Matthew Wilkening of Ultimate Classic Rock recently conducted an interview with vocalist Rob Halford of British heavy metal legendsJUDAS PRIEST. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Ultimate Classic Rock: Is it true you’ve got a bunch of songs done for your next album?

Halford: We do, yeah! Glenn [Tipton, guitar] and I started to write in the early part of January this year. 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? Glenncame 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.

Ultimate Classic Rock: Were you surprised the response to your“American Idol” appearance was so positive?
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