Rob Halford Of Judas Priest Explains How Metal Christmas Really Is

Emily Reily

Another Thing Coming

Rob Halford, the face of Judas Priest, is coming out with a Christmas album, and it's safe to say that this holiday outing will have a healthy dose of metal built in.

But how metal can a Christmas album get? Halford spoke to Rolling Stone over the summer to explain.

One Big Happy Family

Halford's new solo album is called "Celestial" and includes metal reworkings of stale holiday favorites like "Deck the Halls" and "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen," along with Halford originals "Donner and Blitzen" and "Protected By the Light."

The album is credited to Rob Halford With Family and Friends, and it's no exaggeration. Halford's brother Nigel plays the drums, his sister, Sue, plays the bells, and Halford's nephew, Alex Hill, plays bass.

Halford says he gets a warm feeling inside knowing the members of his family are creating this Christmas metal masterpiece with him.

He told Rolling Stone that working on "Celestial" was a heavenly experience, albeit tinged with a vintage feel.

“We were like the heavy metal Partridge Family, the heavy metal Osmonds. It’s great, man, to see your brother banging away on the kit and all the kind of cool stuff. It’s just a wonderful feeling.”

As Metal As a Flaming Toy Train

Even his Christmas gifts as a kid were metal. Halford says he once got a toy train from his dad that "spat fire."

"You had to put fire in it, and flames and all this stuff. God, that was even before metal [music] was invented," he said.

Having a toy train that's literally on fire could certainly qualify as a metal activity.

Praise To the Metal God

Halford says that regardless of what you normally listen to, everyone listens to Christmas music at this time of year, which makes us all a little bit metal in some ways.

We'd argue that not everyone has "Jingle Bells" on their mind, but he can believe that if he wants.

Halford told Rolling Stone:

"I think everybody, regardless of what musical genre you’re attached to or the kind of music that you love, there’s always music around the Christmastime holiday, that’s always been the case for me. Music doesn’t have anything connected to it other than the pure joy of expressing yourself as a musician."

"They call me the “Metal God,” and there’s no reason why the Metal God shouldn’t have his metal boots stomping all over Christmas."