Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford recently released his new holiday-themed album, Celestial. Halford spoke to NME about the new record, National Coming Out Day, and more. An excerpt from the chat follows:

NME: If you don’t mind me asking, what’s it like being a famous gay man living in America as the country seemingly lunges further and further towards the conservative right?

Rob Halford: “I’m so pleased you’ve asked me that question, because today [October 11th] is National Coming Out Day here in the States. I mean, I didn’t know that until I logged into my Instagram this morning and everyone was telling me that. There was a thing on my Instagram feed from the MTV Studios in 1998 where I said for the first time that I was a gay guy. Obviously I nicked it and re-edited it a bit and put it on my own feed… It was wonderful watching the comments coming in. Anyone with social media has to be prepared for negative comments, but some of the stuff people were saying was so beautiful. There was real love and understanding there…”

NME: But…

Halford: “But don’t get me started on the Christian right pushing the LGBTQ community under the bus. They’re passing laws here where if you’re gay you can lose your job, based on whether the people who run a company follow a religion that doesn’t accept people like us. It’s horrible. America is supposed to be the world’s leading superpower and some of this stuff is medieval. It’s not a country where you feel especially safe, and I do think I feel less safe now. You are aware that by walking down the supermarket you might get shot. But I try not to let that stuff intrude on my life. The politicians, the media, they want you to be scared and I refuse to be.”

You can read the complete interview at NME.

Celestial (Legacy Recordings) is available to order on Rob’s artist store - with exclusive merchandise and a limited, autographed metallic-gold color version of the vinyl. Visit the Rob Halford store here.

Credited to Rob Halford With Family And Friends, the album mixes holiday classics with all-new compositions, and will appeal to lovers of traditional holiday music and headbangers alike.

“The great thing about heavy metal is it’s got these kinds of multiple dimensions,” explains the man also known as the Metal God. “I think when you look at it from an outside point of view - if you’re not really familiar with the metal scene - it can look pretty intimidating. And it is a very strong, powerful experience. But it comes at different levels. I think the music that we’ve made on Celestial, for example, gives a display of that. Metal maniacs - as we call ourselves - are just as ready for the holidays as everybody else. And what we’ve tried to do with this music is to reach out to as many of those metal dimensions as we possibly can.”

And judging from the “Rob Halford With Family And Friends” banner, Celestial sees Halford joined by a supporting cast of those very close to him - his brother (Nigel) on drums, his nephew on bass (Alex, son of Priest bassist Ian Hill), has sister (Sue) on bells, and twin guitar tandem of Robert Jones and Jon Blakey.

Once all the contributors were in place, Halford “went away and listened to a lot holiday music and Christmas carols. Traditional stuff. 12 tracks - including original tracks that I’m particularly excited about. And in that way, because of the dimensions of each song and the messages of each song, I think we cover a really broad platform. To me, more than anything, I wanted it to have its own characteristics and be a little bit more different than the regular rock n’ roll Christmas album.”

Halford has certainly accomplished this goal, as evidenced by such standout originals as the album-opening title track, “Donner And Blitzen,” and “Protected By The Light,” as well as reworkings of such holiday standards as “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen,” “Joy To The World,” and “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing,” among other standouts.

“‘Donner And Blitzen’ gets the snowball rolling for Celestial - a song full of excitement, love and hope,” says Rob. “You can hear and feel the power of Christmas time - energy roarin’ with rockin’ reindeers haulin’!” The video for "Donner And Blitzen" can be viewed below.

“I think the holidays for any family are a mixture of fun and excitement and apprehension of the whole event. The magic of it more than anything else. It’s just a beautiful time of year - which a lot of us wish would be for every day of the year. It’s a beautiful thing as far as bringing families together. So, what better way to celebrate it than with your family, friends...and music. You must have music at Christmas time.”

And with the arrival of Celestial, Rob Halford has certainly done his part.

Order/download/stream links can be found here.

Celestial tracklisting:

"Celestial" (new song)
"Donner And Blitzen" (new song)
"God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen"
"Away In A Manger"
"Morning Star" (new song)
"Deck The Halls"
"Joy To The World"
"O Little Town Of Bethlehem"
"Hark! The Herald Angels Sing"
"The First Noel"
"Good King Wenceslas"
"Protected By The Light" (new song)

"Morning Star" lyric video:

"Hark! The Herald Angels Sing":

"Donner And Blitzen" video: