Judas Priest will release their new studio album, Redeemer Of Souls, via Sony Music on July 15th in North America. The band have released a sample of the track "Crossfire", including commentary from frontman Rob Halford. Check it out below:

Reedemer Of Souls will be sold as a two-disc set in Japan on the superior-sounding Blu-Spec CD 2 format on July 23rd. According to Wikipedia, the Blu-spec CD describes a Red Book Compact Disc manufactured by a proprietary process introduced by Sony Music Entertainment Japan in late 2008. Its name derives from the similar manufacturing process to that used to create Blu-ray Discs. Instead of a traditional infra-red laser, a blue laser is used for recording the pits on the CD master that is needed for disc replication. The blue laser creates more precise pits, reducing distortion in the optical read-out process.

Redeemer Of Souls tracklisting:

"Dragonaut"
"Redeemer Of Souls"
"Halls Of Valhalla"
"Sword Of Damocles"
"March Of The Damned"
"Down In Flames"
"Hell & Back"
"Cold Blooded"
"Metalizer"
"Crossfire"
"Secrets Of The Dead"
"Battle Cry"
"Beginning Of The End"

Bonus Tracks:

"Snakebite"
"Tears Of Blood"
"Creatures"
"Bring It On"
"Never Forget"

Listen to "March Of The Damned" and "Redeemer Of Souls" now:

"Halls Of Valhalla" preview:

BraveWords sat down with original metal gods Rob Halford, Glenn Tipton along with new guitarist Richie Faulkner (who replaced original member KK Downing in 2011) recently in New York. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

BraveWords: Richie, how was it for you recording your first studio album with Priest?

Richie Faulkner: "Well, it was a very organic experience. It was a very natural one, personally. Growing up, learning how to write songs in school bands, you listened to guys like Priest - 'What do they do here? How do they construct the song? What it is about this part of the song that makes me feel a certain way?' And you analyze these things as an early songwriter, and put them into your own songs. So without knowing it, you're already taking a master class in songwriting. And then when you start to put ideas forward, you don't have to put a different 'hat' on or write in a different way, it's what comes naturally from learning those songs and how to write songs back in the day, when you're learning to do it for the first time. So from the first rehearsals in Priest, it was very much an inclusive atmosphere. 'What do you think about the stage set? Set list? Changes in the songs we can make, to make the experience bigger and better, and all the creative input goes into one pot to create the best for the band.' And that was no exception with the writing process - very inclusive. We started throwing ideas into the hat, and it was organic, very natural, and direct. A very inclusive creative process to be a part of."

BraveWords: How would you say this album compares to previous Priest albums?

Rob Halford: "They've all got their own separate identity. That's the great thing that I've always personally treasured about Priest. From Rocka Rolla 40 years ago to Redeemer of Souls, there is a connection running through that's instinctively the sound of Judas Priest, but each record has always been able to stand on its own legs and its character. The Painkiller record is as different to Stained Class as Stained Class is to Screaming for Vengeance to Point of Entry. 17 times that's happened. We've always been very proud in that respect, that we're not a metal band that keeps replicating things. I think the only thing that has been consistent has been that we've always perceived ourselves as a classic heavy metal band, in the way that metal is defined in all these different labels and boxes and characters. With us, we're a classic heavy metal band, so I think what we've done on Redeemer of Souls is just reinforce that and really push that to the front more than ever before. And you can sense that. Each of these songs are totally separate statements. But collectively, they represent the embodiment of Judas Priest."

Read more at Bravewords.com.