JUDAS PRIEST UNLEASH NEW SONG FROM 'FIREPOWER' AND CONFIRM NEW YORK SIGNING
3rd March 2018
With just a few days to go until the release of possibly the most hotly anticipated album of the year, Judas Priest have released a third track from 'Firepower', and as well as that, fans in New York will have the chance to meet the Heavy Metal legends.
At 6.00pm on March 19th at the Sony Square NYC, 25 Madison Avenue, New York City, the band will be signing copies of 'Firepower'.
The lyric video for one of the standout tracks from 'Firepower', 'Never The Heroes', is here and the band tells us:
"'Never The Heroes' is about the courageous men and women that enter war - never trained to be heroes but becoming heroic due to their actions and sacrifices doing their duty for their people and country.
"It resonates as there is a hero in all of us and in times of struggle we can be strong and united - conquering our own challenges and helping others - it's a traditional Priest mid-tempo powerhouse, with a powerful message!"
Priest guitarist Richie Faulkner has assured fans that Glenn Tipton will play with the band again, despite the fact that he is battling Parkinson's disease and will not fully take part in the forthcoming 'Firepower' tour, as announced here.
Richie told Indiana's X-Rock 103.9 radio station:
"Glenn Tipton is involved in this record in the same way that he always has been. The only difference this time is that he's been battling with Parkinson's. If anything, it's a testament to what a hero Glenn Tipton is.
"If you listen to that record and you listen to the intensity, and you can hear the dedication that's gone into that, and the man is suffering ten years of Parkinson's? Hats off to the guy. It's just a testament to his love for the band, his love for the fans and his dedication to the cause.
"Obviously, live is a different scenario. In the studio, you can take time and redo things and just take time and he's more comfortable. Live is a different kettle of fish. So Glenn's had to step back a little bit from that. But rest assured, I think we're gonna see Glenn Tipton at some point in the tour."
"We've already said, at some point he's gonna come out, as and when he's willing and able and he's healthy enough to do it and turn up and do some songs with us, and I think the fans will go nuts. I think it's gonna be unannounced, it's gonna be a surprise.
"And who knows, man? Maybe we can keep him out — we can [get] him to stay out on the tour bus with us and come around the world with us. But we'll see Glenn Tipton on stage again — rest assured."
In case you missed them the first time around, or have been living on Mars this past couple of months, here's the title track from 'Firepower' and 'Lightning Strike' again.
Set for release this coming Friday, March 9th via Epic Records, the album is comprised of fourteen tracks of pure and highly inspired Metal and to mark the occasion Priest singer Rob Halford, guitarists Glenn Tipton and Richie Faulkner, bassist Ian Hill and drummer Scott Travis have reunited with producer Tom Allom, the man behind the board for all of the band's releases from 1979-1988, including such stellar classics as 'Unleashed In The East', 'British Steel', 'Screaming For Vengeance' and 'Defenders Of The Faith', with Grammy Award-winning producer Andy Sneap also helping to raise the sonic bar even higher.
Rob Halford tells us:
"Tom Allom has got this classic Metal thing, and Andy is a bit more of a 'modern Metal producer' but his thinking is a little bit different to Tom's and I think to get this balance between that classic old school Metal to what Andy’s world is was just a remarkable coalescence."
"Tom Allom has been with us since 1979, so his knowledge of ourselves and our music in general is immense," adds Ian Hill. And according to Scott Travis, Priest returned back to a recording method that worked incredibly well on the band's earlier classics:
"We went back to the organic way of recording where it's all of us in a room and we got to play together."
With the impending arrival of 'Firepower' and the ensuing tour which kicks off on March 13th, THE PRIEST IS BACK!
'Firepower' tracklisting:
1. Firepower 2. Lightning Strike 3. Evil Never Dies 4. Never The Heroes 5. Necromancer 6. Children Of The Sun 7. Guardians 8. Rising From Ruins 9. Flame Thrower 10. Spectre 11. Traitors Gate 12. No Surrender 13. Lone Wolf 14. Sea Of Red
Confirmed tour dates:
13th March: Wilkes Barre, PA Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza 15th March: Youngstown, OH Covelli Centre 17th March: Uniondale, NY Nassau Coliseum 18th March: Washington, DC The Anthem 20th March: Newark, NJ Prudential Center 22nd March: Uncasville, CT Mohegan Sun Arena 25th March: Ottawa, ON The Arena at TD Place 27th March: London, ON Budweiser Gardens 28th March: Oshawa, ON Tribute Communities Centre 30th March: Orillia, ON Casino Rama 31th March: Detroit, MI Detroit Masonic Temple 3rd April: Milwaukee, WI Riverside Theater 5th April: Green Bay, WI Resch Center 8th April: Bloomington, IL Grossinger Motors Arena 10th April: Casper, WY Casper Events Center 11th April: Loveland, CO Budweiser Events Center 15th April: Kent, WA ShoWare Center 17th April: Portland, OR Veterans Memorial Coliseum 19th April: San Francisco The Warfield 22nd April: Los Angeles, CA Microsoft Theater 24th April: Phoenix, AZ Comerica Theatre 26th April: Tulsa, OK BOK Center 28th April: Dallas, TX The Bomb Factory 29th April: Sugarland, TX Smart Financial Centre 1st May: San Antonio, TX Freeman Coliseum
Priest have already been announced for both Wacken and Bloodstock festivals for 2018. The Metal icons are one of the most-requested bands by the Bloodstock's loyal fan base and have been hot favourites to play Catton Park for some years now. They will finally make their Bloodstock debut on Friday night, 10th August 2018.
The band commented when their Bloodstock appearance was announced:
"Judas Priest are thrilled, honoured and primed, ready to unleash Priest-style Metal fury into the headbanging heart and home of Heavy Metal at Bloodstock 2018!"
Gojira were previously announced as Saturday night headliners and Nightwish as Sunday headliners.
Tickets for Bloodstock 2018 at great prices (early bird offers at just £125 for four days of Metal fun) are currently available right here.
Priest join Helloween, Nightwish, Running Wild, Dimmu Borgir, In Extremo, Arch Enemy, Vince Neil, Children Of Bodom, Dirkschneider, Doro, Sepultura, Amorphis, Epica, Amaranthe, Knorkator, Belphegor, Watain, Firewind, Deserted Fear, Bannkreis at Wacken 2018 with many, many more acts still to be announced.
Tickets and travel packages for Wacken 2018 are on sale now right here.