Special report by “Metal” Tim Henderson

The exclusive listening session for JUDAS PRIEST’s much talked about conceptual monster Nostradamus was held at the Sony building on Madison Avenue in New York City yesterday (May 6th). Media from around the world gathered to hear the most daring musical adventure of the UK Metal Gods’ career.

We were scattered throughout the Epic offices, each with a valuable, highly sensitive watermarked copy of 140 minutes of epic metal. You won’t see a review of Nostradamus quite yet - a single listen to such a monumental metallic moment wouldn’t do the record any justice. From the initial set-up of ‘Dawn Of Creation’ and ‘Prophecy’, one was forced into the proper headspace. Such a project is not for the weak, but for those with an open mind to elaborate, breathtaking musical imagery.

As frontman Rob Halford grabs your arm and takes you through the life of one remarkable albeit controversial seer, you immediately revel in the magic of Priest’s creativity and expertise. Guitarists Glenn Tipton and KK Downing have spent what seems to be a lifetime perfecting the project, one that truly emerges as a musical of sorts, rollercoasting its way through the 1500s where Michel de Nostredame’s prophecies came to life in front of a unreceptive culture. You feel the turmoil, intrigue and haunting nature of a man who eerily predicted the future to varying degrees of accuracy. Of note, Nostradamus - the album - emerges as less of a metal force de jour, but rather an emotional high with some lows. It is an in-depth tale that will have you riveted from start to finish. 140 minutes is a daunting timeframe for a fan of music, especially in a society force-fed mere bits and pieces of throwaway entertainment. Nostradamus leaves you breathless and most certainly craving to be led down this path again and again. BW&BK; spent time with Messrs. Halford, Tipton and Downing for a massive feature set to run in BW&BK; #111 - out in June.

When asked about closing the book on the record, Downing laughs: “A sigh of relief! Myself and Glenn worked around the clock getting the record done and finished. We produced the record too. It was like giving birth - not that I know what that feels like. I can imagine when you nurture something inside you for so long, when it comes out you hope it’s beautiful and has all its fingers and toes, everything that it needs! So there were some nervous times and it was relief to hand it over. It’s been a lot of hard work. Initially it was great fun recording all these ideas, but then you’ve got to do all the kind of after-care, technical stuff. So we had to make sure that was all right. I think we went from England to Holland four times in two months. Attie Bauw (SCORPIONS), who came in on the Painkiller album and he’s worked with Rob on some of his FIGHT stuff - he’s a great guy and a great understander of music. He helped us mix and master the record - it was a lot of work to get everything to be as right as it can be technically. Anyway, we’ve done a lot of that in the past.”

“It was very rewarding,” Downing continues. “And the moment we got into it we thought, ‘We could do movies.’ When you get into the realms of that stuff, you start thinking of other opportunities. But we had to keep thinking, ‘We’re doing a record here.’ We had a great time and finding out that these riffs that we were playing… when you transpose into violins and keyboards, it all suddenly sounds even more dramatic than just heavy guitar sounds. We had to be fearless with that combination; it was a lot of fun creating, but we had to move forward - we just had to. It’s a lot of fun creating this imagery, where you could almost feel the wind off a sabre flashing across your face. When you really do crank it up it’s all there. It’s the closest thing to being audio-physical - I don’t know if that phrase has ever been used before!”

Judas Priest will be releasing Nostradamus via Columbia Records on Monday, June 16th in the UK/Europe, and a day later in the US on Epic Records.

In addition to the regular jewel case double CD version of the album, collectors will undoubtedly be interested in hunting down a copy of a Deluxe Double CD housed in a 48 page hardbound book package. But that’s not all - a Super Deluxe Boxset version will also be available with triple vinyl, the double CD, an expanded booklet and a poster.

Nostradamus tracklisting:

‘Dawn Of Creation’ - ‘Prophecy’

‘Awakening’ - ‘Revelations’

‘The Four Horsemen’ - ‘War’

‘Sands Of Time’ - ‘estilence And Plague’

‘Death’

‘Peace’ - ‘Conquest’

‘Lost Love’

‘Persecution’

‘Solitude’ - ‘Exiled’

‘Alone’

‘Shadows In The Flame’ - ‘Visions’

‘Hope - New Beginnings’

‘Calm Before The Storm’ - ‘Nostradamus’

‘Future Of Mankind’