Judas Priest vocalist Rob Halford recently spoke to Aris Hunter Wales of The Porland Mercury about his band's new album, Firepower, which he referred to as "a very important album for us, in lots of ways." An excerpt follows:

Did the vibe of the record have anything to do with guitarist Richie Faulkner doing more contributing this time around?

Halford: "I think he really shined through on this one. When he joined us on the Epitaph Tour, he learned a lot about being in Priest. He’d been in various other bands, but he stepped up on to the big stage with Priest. We knew he could do it. We had nothing but confidence in him. So we came off that tour, and his first writing experiences with us was on Redeemer Of Souls. I was watching Richie and kind of had a feeling that he was getting his teeth into this whole experience on the writing team with Glenn and myself. I thought, 'We’re gonna have to go through this cycle once before we get to the next place.' That’s exactly what happened. It’s a team isn’t it? Like… the Blazers. You bring a guy in, you take a guy out. It takes a few games before you know where you are on the court."

To read the complete interview, click here.

The Firepower tour, with support from Saxon and Black Star Riders, runs through May 1st before heading to Europe for the summer. Remaining North American dates are listed below.

April
17 - Portland, OR - Veterans Memorial Coliseum
19 - San Francisco - The Warfield
22 - Los Angeles, CA - Microsoft Theater
24 - Phoenix, AZ - Comerica Theatre
26 - Tulsa, OK - BOK Center
28 - Dallas, TX - The Bomb Factory
29 - Sugarland, TX - Smart Financial Centre

May
1 - San Antonio, TX - Freeman Coliseum

Judas Priest debuted at #5 on the Billboard 200 albums chart with Firepower, marking the group’s highest charting album ever.

The album surpasses the group’s previous chart high, logged when 2014’s Redeemer Of Souls debuted and peaked at #6. In the UK, Firepower landed at #5, marking the band's highest ranking since British Steel in 1980.