Metal, Hardcore, Indie, Rock
Ian Hill, the bassist for Judas Priest, announced that he and his colleagues have started work on the follow-up to 2024’s “Invincible Shield” album in a recent interview with Metal Journal in Spain, as per Blabbermouth.
We’ve done most of the music, or all the backing tracks anyway; we’ve got them down. There might be one extra [song] to do. But the vast majority of it, the backing tracks have been done. The guys have been to Phoenix working on vocals with Rob over the last few weeks, I believe. So he’s in the process of putting the vocals down.
Hill responded as follows regarding the new Priest material’s musical direction.
he style, it’s a little bit different from the last one. It’s — I don’t know — a little bit more traditional, maybe a little bit quirky with some of the things. And, yeah, it should be good. Like I say, I’ve only heard it in very raw form — just basically guitar, bass and drums. That’s all I’ve heard so far. But, yeah, it’s shaping up to be a great classic Priest album. It’ll be out some time next year. It’ll be out probably March, April, something like that, I should imagine. That’s down to the record company.
Hill explained when asked if he meant that the upcoming Priest album would be “traditional” in the style of the band’s iconic albums “British Steel,” “Screaming For Vengeance,” and “Defenders Of The Faith.”
No, not that traditional. [Laughs] It’s more along the lines of ‘Invincible Shield’, but a lot more direct, shall I say.
In the same conversation, Ian was asked if he believed Priest could continue to attract new members in the future, even if he and Halford decided to part ways.
There’s no reason why not. I mean, we’ve already got through about six or seven drummers, four guitarists and two vocalists. So, why not? I’m sure everybody will be up for it if Rob or myself have to pack it in for one reason or another. Yeah, nobody’s irreplaceable, so you never know.
Ian stated this when asked how long he believes he can continue to record and tour with Priest.
Well, we’ll see. Like I always say, if the performance starts to suffer, it’s time to start thinking about [hanging it up]. So as long as we’re able to, to give that 100% — I’m talking personally here — yeah, we’ll carry on. But if there are any problems, and it ain’t feeling right, or you know you’re not giving your all, it might be time to call it [a day]. So we’ll see.
As far as Hill is concerned, performing isn’t the hardest part of being in a band like Priest.
It’s the traveling that does get to you from time to time, the rest of it’s great. The playing part, that’s the enjoyable bit. And, of course, the camaraderie and the friendships you have with your bandmates and just on a night off going out for something to eat. All of that’s great stuff, but the traveling can be a… not a problem, but it just gets boring. [Laughs] And you never get to see the places you visit. You might say, ‘Oh, yeah, you’re going to San Francisco. How can San Francisco be boring?’ Well, you get to San Francisco, you go to a hotel, you go to the show, and then you move on. You don’t get to see the Golden Gate bridge. And, so, yeah, it becomes tedious after a while. But at least at the moment, the live performance and the rest of it’s making up for that
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