Time for a ‘Panic Attack’: Judas Priest Tease New Single and Album, ‘Invincible Shield’
Judas Priest, heavy metal’s perennial Defenders of the Faith, will return stronger than ever next spring with Invincible Shield, their 19th album. The record’s first single, “Panic Attack,” will arrive this week, on the most fitting day for a panic attack, Friday the 13th. The group announced the release, due out March 3, over the weekend during their appearance at the Power Trip festival in Indio, California. The LP follows up 2018’s Firepower, which Rolling Stone dubbed one of the Best Metal Albums of that year.
A trailer for the album features the band’s guitarists, Glenn Tipton and Richie Faulkner, playing a descending, undulating riff audially approximating lighting in slow motion. The tone of the instruments sounds synthy, similar to the sound the band used on their Turbo album, but soon transforms into their trademark metal guitar sound. Since it’s only 30 seconds, it fades away before the tune (maybe “Panic Attack”) really sets in; there’s just a flaming shield with the band’s trident logo on it to give a hint of what they have in store.
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Coinciding with the album release, the group will kick off a world tour in the U.K. with a performance in Glasgow on March 11. Later in the month, they’ll perform at OVO Wembley Arena in London.
“There are definitely a few more twists and turns on this record,” Faulkner told Audio Ink Radio (via Blabbermouth). “There are a few more musical parts. … I’ve used the word ‘progressive’ before, and the internet ripped me a new asshole. But it is progressive in the sense that it’s not like verse-chorus-verse-chorus-solo-chorus-finish. It’s musical part-verse-musical part. … a bit like ‘Sinner’ or ‘Tyrant’ or something like that. … It’s Seventies Priest, but it’s not a retro album, by any means. It’s the influence of Seventies Priest in the progressive sense, but it sounds like Priest in 2023.”
The group’s Power Trip performance featured a career-spanning set list, including hits like “Heading Out to the Highway” and “Breaking the Law” alongside newer tunes like “Firepower.” Tipton, who does not regularly tour with the band anymore following a diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease, joined them for the encore.
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