Rob Halford Confirms New Judas Priest Jams Are “Very Close”

Over the last few months, Judas Priest has had one hell of a time. Their guitarist underwent a second hearth surgery after nearly dying on stage last year, they’re about to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and it sounds like they may end up making up with founding guitarist K.K. Downing. Yet it’s the recent suggestion that the iconic heavy metal band is close to finishing up a new record that’s got most fans excited for the coming year.

While speaking with Q104.3 New York’s “Out of the Box With Jonathan Clarke” (as transcribed by Blabbermouth), Rob Halford said the band was “very close” to finishing their follow up to 2018’s Firepower.

“It is close, yeah. All the writing’s done; the bulk of the recording is done. I’ve still gotta put my vocal tracks down. So, in essence, it’s done, which is a great feeling, because that really points us to the metal future. Everything that we’ve done in Priest over the last 50-odd years has been driven by the latest music that we’re making. So this is no exception.

“We’ll finish this 50th-anniversary celebration down in São Paulo, Brazil on December the 18th, and that’ll be this year done. And then next year we’re kicking off with our good friend Ozzy [Osbourne] in the U.K.; we’ll do some shows with him. And [in the rest of] Europe. And then a few other bits and pieces we’ve got going over in Europe. And then we stop. And then we plan the next release sequence for the next Priest album.”

So there ya have it. Barring some unexpected hurdles, it’s going to be some time still, but we could begin seeing new Priest sometime from mid-to-late 2023. Here’s to hoping it’s as absolutely fucking killer as Firepower was and that fountain of youth hasn’t run dry.