Judas Priest are continuing the celebration of their fiftieth anniversary with a new website, guidetoheavymetal.com.
The site is being a described as an “interactive web experience” that “sees the band take the audience on a graphic-novel-inspired journey to becoming a true metalhead.”
So, basically, it’s a comic book with the ‘Guided View’ option from Comixology turned on. There are six ‘chapters,’ which vary in length; the best are the fourth, which has video interviews with Rob Halford and Ian Hill, and the fifth, which is a pair of guitar tutorials (one for beginners, one for more advanced players) by Richie Faulkner.
You can check out the site here.
Judas Priest’s fiftieth anniversary year has been an eventful one, to put it mildly. The group released a massive box set, 50 Heavy Metal Years of Music, followed by a U.S. tour… which had to be cut short when Faulkner suffered an aortic aneurysm and dissection mid-show (he’s now home and recovering following ten hours of emergency open heart surgery). Then Halford became a colonel in the state of Kentucky (seriously!) before revealing that he’s been battling prostate cancer (which, thankfully, is in remission).
Meanwhile, former Judas Priest guitarist K.K. Downing launched his own band, K.K.’s Priest, which also includes former Priest vocalist Tim “Ripper” Owens.”
Judas Priest are scheduled to play support on Ozzy Osbourne’s tour of Europe and the U.K. next year, although what Faulkner’s condition will be like then remains unclear. Dates are as below.
Downing recently revealed which six Judas Priest songs he believes to be the most important. Read that here.
Ozzy Osbourne w/ Judas Priest
Jan. 26 – Germany – Berlin Mercedes-Benz Arena [Tickets]
Jan. 28 – Czech Republic – Prague O2 Arena [Tickets]
Jan. 31 – Switzerland – Zurich Hallenstadion [Tickets]
Feb. 02 – Hungary – Budapest Budapest Arena (no Judas Priest) [Tickets]
Feb. 05 – Spain – Madrid WiZink Center [Tickets]
Feb. 08 – Italy – Bologna Unipol Arena [Tickets]
Feb. 11 – Germany – Mannheim SAP Arena [Tickets]
Feb. 14 – Germany – Hamburg Barclaycard Arena [Tickets]
Feb. 17 – Finland – Helsinki Hartwall Arena [Tickets]
Feb. 19 – Sweden – Stockholm Friends Arena [Tickets]
Feb. 21 – Germany – Dortmund Westfalenhalle [Tickets]
Feb. 24 – Germany – Munich Olympiahalle [Tickets]
Feb. 27 – UK – Nottingham Motorpoint Arena [Tickets]
Mar. 01 – Ireland – Dublin 3Arena [Tickets]
Mar. 04 – UK – Birmingham Resorts World Arena [Tickets]
Mar. 07 – UK – London The O2 [Tickets]
Mar. 09 – UK – Manchester AO Arena [Tickets]
Mar. 12 – UK – Newcastle Utilita Arena [Tickets]
Mar. 14 – UK – Glasgow The SSE Hydro [Tickets]