracks with a classic vibe.

Ultimate-Guitar.com: Why do you feel "Made Of Metal" has more in common with "Resurrection" as opposed to "Crucible"?

Halford: As you'll hear when you listen to "Made Of Metal", the album has the same atmosphere and the same vibe about it. You take songs from "Resurrection" like "Locked and Loaded" or "Cyberworld", "Night Fall", and "Temptation". I'm not trying to say they're the same, but just emotionally and musically they have the same type of experience. Having said that, "Made Of Metal" sounds different, and it's like nothing I've done before, in my mind at least. I think what I'm trying to say is the album isn't what you'd possibly expect in the general way that we do things. "Made Of Metal" isn't what you'd expect to be the follow-up to "Crucible". I like "Crucible"; a very heavy record, a very serious record. Maybe that was it, that I didn't wanna make a serious record. Some of the messages are serious, but overall, it's just a good-time metal album.

Read the entire interview from Ultimate-Guitar.com.

Fan-filmed video footage of HALFORD's October 24, 2010 performance at Carioca Club in São Paulo, Brazil can be viewed below.