THE METAL GOD HIMSELF, ROB HALFORD, ANNOUNCES NEW CHRISTMAS ALBUM, ‘CELESTIAL’
Ten years after releasing ‘Halford III – Winter Songs’, the Judas Priest frontman, Rob Halford has announced this week he will release a new heavy metal Christmas album which will be available Friday 18th October.
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.
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.
The album features twelve songs, with four original tracks penned by Halford – the other eight are re-imagined Christmas classics. The songs Rob covers on the album are ‘God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen’, ‘Away In A Manger’, ‘Joy To The World’, ‘O Little Town of Bethlehem’, ‘The First Noel’, ‘Deck The Halls’, ‘Good King Wenceslas’ and ‘Hark! The Herald Angels Sing’.
‘Celestial’, ‘Protected By The Light’, ‘Morning Star’ and the riff heavy ‘Donner and Blitzen’ are the four original tracks on the album.
“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 here
“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.
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