It’s been too long since we had new material from Judas Priest. The band’s last album was Nostradamus in 2008, and since then the band have completed a “farewell” tour and have been teasing a new album since then. Now it looks like the album might soon be a reality. Speaking with Artisan News at a listening party for the new Ronnie James Dio tribute album, Rob Halford spoke on the subject of a new album:

“The record is finished; it’s absolutely finished as of today. It’s a relief. It’s a relief because whenever Priest makes an album, like any band, you put your heart and soul into it; it is that typical ‘blood, sweat and tears.’ It’s not an easy thing to do 40 years later. But Priest has always been up for the challenge of that, and it’s one of things that we love to do more than anything else as we move on through our metal years. So this is a great time for Priest: 40th anniversary, a brand new record. Life couldn’t be better.”

So it sounds like we could finally see a new Judas Priest album by the end of 2014. It will be the band’s seventeenth album and their first with Richie  Faulkner, who replaced K.K. Downing when the latter left the band before their “farewell” tour. As for how the album will sound, we’re going to wager a guess  that it won’t be death metal.