ROB HALFORD: It's Great To Hear That There's That Passion Still In K.K. DOWNING's Voice For JUDAS PRIEST

Alison Booth of Metal Shock Finland recently conducted an interview with JUDAS PRIEST singer Rob Halford. You can now listen to the chat at this location. A couple of excerpts follow.

On JUDAS PRIEST's plans to write and record the follow-up to 2014's "Redeemer Of Souls" album:

"The writing sessions will come first. I think much like any band, you start off the day in a writing session, and you've got nothing, you know. And you turn the amps on, and you start riffing and jamming, and maybe by the end of the day, you've got something that will turn into a really good piece of music that'll potentially last forever. So that creative side of PRIEST is as strong as it ever was, and we're all very, very pumped up and thrilled for the opportunity that's about to come to us again to get in the writing sessions and start banging away at songwriting. It's a funny thing, songwriting, 'cause sometimes you hit the wall, or the well dries up, and you just go, 'Oh, God. What are we gonna do now?' And then the next day, it's just overflowing with ideas. So we're looking forward to that and all the challenges that come into play. It's on the way. There's a new PRIEST record on the way, and when it's ready, we'll be letting everyone know that it's on the horizon. I would like to think that by the end of this year we'll have the bulk of it created. The thing about PRIEST is that we treasure everything that we do. We so love being in this band, JUDAS PRIEST, and we're so aware of the legacy of JUDAS PRIEST, all of the songs on the albums and the shows that we've made. It's probably more important to us now than it ever was. But we can guarantee that we'll give you another big solid dose of PRIEST metal. When it's ready, it's ready."

On former JUDAS PRIEST guitarist K.K. Downing's recent comment that he would be open to rejoining PRIEST for a performance at a hypothetical Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction or as part of a tour with fellow British heavy metal legends BLACK SABBATH and IRON MAIDEN:

"It's funny, that is, because I think that's the dream of a lot of people, to imagine MAIDEN and SABBATH and PRIEST and [LED] ZEPPELIN. Can you imagine what that would be like at Wembley? Oh my God! It would just be mad. It would be like multiple nights. Forget about fifty shows that Michael Jackson didn't do. It would be like a hundred shows at Wembley. So, yeah, it's great to hear that there's that passion still in K.K.'s voice for PRIEST. We go around the world slogging away working really, really hard playing the songs that we wrote together and really forging that back catalogue and just putting on incredible shows night after night with so much strength and power and energy. It's beautiful that PRIEST still has conviction and still has that desire and passion and love for what we do in metal. So, yeah, it's all good vibes."

JUDAS PRIEST's tour in support of their 17th studio album overall, "Redeemer Of Souls", was one of the most extensive of the group's entire career — consisting of 130 shows in 33 countries, and offering a setlist that touched upon selections from nearly all of their classic albums. And now, fans can relive the live PRIEST experience once more, with the release of the new CD/DVD/Blu-ray, "Battle Cry", on March 25 via Epic Records.

Recorded live on August 1, 2015 at Germany's Wacken Open Air festival in front of an audience of 85,000, "Battle Cry" is available on a 15-track CD, with the entire show on Blu-ray and DVD (running over 94 minutes),as well as digital audio and video formats. The DVD and Blu-ray also contains three bonus tracks shot in Poland on December 10, 2015 at The Ergo Arena, Gdansk, Poland.

What makes the show's track listing so appealing is it balances new classics ("Dragonaut", "Halls of Valhalla", "Redeemer Of Souls") along with headbanging classics ("Metal Gods", "Electric Eye", "You've Got Another Thing Coming"),as well as key album tracks from yesteryear ("Devil's Child", "Beyond The Realms Of Death", "Jawbreaker").