Fronted by Richie Faulkner and featuring Ronnie Romero (Rainbow, MSG), Dave Rimmer (Uriah Heep), and Christopher Williams (Accept), Elegant Weapons have just released their sophomore album, Evolution, and BraveWords caught up with the Judas Priest guitarist on Streaming For Vengeance, to talk about life in heavy metal!
People work really hard in the music business. It’s a passion. Passion rules the game. And for most, it doesn’t come to fruition, but for Faulkner, the planet’s have really aligned, notching over 15 years on his bullet belt with the Metal Gods, and another beast and supergroup called Elegant Weapons. But does he ever look in the mirror and go, ‘Wow, my life in music is really working out!’
“Well, it’s a great question,” Richie Faulkner tells BraveWords. “You take the positives as they come, and you take the negatives as they come. You know, everything in life is pros and cons all the way through, as we know. Some are cons, some are pros. And that’s the way of the world. So you’ve got to take the pros with the cons, really. Obviously being considered to join Judas Priest was a massive thing. Then meeting the guys, auditioning for the guys, joining the band, being with the band now for 15 years, is a massive deal. You know what I mean? And up to that point, as we all know, it’s hard. You know, there’s a lot of knockbacks, there’s a lot of setbacks, there’s a lot of work that goes into it. A lot of negatives, as I said, a lot of setbacks and you get turned away from a lot of places or record labels knock your back, or bands don’t want you in them, or whatever it is. There’s a lot of that, which there is in a lot of walks of life. So yeah, you take it as it comes really. And not everything you try your hand at turns to gold. But a lot of those things, you learn from and move on. Maybe sometimes it’s only the good ones that you hear about, if you know what I mean. But there’s a lot of work that goes into that that you don’t hear about, a lot of bad ideas that fall by the wayside. Or, you know, you hear a good single and a single does well, but there’s a lot of bad ideas to run up to that single. So you know, the overnight success thing. You might get an overnight success in a band, but you don’t hear about the first 15 years they’ve been trying to get there before they became an overnight success.”
BraveWords: If you take a look at some of the most iconic debut albums in hard rock from Jimi Hendrix, Black Sabbath or Van Halen, outsiders might think, ‘How could they come up with this classic album overnight?’ And meanwhile, Van Halen had been playing backyard parties for years in California, for example.
Faulkner: “Exactly. That’s exactly my point really. I wasn’t born when that first Van Halen album hit, but I can imagine. And Hendrix as well, it must have hit like a fireball, you know? That thing just blew up around the world. But what it took them and Jimi and all those bands to get to that point, the hard work and dedication and the commitment and the knockbacks and all that sort of stuff that it took to get there, the perseverance that it took to get there, you don’t hear about until after the fact. You just, you just see them blowing out and that’s what you, that’s what you think about. But there’s a lot that goes into that, you know. So, getting back to the original question, I’ve had a lot of good fortune, but like all of us, there’s a lot of hard work that goes into what we do. Like yourself as well, you know, and that’s the way life is.”
Watch the chat on Streaming For Vengeance below:
Evolution is available digitally and on CD, with a special edition vinyl pressing to follow later in the year.
With Evolution, the band pushes its sound forward — combining razor-sharp riffing, arena-sized hooks, and technical precision with a chemistry forged through touring and collaboration. The album was co-produced by Faulkner alongside Andy Sneap (Judas Priest’s touring guitarist, who also produced Priest’s Invincible Shield), with the recording spanning Nashville, Europe, and France — a truly global effort reflecting the band’s international pedigree.
“This record represents growth in every sense,” said Richie Faulkner. “When the four of us come together, we sound like Elegant Weapons. We’ve spent time on the road, we’ve developed a chemistry, and you can hear that evolution in the performances. I’m proud of what we’ve built, and I’m excited to begin this next chapter with Exciter Records.”
For Exciter Records, the signing marks a strategic move into contemporary metal while reinforcing the label’s deep ties to the genre’s foundations. Exciter Records and its publishing affiliate Reach Music, recently acquired Judas Priest’s landmark early albums Rocka Rolla and Sad Wings of Destiny, making the partnership with Richie Faulkner and Elegant Weapons a natural continuation of that legacy into a new era.
“Richie Faulkner is not only one of the most respected guitarists as a member of Judas Priest, but he is also a leader in forming and developing Elegant Weapons,” said Michael Closter, Founder and President of Exciter Records. “Signing Elegant Weapons is a natural step for Exciter Records as we continue to honor metal’s heritage while investing in its future.”
The album features standout tracks including the opener “Evil Eyes,” the groove-driven anthem “Generation Me,” and the lead single “Bridges Burn,” alongside the instrumental “Rupture,” an emotionally charged composition inspired in part by Faulkner’s life-threatening onstage medical emergency in 2021.
With Evolution, Elegant Weapons solidify their identity as a band defined not simply by pedigree, but by forward momentum.
Order Evolution here, and check out BraveWords’ review of the new album here.
Tracklisting:
“Evil Eyes”
“Generation Me”
“Bridges Burn”
“Holy Roller”
“Come Back To Me”
“The Devil Calls”
“Thrown To The Wolves”
“Shooting Shadows”
“Rupture”
“Mercy Of The Fallen”
“Keeper Of The Keys”
“Evil Eyes” lyric video:
“Bridges Burn” lyric video:
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