Rob Halford

| VOCALS |

FIREPOWER FEELS LIKE A CELEBRATION OF CLASSIC PRIEST… IS THAT FAIR?

“Well, we always want to make a classic heavy metal album, but we also always want it to be heavy and relevant and vital in today’s metal scene. You’ll be able to put Firepower up against most of the recent metal releases or anything else that comes out this year. Priest has its place and a role to play, more now than ever, which is pretty crazy after nearly 50 years.”

WORKING WITH TWO PRODUCERS IS A NOVEL IDEA. HOW DID THAT COME ABOUT?

“We’ve all listened to a lot of Andy [Sneap]’s work and everything he does sounds great, doesn’t it? You’re always thinking, ‘Those drums sound fucking amazing!’ Ha ha ha! We just started wondering what it would sound like if we worked with Andy and then mixed that with the textures and sounds that Tom Allom is known for. They’re both such skilled producers. I suppose it was an experiment. We didn’t have a clue if it would work and it could’ve been a disaster, but they connected brilliantly and the results are obvious, I think.”

WHAT’S THE SECRET TO SOUNDING LIKE A MUCH YOUNGER BAND?

“Ha ha! We are knocking on a bit, to be fair. You just feed off each other’s passion and abilities. We were laying the tracks down live in the studio, which we hadn’t done for a long time. When you look at each as you play the song, you can really sense that passion and you can feel what the live experience will be like as you play. The vibe was fantastic, I must say. There was definitely some metal magic in the air.”