Judas Priest recording a new album

Judas Priest are working on a new album following their 2018 Firepower album. Firepower is Judas Priest's eighteenth studio album. Originally released on 9th March 2018. It is the second album to feature guitarist Richie Faulkner, who joined the band in 2011 after founding member K. K. Downing's retirement.

In a recent interview with The Entertainment Outlet guitarist, Richie Faulkner explains that the album is on the way and they're close to getting the vocals recorded.

"We're getting there. We've been trying to get it done. The first obstacle was the pandemic because we couldn't get together and do it as a group. And then when the pandemic restrictions were lifted, then we could go out on tour. So the next obstacle, if you wanna call it that, was the tour. We had to go out and tour and record bits and pieces in between the tour legs. So we've got drums done, we've got guitars done, we've got the bass done."

"I think the main thing we have to do now is vocals. So we've got the U.S. leg of the tour coming up, so Rob's gotta protect his voice and use his voice sparingly before that. So maybe after that. I mean, we've got [dates in] the U.S. and we've got South America, which takes us into December. So maybe in the New Year, we can start working on vocals."

Judas Priest Merchandise

When asked about what the new album will sound like Faulkner said "Andy Sneap (Producer and touring guitarist) was texting me this morning, and he was saying it sounded really solid, really confident. He was saying… I know people love this stuff on the socials, but it's not 'Firepower 2'; it's its own thing. Some people might like that; some people might hate that. When you read the socials, people read comments like that and they know what the album sounds like straight away.

He continued "I don't know how they do that. But it's all good. It means they're invested in Judas Preist and they're invested in the new music. But as he said, it sounds confident, it's sounding great and solid. It's always good as well when you've got something like this and no one's heard it. So you're excited to release it to the world — you want the world to hear it, but they haven't heard it yet. So it'll be great for the world to hear it. They might hate it. But it's still exciting."

Judas Priest at the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame

In other Judas Priest news, the band will be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on 5th November at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, California. Although they won't fall into the performer category but instead via the "Musical Excellence Award". Rob Halford wasn't impressed and told Arizona Republic “Why haven’t they given us the the same title as all of our friends. Black Sabbath, for example. There’s a different tag, isn’t there?”

He added, “Yeah, I was pissed. I was a bit pissed. At the end of the day, does it matter? Some days, I go, ‘No, it doesn’t matter. We’re in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Be grateful. Shut the hell up.’ And then there are other days where I’m like, ‘God damn, why did they give us the Musical Excellence Award?'”