UK metal gods JUDAS PRIEST have announced a string of Japanese tour dates for February. The itinerary includes:

February

7 - Sunpalace - Fukuoka, Japan
9 - Cacifico - Yokohama, Japan
11 - Kokusai Hall - Kobe, Japan
13 - Alsok Hall - Hiroshima, Japan
14 - Prefectural Arts Theater - Aichi, Japan
16 - Budokan - Tokyo, Japan

Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford promises the group is well on its way towards making its next album.

Halford tells Billboard.com that he and guitarist Glenn Tipton "began writing new music early on this year, before we went out on the road. We have about 12 or 14 tracks completely mapped out, four of which have been recorded and mixed and are ready to go... so the good news is that there will be a brand new Priest record next year."

Halford adds: "I think it's fair to say that this is going to be just another great, traditional British heavy metal album from Priest with what you love about the band - the riffs, the screaming vocals, all of the tradition and heritage that we try to keep somehow in our music as we've moved along.

The Epitaph World Tour is hardly the last we'll see of Judas Priest, and Halford acknowledges that the group is "taking every opportunity to let our fans know this is not the end of Judas Priest. We're just cutting back on these big, long treks around the world that we love to do. But yet we're facing mortality; as a metal singer I'm still able to do the vast majority of things that have laid out before me...but I'd be the first to admit that I'm finding it more challenging now, and I don't want to get into that syndrome where you end up a little bit punch-drunk and you're not giving the performance that you want to give. I'm delighted that we're taking this approach because the inevitable payoff is that it gives the band more life. We're able to continue doing selective shows in the future and, as importantly, keep recording and making new metal records."

Read the entire interview at Billboard.