While the pandemic has thwarted a lot of plans, many acts have found alternate ways to celebrate the anniversaries of their biggest albums. You can count Judas Priest among the acts that won’t let an opportunity slip by, with Rob Halford revealing plans are underway to recognize Painkiller‘s 30th anniversary.
Speaking with podcast host Jeremy White (as heard below), Halford explained, “We’re looking at all the opportunities. I’ll tell you, these kind of things [album anniversaries] creep up on you .. But Painkiller is a very special album to Priest and to the metal world for everything that it stands for and still gives to people and we’re aware of that.”
He continued, “We as a band and management and the label, we’re always looking at opportunities to celebrate these milestones. And so we just direct everybody to the main Priest account on Instagram and Facebook and whatever, Twitter, and that’s where all the news is. But there’s definitely gonna be some kind of a party.”
The Painkiller album was released on Sept. 3, 1990 and while the date may have passed, it’s encouraging to know that the group will find a way to still celebrate the record. The set featured the killer title track as well as “A Touch of Evil,” and remains one of the most beloved works in the band’s catalog.
The album received a Grammy nomination for Best Metal Performance and went on to be certified gold by the RIAA.
Though Halford would exit the band after the album, he returned to Judas Priest in 2003 and has remained their vocalist ever since. The group has been working on new music for a potential 2021 album, which would be their 19th studio album overall and the follow-up to 2018’s Firepower.
Rob Halford Speaks With Jeremy White
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