Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford will release a new holiday album titled “Celestial” on October 18th through Legacy Recordings. The outing mixes newly written holiday songs with Christmas standards, Halford said of it:
“The great thing about heavy metal is it’s got these kinds of multiple dimensions. I think when you look at it from an outside point of view – if you’re not really familiar with the metal scene – it can look pretty intimidating. And it is a very strong, powerful experience. But it comes at different levels.
I think the music that we’ve made on ‘Celestial‘, for example, gives a display of that. Metal maniacs – as we call ourselves – are just as ready for the holidays as everybody else. And what we’ve tried to do with this music is to reach out to as many of those metal dimensions as we possibly can.”
Halford largely kept the album a family affair, enlisting his brother Nigel on drums, his nephew Alex on bass, his sister Sue on bells and guitarists Robert Jones and Jon Blakey. A video for one of the new included tracks, “Donner And Blitzen“, can he found below. Speaking of that song in particular, Halford commented:
“‘Donner And Blitzen‘ gets the snowball rolling for ‘Celestial‘ – a song full of excitement, love and hope. You can hear and feel the power of Christmas time – energy roarin’ with rockin’ reindeers haulin’!”
Pre-orders for the effort can be found here. Halford will also be taking part in a signing event at the FYE Arizona Mills location in Tempe, AZ on October 19th.
“Celestial” track listing:
01 – “Celestial” (original)
02 – “Donner and Blitzen” (original)
03 – “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen”
04 – “Away In A Manger”
05 – “Morning Star” (original)
06 – “Deck The Halls”
07 – “Joy To The World”
08 – “O Little Town Of Bethlehem”
09 – “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”
10 – “The First Noel”
11 – “Good King Wenceslas”
12 – “Protected By The Light” (original)
