Judas Priest have unleashed a ferocious new track, "Lightning Strike." The ripper marks the first single from Firepower, the legends' follow-up to 2014's Redeemer of Souls, and one of our 30 most anticipated albums of 2018, due out March 9th via Epic Records (with a U.S. tour to follow); it arrives accompanied by a vibrant performance clip that you can watch below.
Below, vocalist Rob Halford walks us through a line-by-line examination of "Lightning Strike," and unpacks the metaphors that he employs to tell a story of resisting fear-based manipulation at the hands of authority figures.
Firepower reunites Judas Priest with Tom Allom, the legendary producer who manned the boards on all of the band's records from 1979–1988, including the legendary albums British Steel (1980), Screaming for Vengeance (1982) and Defenders of the Faith (1984). Grammy Award–winning producer Andy Sneap also worked on the 14-track effort, which the band recorded as a single unit.
"Tom Allom has got this classic metal thing," says Halford, "and Andy is a bit more of a 'modern metal producer,' but his thinking is a little bit different to Tom's. And I think to get this balance between that classic old school metal to what Andy's world is was just a remarkable coalescence." Bassist Ian Hill adds, "Tom Allom has been with us since 1979, so his knowledge of ourselves and our music in general is immense."
Judas Priest – Firepower track listing:
01. "Firepower"
02. "Lightning Strike"
03. "Evil Never Dies"
04. "Never The Heroes"
05. "Necromancer"
06. "Children of the Sun"
07. "Guardians"
08. "Rising From Ruins"
09. "Flame Thrower"
10. "Spectre"
11. "Traitors Gate"
12. "No Surrender"
13. "Lone Wolf"
14. "Sea of Red"
