JUDAS PRIEST frontman Rob Halford is featured in a new interview with Ultimate-Guitar.com's Steve Rosen. An excerpt from the discussion about the band's new Epitaph DVD is available below:

UG: You left in 1992 after the tour for Painkiller. Did you know you were going to leave?

Halford: "No, I don't think any musician feels that way whether it was when Bruce stepped away from MAIDEN or whether it was when Vince stepped away from CRÜE. It's just a very peculiar thing and even now I can't really fully understand the true circumstances of it. I sometimes reflect on what could have happened in those 10 years I was away. What records could we have possibly made together? It's easy to look back and use those moments in a better way. A lot of people look on that time as a little bit of a wilderness type of moment. For me personally, I think I was maybe exorcising some of my demons. You know what it's like to be in a band, Steve?"

UG: I do.

Halford: "It's a very, very fragile chain and you've got all these combustible components in the players. Not in a violent way but just in a very frictional way. That's just the way it is in a rock and roll band. I think if any band tells you, 'Oh yeah, we get along great and everything is wonderful,' I think they're lying. Rock and roll should be about chaos and rock and roll is about making a fuss and kicking down doors and yelling and screaming. It needs to maintain that type of emotion and delivery."

UG: It sounds like you might have done things differently now that you're looking back at those moments.

Halford: "Yeah, you know whatever they say about hindsight but you can't change the past. You can only enjoy what you've got now and look forward to the future, which is definitely how Priest are rockin' these days."

Go to this location for the complete interview.

Judas Priest, the heavy metal legends whose influence on generations of musicians and metalheads is incalculable, celebrate their 40th year as recording artists with the global cinema release of the live concert Epitaph. Fans will have a limited opportunity to re-live the excitement of the final show of the band's last ever world tour, which was filmed at the Hammersmith Apollo London in May 2012.

BraveWords is giving Priest fans in Ontario the opportunity to view Epitaph in person at the Cineplex theatre at Yonge & Dundas in Toronto on the following dates:

May 24 – 9:45pm

May 25 – 1:15pm

May 26 – 6:45pm

May 28 – 4:30pm

May 30 – 7:00pm

To enter the contest you must "Like" BraveWords on Facebook and then send us an email to contests@bravewords.com with the subject line "JUDAS PRIEST Are Metal Gods". The winners will be chosen at random. Contest closes this Monday, May 20th. Please include your snail mail in your email!

Cinema locations and ticket purchasing information can be found at Judaspriest.com or in the widget below:

From the band: “The Epitaph world tour came to an exciting conclusion at the renowned Hammersmith Odeon (now known as the Apollo) in London. Knowing our fans around the planet recognize that venue for many legendary metal moments, and of course with Judas Priest being a British metal band it was the perfect gig for us to film and record. Big thanks as always to you our metal family of fans - so start banging your heads one more time with us as we scream together ‘The Priest is back!’’

A unique live career retrospective, Epitaph will be released on Blu-ray and separate DVD on May 28th through Legacy Recordings, a division of Sony Music Entertainment. This release precedes a new studio album by Judas Priest which the band are working on now.

The official trailer has been released can be viewed below:

Judas Priest's current lineup comprises lead singer Rob Halford, lead guitarists Glenn Tipton and Richie Faulkner, bassist Ian Hill, and drummer Scott Travis. Heavy metal historians will regard Epitaph as the most far-reaching live concert recording in the band's career. The set revisits the climactic closing date of the 50-week Epitaph World Tour, captured live at London’s HMV Hammersmith Apollo on May 26th, 2012. Adding to the drama is the fact that this was Judas Priest’s final large-scale world tour ever.

Epitaph’s 23 tracks represent at least one song from every one of the band’s 14 studio albums, from 1974’s Rocka Rolla ('Never Satisfied') to 2008’s Nostradamus ('Prophecy'). In the special case of British Steel, four songs are featured: 'Rapid Fire', 'Metal Gods', 'Breaking The Law', and perennial set closer, 'Living After Midnight'. Others exempted from the one-song-quota are the LPs which appeared before and after British Steel. The first of these is 1979’s Hell Bent For Leather (UK title: Killing Machine) which lends the title song as well as 'The Green Manalishi (With The Two-Pronged Crown)'. The other LP is 1982’s Screaming For Vengeance, source of 'The Hellion', 'Electric Eye', and 'You’ve Got Another Thing Coming'.

“They have epitomized the genre with their Harley riding frontman, rapid-fire guitar assaults, and spectacular stage shows,” wrote journalist Bryan Reesman in his liner notes for 2004's leather-bound, metal-spiked Metalogy box set. “Influential, innovative, and exuberant in expression,” he wrote, “they are the true Metal Gods who have been as unwavering in their desire to expand the boundaries of their music as they have been in crossing international borders to deliver it to their disciples.”
“Unabashedly committed to their cause, and unrepentant in proclaiming themselves a true heavy metal band even when others have shied away from the term, Judas Priest have forever been defenders of the faith.”

Epitaph tracklisting:

'Battle Hymn'

'Rapid Fire'

'Metal Gods'

'Heading Out To The Highway'

'Judas Rising'

'Starbreaker'

'Victim Of Changes'

'Never Satisfied'

'Diamonds And Rust'

'Prophecy'

'Night Crawler'

'Turbo Lover'

'Beyond The Realms Of Death'

'The Sentinel'

'Blood Red Skies'

'The Green Manalishi (With The Two-Pronged Crown)'

'Breaking The Law'

'Painkiller'

'The Hellion'

'Electric Eye'

'Hell Bent For Leather'

'You’ve Got Another Thing Coming'

'Living After Midnight'