Judas Priest plan April studio return

Judas Priest guitarist Richie Faulkner says the band will join up to begin writing their next album in April.

The band’s most recent release was 2014’s Redeemer Of Souls and Faulkner says they are keen to build on that record’s success.

He tells Guitar World: “We’re going to meet up next month and go and see what ideas we’ve got. I’m always coming up with riffs or melodies. We get together to pore over the ideas. Hopefully the ideas are great.

“We have a big legacy to uphold. These guys have been doing this for 40 years. Redeemer was the first Top 10 entry on Billboard that the band has ever had. It’s a great springboard, if you will. We’re looking forward to getting into the studio and seeing what we’ve come up with.”

Priest issue live DVD set Battle Cry on March 25. The performance was shot at last year’s Wacken Open Air festival in Germany and Faulkner says he enjoys big shows as much as smaller, more intimate gigs.

He adds: “It’s a different dynamic, that’s for sure. We did some theatres in the States where the fans are right on top of you. You can hear them singing and screaming.

“In the bigger venues, you have the enormity of the situation. You have the sounds and the band in a massive venue. So there are different dynamics that add to the magic of both scenarios. Of course, 85,000 at Wacken is a whole different energy.”

Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.