Judas Priest just announced their new album "Invincible Shield" at Power Trip and it's now available for pre-order on their website. Release date : 2024-03-08. The tracklisting doesn't quite seem to be available as of yet.

Definitely stoked for this new album as "Firepower" was a banger.

Not really into anything post-Painkiller (as in none after that I'd consider a classic or personal fave) but will always check out a new JP album anyway!

Of course I'll check this out.

I first thought Firepower was very good, but then it kind of faded. New Priest is still always welcome.

Firepower has gotten a lot more rotation than I expected from it since its release so if this is as great as that, I’ll be happy.

Terrible artwork but I can't wait to hear new music more or less in the vein of 70s Priest (as Faulkner said; well, no, he didn't really say that, but whatever, you all know what he actually said anyway ). On the last couple of albums, there already were some pointers in that direction ("Crossfire", "Children of the Sun", "Guardians / Rising from Ruins" etc.). More of that! I wouldn't mind a "Sad Wings II" or "Sin after Sin II".

Last night I was looking at their Youtube channel and thinking, why is their profile picture and banner completely black? Is this some kind of big announcement they're preparing? Literally the next day I see this, and holy shit I was right!

Hoping they can catch late-career lightning in a bottle again. Firepower is one of my favourite Priest records.

Prob the outlier here but JP just never did it for me, pretty much the opposite really.....was kind of repelled and never saw the appeal.

This will be interesting. I actually liked Firepower, even if it didn't hold up to their early records. Would be interesting to see how this one holds up.

I'm in even if it's just for one or two listens. Firepower was a solid album even if it was pretty straightforward.

I have a good feeling about this one.

Who approved that album cover?

New music! (Snippet)

You mean that band with Rob Halford and some other guys?

That album cover looks like it would be more at home on an album by Primal Fear or Firewind than a Judas Priest cover, but I'm still intrigued to listen to the new album. I enjoyed the last few a lot (it's me, the Redeemer of Souls apologist) so I'm intrigued to see what it offers.

Oof, that album cover is an eyesore. It's a shame, as I thought Firepower's cover was great.

Still, pretty excited for this as I thought Firepower was great overall. Usually when I want to spin some Priest these days it ends up being that album.

As far as I remember, Halford left quite a while ago. And last year Ian Hill joined U.D.O.

Current Priest is:

Vocals: Tim Owens
Guitar: Richie Faulkner
Guitar: Andy Sneap
Bass: Peter Baltes
Drums: Scott Travis
Occasional visits to the stage: Glenn Tipton

(K.K. is still missing although some say they saw him on Blabbermouth now and then.)

Oops, must have missed that. At least Richie Faulkner is still in the band. He sorta counts as an original member by now, right?

If I counted correctly, their 19th full length studio album. Will they hit the 20th?! That snippet was more than interesting!

KK is now KK's Priest and Ripper is on vocals.

And the winner is: deadtonne (category: best spoof band).

I don't mind the cover, it's in line with the gaudy neon pop art aesthetic they've had since Screaming for Vengeance/Defenders, and at least it's actually painted rather than CG slop.

I assume this will be Firepower part 2 (which itself was basically Redeemer of Souls part 2). Unless that snippet is something other than some 20 second intro.
edit: no KK OR Glenn on this one? oof...

As far as reliable sources go, I think you are remembering out of date information. Owens is still listed as being in KK's Priest on their webpage and Wikipedia has updated to include this album, but shows that Halford is still part of the band (aka the 'original' Judas Priest) and hasn't left yet since the Firepower album from what I can see so far. No confirmation on if Ian Hill is in/out from a quick scan, but wiki seems to think he is in yet.

As for the cover, my impression is that it is high quality, but very low effort. It lacks any real identity and comes off as too generic. In comparison, Firepower's cover was a bit simplistic but it definitely conveyed the title's concept very well and served as a very good cover. Sure, it could have been more detailed or had a lot of extra bits thrown in like say Dismember's "Massive Killing Capacity" or Voi Vod's "Rrroooaaarrr" cover amongst others. But this simplicity doesn't detract from the art or the art concept and works well with the final product we got.

As far as the music goes, I think the snippet on the unveiling video, has a strong possibility of not actually being part of a track and might just be part of the unveiling as a standalone background piece. So until we get a true preview track, I'll not assume that has any correlation with the actual album.

But if the band keeps up with the quality and meets or exceeds 'Firepower' I'll be a happy metalhead, since that album felt like a good solid release with quality on-par with their classic albums. I can't say any one track reach mega-hit status with me, but like some other bands/albums I love, the album as a whole is good and I can listen to it all without feeling the need to skip any 'filler' tracks. Unlike some of their other later period albums, prior to 'Firepower'.

^ I never believed I could hear something like 'Satellite 15... The Final Frontier' intro part on an Iron Maiden album. I think it's very likely this piece of new JP music being an intro part. They aren't exactly strangers for (guitar) synths and electric drums, eh?

'Redeemer of Souls' cover was "more detailed". But the music didn't live up to it.

wrap it up grandpas

Sorry, if I caused you that much research work. At first I almost wrote their new singer is Todd La Torre and Mike Portnoy's on drums to enhance the feeling of estrangement referred to by Opus over there. I was trying to be funny (in a tunnel of horror sorta way).

As for the snippet: you could be right, maybe it's just a jingle, not part of a song; after all there's something in there that sounds like electronic drums or something like that. But we'll see, I hope it's a part of a regular song and the album's production is as adventurous as the snippet suggests.

I kinda like the album cover. Kinda. It's your standard power metal cover.

The 30 second snippet sounds like Battle Beast.

Without Glenn's songwriting, it may very well be 'Redeemer Of Souls Part 3'. Basically, the current iteration of Priest is akin to modern UDO: solid, but rarely spectacular.

Still, always worth checking out.

Gotta say I'm not a fan of the art or the album title. Is this album some sorta crossover into the Marvel universe?
Regardless, I'm looking forward to it. Loved Firepower.

Don't really enjoy much of anything they did after Painkiller, but it's also rarely ever too bad... at the least it's worth trying once or twice just for being one of the biggest bands ever. I wish they'd get looser and do more free-feeling 70s style stuff in their old age like Deep Purple have been.

Tipton still is part of the band and contributes to song writting iirc...just doesn't tour often.

This line up is a joke right?

Why call them Judas Priest?

I can’t tell if some of y’all either can’t read sarcasm or are just stacking sarcasm on sarcasm. Besides I thought they confirmed that King Diamond and Yngwie Malmsteen joined ages ago.

Yes! And the post you quoted was another joke! And it will still be a joke in a couple of days. Wasn't that obvious? I mean... Ian Hill in U.D.O. and Peter Baltes in Priest? Please...

P.S.: I'm getting concerned... I'm getting concerned because I've probably never written anything without some kind of humour, irony, silliness or fiction as I don't think forums are the right place for a dead serious tone and content. Pinch of salt, tongue-in-cheek, rhubarb-rhubarb and all that.

As for Priest: new single on Friday. Can't wait.

Blue/Orange is a kind of overdone in power metal world but I do like the alternate Amazon exclusive artwork.

It would really be interesting to dose Richie Faulkner to get the truth about how much Glenn Tipton actually contributes to this new material. It doesn't bother me either way but I'm sure for legal reasons his name is published as a co-writer on everything Priest regardless.

Lol sry but language can be a barrier

Firepower was passable Andy Sneap McMetal so I'm sure I'll grab this eventually.

Really enjoyed Firepower, looking forward to this.

Never had I welcomed Sneap's generic yet competent production with open arms like on "Firepower". Listened to "Redeemer of Souls" the other day after a very long time and holy shit does it sound wretched.