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Rob Halford claims Judas Priest was the “very first” metal band. The singer recently made the deliberately controversial statement in an episode of Marc Maron’s WTF podcast.
In the podcast (available below), Halford credits Black Sabbath as one of the genre’s first and true creators – although Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi denies they were ever a metal band.
Halford explains: “I always insisted that Sabbath was a heavy metal band, but my friend Tony Iommi always said, ‘No, we’re a rock band, a hard rock band.’ And I was like, ‘No, you’re doing heavy metal.’ And he answered: ‘No, no’…”
Halford then explains that he came to the conclusion that if Iommi didn’t want to take the title, he might as well claim it for Judas Priest – whose debut album Rocka Rolla was released in 1974, four years after Sabbath’s debut.
He tells the podcast host: “That’s why I think Judas Priest is the first real heavy metal band. I stand by this statement for many reasons. It’s a defined sound, it’s a sophisticated art that comes from the guys in the band, who all had their own definition of what that heavy sound, that heavy experience should be…”
Judas Priest have recently released the first single from their upcoming nineteenth studio album “Invincible Shield”. Panic Attack is available on all digital services and can be (re)discovered below.
Invincible Shield will be released on March 8, 2024 via Sony Music. Pre-orders have already started on shop.judaspriest.com.
Additionally, the band will promote Invincible Shield on a European tour starting March 11th in Glasgow, Scotland and ending April 8th in Paris, France.
Rob Halford on Marc Maron’s WTF podcast:
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Concerts in France (with Saxon):
- April 5, 2024 | Lyon | Hall Tony Garnier
- April 8, 2024 | Paris | Zenith