Guitarist Richie Faulkner recently spoke to Anne Erickson of Audio Ink Radio, where he talked about the upcoming Judas Priest new album.
Richie said:
“It’s sounding great. I was in Phoenix with Andy Sneap and Rob (Halford) a few weeks ago, putting the vocals down. And it’s always exciting to hear new Priest tracks, because they become Priest tracks when Rob sings them. It’s, like, the world hasn’t heard them yet, but there’s new Priest tracks that we’re hearing for the first time. It’s really exciting, hearing that characteristic voice that we’ve heard for decades singing new stuff. It’s an incredibly exciting thing, so I can’t wait for the world to hear it all. [..]
“There are definitely a few more twists and turns on this record. There are a few more musical parts. So, there might be a bit of… As I said, there are twists and turns. I’ve used the word ‘progressive’ before, and the Internet ripped me a new a*shole. But it is progressive in the sense that it’s not like verse-chorus-verse-chorus-solo-chorus-finish. It’s musical part-verse-musical part. It might do a few twists and turns, musically.
”It veers from the path of it, a bit like ‘Sinner’ or ‘Tyrant’ or something like that. So, it’s a bit more ’70s Priest, which I welcome as a guitar player… It’s ’70s Priest, but it’s not a retro album, by any means. It’s the influence of ’70s Priest in the progressive sense, but it sounds like Priest in 2023.
“Every Priest album has kind of stood on its own, stylistically. It’s had that DNA of Judas Priest, because the characters are so strong. But it’s always been a little bit different, retaining that DNA but having its own character. So, this one’s no different, really, in the sense that it’s obviously Judas Priest, but it’s its own animal; it stands on its own two legs.”