Does Judas Priest Have Another Album in Them? Richie Faulkner Says “Never Say Never”

Since the late 60s, Judas Priest has been a stalwart of rock and metal. Next week, they’ll release their 20th full-length studio effort in Invincible Shield, with most of the members now in their 70s. With so much time and mileage under their belts after each subsequent new release, the question quickly becomes “is this their last record”? Guitarist Richie Faulkner may not have the answer, but he’s not willing to count his bandmates out just yet.

While speaking with Anne Erickson of Audio Ink Radio (transcribed by Blabbermouth), the sprightly 44-year-old shredder was asked whether Judas Priest had “many more albums left” following next week’s release. Taking the diplomatic approach, Faulkner said it gets harder to come up with something new to say or do after each consecutive effort, but there’s still a drive to push forward.

“That’s a great question. You never know. I know personally, whenever we kind of put the writing sessions to bed and we finish the writing and everything, I always feel spent. I’m out of ideas. I’ve got nothing left, I’ve given everything to it. Where the hell am I gonna get more ideas from if we choose to do another record? But somehow they always, over the next couple of years, you start banking new riffs and melodies and stuff, and somehow you get a new ones. So you never know what the future holds. I mean, if the guys wanna do it, I’m all for it. And if they choose not to do another record, then I’m all for that. Whatever they wanna do.

“I’m not saying [there won’t be another album after Invincible Shield]. I’m definitely not saying [that]… never say never. And then you’ve gotta think, what are we gonna do from here? We can’t do a record like this. Which way is it gonna go? And again, the album normally dictates where it’s gonna go, but we don’t wanna repeat ourselves ever, so what would we do next time? It’s all good conversation. If we ever got to that stage again about doing another record, it’ll be an interesting one, for sure.”

Having listened to some of the singles off the upcoming record, it’s hard to imagine the band calling it quits anytime soon. It’s even harder to imagine a world without Priest. But time waits for no one and that day will come where even the “Metal God” will have to rest.

Here’s hoping that day doesn’t come soon.