Rob Halford and his bandmates wanted to "reinvestigate the roots of (Judas) Priest" for "Redeemer of Souls," the Metal Gods' 17th studio album and first set of new material since the concept album "Nostradamus" in 2008, released on Tuesday (July 8). Check out a special behind-the-scenes video of the making of "Redeemer of Souls," premiering exclusively on Billboard.com:
Halford tells Billboard that exploration started during Priest's 2011-12 Epitaph World Tour, the group's first outing with guitarist Richie Faulkner in place of co-founder K.K. Downing. "We played a little bit of everything from our recordings over the past decades, and I think that spirit seeped back into our musical consciousness somehow," the frontman explains. "So when we got together to start writing the music for 'Redeemer of Souls,' particularly from Glenn (Tipton) and my perspective, we were carrying a lot of eternal stuff from the beginning of the band. I think the general consensus is that most of this music is very classic Priest; there are textures and atmospheres and things from the 70s and 80s, maybe even the 90s to this music."
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