Looking forward to seeing Judas Priest on the road next year? You’re going to be disappointed. However, if you’re looking forward to hearing new music from the band, 2017 might be a good year for you. In an interview with Sweetwater Music, the band’s newest member, Richie Faulker, said that come January, they’ll be hitting the studio to work on the follow-up to 2014’s Redeemer of Souls. Here’s what Faulkner says about the band’s 18th album:”

…We’ve just been in the studio for a couple of months putting songs together. We haven’t started the recording process yet, but we’re recording demos; we’re recording songs that work without the production to save them, if you know what I mean. But the core value… We’re putting down some grassroots ideas and fleshing them out for the next Priest record. So we’re gonna go into the studio to start recording in January. So it should be out sometime next year. But we’re not touring next year. So we’re gonna be touring, hopefully, in 2018.”

It’s okay that we might not get to see Priest live for more than a year as long as they make a record as solid as Redeemer of Souls, which was a lot better than it deserved to be. Faulker injected new blood into the band, and when we saw them last year, they were still amazing live. Age hasn’t diminished Halford’s voice or stage presence, and here’s hoping the new album (and tour when it happens) will continue the trend. Here’s the whole interview.

[via Metal Injection]