Judas Priest’s New Single “The Serpent and the King” Out Now
There’s not much time left now before the release of Judas Priest‘s 20th studio album Invincible Shield, so in an effort to drum up even more hype for one of the more anticipated releases of 2024, they’ve hit us with their new single “The Serpent and The King.”
As you’ll hear in the clip below, it’s a fuckin’ heavy metal ass kicker. One of the coolest things about following this release from its announcement is the different feels each single’s had, while still feeling like the natural progression from 2018’s Firepower.
In conjunction with the single’s release, vocalist Rob Halford spoke with Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1 about the new song and album. And according to him, the new song is all about the struggle between good and evil, heaven and hell, God and Satan themselves.
“Judas Priest screaming heavy metal for over 50 years. The passion and the power and the love and the dedication and all the other glorious words that you can utilize into this band, Judas Priest, are just roaring in this song, ‘The Serpent and the King.’
“It’s just another definition of this particular style of metal, this intense, relentless, unyielding, invincible approach and love that we have in this band for this particular song. And we’ve talked about a lot of things. We’ve talked about the sinner, we’ve talked about the saints, and we’ve talked about the painkiller but we’ve never talked about God and the devil getting into the universal boxing ring, so to speak. That’s the message.
“We’re talking about this age-old thing that’s been going on since the universe began. It’s God, it’s the devil. It’s black and white, it’s positive, negative, it’s good, it’s evil, it’s love, it’s hate. It’s all of these different textures wrapped up into this fierce non-stop, relentless track, ‘The Serpent and the King.’”
According to Halford, the song is particularly poignant right now, because of how things are going on around the world.
“But this ‘Serpent and the King’ issue couldn’t be more relevant right now, man. I don’t have to talk about current topics on the news wire. But yeah, this is it. This is raging right now, this fight that’s going on.
“The good news is the battle always ends in the right place, which is, good overcomes evil. Love always wins. Love will always come out on top. No matter how dark, how bleak, how terrible things might be, love will come out, the light will shine, the power will reign, and humanity progresses. This is the context of all of the imagery and fantasy of ‘The Serpent and the King.’”
Invincible Shield will be available on March 8, but you can pre-order your copy today.
In addition to their album release, the band also has plans for a small U.K. tour this March with Saxon and Uriah Heep in tow. So if you’ll be in the area and want to experience the epicness of “Crown of Horns” live, be sure to check out the dates below.
Judas Priest U.K. Tour with Saxon and Uriah Heep
March
11 Glasgow OVO Hydro
13 Leeds First Direct Arena
15 Dublin 2 Arena
17 Bournemouth International Arena
19 Birmingham Resorts World Arena
21 London OVO Arena Wembley
