 Welcome to the Metal Voice once again. Richie Faulkner, guitarist, elegant weapons and of course Judas Priest. How you doing my friend? Brother we meet again which is an exciting thing because we're always talking about cool stuff so I'm doing very well. How you doing? Good to see you again. Good to see you as well. Great exciting news Invincible Shield is the upcoming 19th studio album by Judas Priest that will be released on March 8th via Epic Records. It was produced by the band's touring guitarist Andy Sneak who also produced 2018's Firepower. Also an upcoming U.S. tour starting April 18th as well. All right. Describe to me in one sentence, this is for the headline here, the new album. Just describe to me in one solid headline for this new album. I can't do that. You can do it. You can do it. That's insane. It's Judas Priest in 2024 is what it is. All right. All right. How about this comment on my review right here and I'll let you go with this. Okay. This album will stand on its own over time. The same way British Steel did, the same way Scream of Revengeance did and the same way Defenders of the Faith have. What we are getting here is a continuation of the Firepower sound with more musical interludes, more memorable songs, more memorable solos, more memorable melodies and more intricate songwriting and a metal smack in the face. I would say that's pretty accurate. I think it's its own animal as all the albums are as you said before. It's the character of the band that's been there for over half a century now. There's Halford, Glen Tipton, Ian Hill, Scott Travis. Scott's been there for 30 years. There's that beautiful legacy that they laid down along with KK Downing and Les Binks and Dave Holland and all those guys in the past. We always try to do something a little bit different in whether it's musical or lyrical content or we always try to make it better quote unquote. Better songs as you said, better production, better solos, better melodies. We always try and strive to do something that's better than the last one and has its own unique quality. I think that's pretty accurate what you said there. I am totally blown away by the way by this album. I can't believe it. It's unbelievable. When people hear this, they'll understand what we're saying. It's just what I'm saying. That's one of the most interesting things and exciting things about our record release. Now this is my third one with Priest as you know. We have a record that we know and now you've heard as well and no one else has heard it. No one else has heard songs like God is my witness or Sovereign and the King or Invincible Shield. No one's heard it yet. It's an incredibly exciting time. As you know man, as soon as that thing comes out, everyone's going to be giving their opinions and saying what their favorite track is and how it relates to other albums. That's the beauty of Priest, man. That's the beauty of Priest and now Priest family that we love so much. We can't wait to release it. What was your guitar plan going into this album versus the last album? What was your mindset? Well, there's two sides to this. I always do it the same way. I sit down with a guitar whenever. Like today I might sit down with a guitar and a riff will come out or a section will come out. I'll come up with something that sounds strong and build on that and I kind of let the guitar dictate what I'm coming up with and we take those ideas and then get them in a writing session together with the three of us and we put those ideas out there and see if anything sticks. I've always done that with the three albums, with the band, but what I did differently this time. We had a bit more time to develop riffs and solos and musical parts because of the lockdowns of the pandemic. There were a few solos on this record which I actually worked out. I don't usually do that. I usually play some Off the Cuff solos in the studio and a little bit stick here and there and you build it around them. But a few of them on this record I actually worked out. I'm always trying to find my own voice. I'm always trying to find my own thing to say. Coming in after KK Downing who had such a unique voice and Glenn as well, what am I going to say? That's always been my journey. I mapped out some of the guitar solos on this record which I don't usually do. I'll name you some of the songs that people haven't heard. I'll just throw in my little tidbit and then you tell me what you think. All right, here we go. The Serpent and the King. This to me is like Free Will Burning's cousin. That's interesting, man. That's great. Obviously it's a fast screeching pre-strike with Rob's banshee vocal style. That one had been around for a while with no vocals, but we knew there was something in the song. We knew there was an energy and a fire. And when Rob put the vocals on, I think it was one of the last ones that he came up with. It just sent it over the top, man. That Halford high register banshee while is something that really in the dynamic flow of the record, that's something that really makes the record and that song jump out. I really love that song. It'll be fantastic to play live. You know what I love about this album versus the last? I do love the last album, but this one's better because there's more little musical interludes. You're going off with the guitar on different tangents. Do you agree with that? I definitely agree with that. I've used the word progressive before and the internet tore me apart. Everyone's got a different definition. I think it was your fault. I think you put that out there. That's okay. I stand by that. It's progressive in the sense that it kind of, as you said, it doesn't stick to verse bridge chorus. If there's a musical part that wants to go somewhere else, we'll go there and then go somewhere else and then go somewhere else and then come back with twists and turns along the way. If anything, I think it's a less commercial record than firepower because it kind of, it strays away from that three-minute single as much as it could. I wasn't really interested in that dynamic. So I was just putting in more musical bits. Panic Attack actually had another musical part in it, which was a slower, solo part. We actually took that out because we actually thought it was too many, too many parts in there. So that was the kind of attitude that I was going into it with. And that's what the album kind of took on as a character. So we went with it. I love it. Invincible shield. This was my comment. Jawbreaker free will burning vibe and themic. Yeah. See, this is the thing when you release a new priest record, you attach it to songs. You have to. You have to, right? There's another way to describe something. Like for someone who's never heard it, you need to have some sort of context, right? No, you're absolutely right. It's one of those songs I've just mentioned, which has riff after riff after riff after part. The solo goes off in a different direction. The solo is almost like a musical piece in itself. It changes almost like Randy Rhodes. I was going for that. That was one of the solos that I mentioned. And I wanted like a Randy Rhodes type feel. And yeah, it's a challenging song to play right until the very end. There's stuff going on. So it's a great, fun, fast, anthemic track. And it sums up the title of the album, really. That's what it's all about. It's the metal that we all know and love. And it's our music and our community. And when I mean Defenders, I don't mean as the whole album because Defenders is a very different album. I'm talking about the more ferocious, fast tracks of Defender. That's what I'm getting. Those that vibe. No, for sure. Exactly. Gates of Hell Defenders vibe again with lots of 80s flash guitar, which would be allude to Eddie Van Halen or Randy Rhodes ish. I think that's a fair statement as well. I mean, I think because of the vast tapestry that priests have laid down in the past, the diversity, you know, you have stuff like another thing coming next to Screaming for Vengeance, next to Beyond the Realms of Death. There's such a diverse groundwork that's been laid. If there's something that we're working on and it has that flair from that point in time, if it's a strong idea, we'll go with it, man. And it just allows you to do more stuff creatively, I think. I think, yeah, it's got a tip of the hat to the 80s, maybe, but a good, strong track, I think. Yeah. God as my witness, this is bark at the moon on steroids. Yeah, man. You know, you're saying these things. I never thought of things like that. But when you say it, you're not wrong. That's another fast one. This comes in after Crown of Horns, which is a mid-paced anthem. And when this one, there's a fade-out on Crown of Horns. And then when this one hits you, sometimes it makes me jump still. If I've got the speakers cranked and there's a fade-out on Crown of Horns, and then this one jumps in, this is relentless, this one. That's a great track. Escape from Reality. I'm getting a doomed Sabbath feel here. Yeah, that was one of Glenn's songs that he brought in to the sessions, and we needed a midsection. So we came up with something that was leaning, you know, as I said before, if you put some riffs down and they start to take on their own character, and it was a very kind of Sabbath-y midsection, and Rob went with that dynamic as well. But that was one of Glenn's ideas that we thought was strong and has a different texture on the album, both in sonics and in sentiment of the vocal. So we thought that was a good dynamic to have in there. And, you know, I just want to talk about Glenn for a moment. Glenn, you know, it's so sad about his illness. How's he doing? Well, he has good days and bad days, as you know. But, you know, again, what he could do on this album, we went in with the pretense of if you can play it, he would. And if he couldn't play it, then I would take over and share the responsibility. So it was important for us to have Glenn in there. And I think it might have been important for him as well to be included. Yes. As much as he could be. Like an elder, right? He's like an elder sort of looking over everything and just. Ah, dude. He's exactly like escape of reality. Something like that Glenn comes up with, that's a little bit off the cuff, and it has its own character. Glenn does, Glenn's vital to the pre-sound. So, yeah, that's how we approached it. Sons of Thunder. This is what I'm hearing. Sunset strip, a distant relative of hell-bent for leather. Bang on. I think that's bang on. I think definitely it reminds me of hell-bent for leather in heart. That's another one of Glenn's. Glenn came to the session and he had this song Sons of Thunder. We added a couple of bits and solo sections and stuff like that. And again, that's Tipton. Hell-bent for leather was Tipton too. So that's a testament to how he writes songs, short, sharp and to the point. Giants in the sky attribute to the metal gods that have passed. Is that, is that a fair, like it's hard for me to hear the lyrics, right? So I'm just trying to figure this out. You're absolutely right. But Rob has that kind of way of having something meaningful, but yeah, ambiguous as well. You know, it's slightly, you're not sure what it could refer to. But yeah, you're right. It's the metal gods that have passed that music, their music will live on forever. The last words on Rob's final scream is you will never die. And that kind of, I'll take as a reference to the music and these metal gods that we all hold in such high esteem, it will live on forever. And then you have like the bonus tracks with our three. And I thought, wow, man, these guys, I don't even know why they're bonus tracks. But then you have the Lodger and I think this is from the movie of Jack the Ripper, correct? It could have that kind of thing. It tells a story. It's Bob Halligan, Jr. that wrote that song who's got a history with priests, you know, taking heads are going to roll. Exactly. Yeah. So Bob, he produced that song for us and gave it to us. And it kept coming back, you know, we'd do work on other songs. And then that one kept coming back. And he's got a really unique, it's almost like a Broadway type sentiment, as you said, with the Jack the Ripper type stuff. So we wanted those three tracks. We thought they're strong tracks, but for one reason or another, didn't make the actual record, but we wanted them to be out there. So you know what it's like, man, you listen to some bonus tracks or some bands and you like those better than the ones on the record. So we just wanted to put everything out there. So Vicious Circle, Lodger, and Fight of Your Life. Fight of Your Life is one of my favorite songs on there. I love it. He's a great swagger. Yes. So we wanted to put them all out, but have that kind of album dynamic as it was and then put those out separately. Just to clarify, Bob Halligan, Jr., is this a cover or is this a song he wrote for you guys or what is that all about? He wrote it and thought it would be appropriate for priests to do, you know, with the history. And I think he could hear priests doing it and Rob singing it and stuff like that. So he presented it to us. And as I said, it just kept coming back into the sphere of consciousness. And we thought, let's have a go at it. And we did. And it came out really unique, I think. In the last few minutes that we have, tell me about Rob's vocals on this album versus the last album. Like to me, Rob is just far and off on all cylinders. You couldn't ask for a better vocals. Not only vocally, but the way he puts the songs across really connects the listener with them. You know, the sentiment of the song comes across and Rob's got such a diverse range, as we all know. He'll do the higher stuff. He'll do the low stuff and the stuff in the middle, which really is so dynamic. He's not just like a one-trick pony. He doesn't just do one thing. Rob does so many things, which makes him the metal god, the undisputed metal god. And it's fantastic to work with him. You know, and comment on this. Like, I'm listening to priests, I listen to sacks, and I listen to all the legacy bands. They seem to be the trailblazers of today. Like, we're in the past, it was the younger bands who were the trailblazers, you know, the 18, 19-year-old, 20-year-olds. Why are legacy bands pumping out such quality music? That's a good question. I think they've always, you always set out to create the best you can, I think, and they've always done that. You're right, there definitely seems to be a resurgence in, you know, quite-on-quite legacy acts. We're going out with Saxon, Uriah Heap in a couple of months. I don't know, man. I think things come full circle sometimes and tastes change and develop. And I don't know, man. It's just like a, as you said, it's a an upsurge in that type of classic metal. And I'm there for it, man. I love it. All right. Last thing, rethink your opening statement. How do you describe the album in one sentence? I still can't do that, man. It's such a, I can't do that. I can't. It's so, like, quantifying and describing your own music is so difficult to do without sounding, I don't know. I don't know, man. It's up to the listener. It's something that the listener is going to decide. I've got my opinion of it, which is, you know, it's who we are as priests in 2024. That's what we're coming up with, that we're forging forward on the legacy that they've laid and moving somewhere else, hopefully. And I hope fans dig it. On that note, Invincible Shield March 8th on Via Epic Records. The tour starts on April 18th in U.S. Hopefully you'll have some more dates come into Canada. Thank you so much, Richie, all the best. And I'll say it again, this is an outstanding album. Congratulations. Thank you very much, man. Thank you very much. I'll talk to you again soon. Talk soon, my friend. Bye. See you tonight. Bye-bye.