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The Latest Breaking News from KK Downing

“The fastest album they’d made, chock full of hard-headed riffs and squealing solos”: Every song on Judas Priest’s Painkiller ranked from worst to best

As The Metal Gods gear up to celebrate Painkiller’s 35th anniversary, we revisit and re-order every track on their evolutionary opus

Metal Hammer

The best new rock songs you need to hear right now

Including Jerry Cantrell, David Gilmour, Thundermother and five other custodians of the eternal rock'n'roll flame

Louder

4 brilliant new metal bands you need to hear this month

From NWOBHM-revivalists Tailgunner to existential post-metallers Kollapse, Austrian folk-tinged black metal heroes Perchta and UK hopefuls Defects, these are the new metal bands you need to hear in August 2024

Metal Hammer

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10 bands that defined Wacken 2024

From Accept's triumphant trad metal to the flamethrowing folk of Feuershwanz, these were the bands that ruled Wacken Festival 2024

Metal Hammer

The 100 songs that changed metal

From founding fathers like Black Sabbath, Rainbow and Judas Priest to metal's modern leaders such as Ghost, Sleep Token and Spiritbox, these are the songs that have defined a genre

Metal Hammer

“What we’ve done is to move beyond metal. There are so many ideas here that expand our horizons”: how Judas Priest reached for the sky with divisive double album Nostradamus

Judas Priest released their controversial double album Nostradamus on June 16, 2008

Metal Hammer

“I’ve never been a shredder. I’m never going to out-do Yngwie Malmsteen. I’m more from the Schenker and Blackmore school”: Judas Priest’s Richie Faulkner on the secret to headbanger riffs, and half-nailing, half-blagging the Painkiller solo

Judas Priest's Invincible Shield finds the British metal institution surviving against the odds. Its very own bionic man Richie Faulkner gives us the guitar POV on a venerable work of British steel

Guitar World

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"You look at all these people who are giving you the horns, from Eminem to Lionel Ritchie, and you think: Is this really happening?": Judas Priest on awards shows, Invincible Shield and the beauty of cats

With Invincible Shield their third genuinely great album in a row, Judas Priest's late-career purple patch continues

Metal Hammer

“I’m always ready for a kitty cat!” We gave Judas Priest legend Rob Halford a load of kittens to play with and asked him about heavy metal, becoming a gay icon and (sort of) being Dolly Parton's BFF

Rob Halford, a room full of kittens and a leather codpiece - what more could you ask for?

Metal Hammer

“We were broke. We couldn’t even afford food or drink. That’s how bad things were”: how Judas Priest’s Sad Wings Of Destiny finally set them on the path to heavy metal immortality

Judas Priest’s landmark second album Sad Wings Of Destiny was released on this day in 1976

Metal Hammer

K.K. Downing and Glenn Tipton brought British steel to the world with Judas Priest – learn the secrets behind the metal gods’ seminal rhythm style

Fall to your knees and repent if you please, it’s time to dial it back to Priest’s glory days with a lesson that’ll whip your eighth and 16th-note rhythm playing into shape

Guitar World

Rob Halford may look like Santa Claus in fetish gear, but his vocal is still the unrelenting, glass-breaking scream of a man 50 years younger, and Judas Priest's Invincible Shield is pristine and powerful

Judas Priest's late-career renaissance continues apace with thundering nineteenth album Invincible Shield

Louder

Richie Faulkner isn’t sure if Judas Priest will make another album after Invincible Shield: “You never know what the future holds”

Judas Priest’s guitarist doesn’t rule out the idea of the band’s new, 19th album being their last

Metal Hammer

Watch the full video of K.K.’s Priest, featuring ex-Judas Priest guitarist K.K. Downing, at Bloodstock 2023

Ex-Judas Priest members K.K. Downing and Tim “Ripper” Owens played an hour of classics and originals at the Derbyshire metal festival in August

Metal Hammer

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Metal Hammer

"I used to shut the curtains, put on the headphones, drop the needle and not move a muscle till the final note": This is the soundtrack of K.K. Downing's life

Former Judas Priest man K.K. Downing picks his records, artists and gigs of lasting significance, and reveals why he prefers his new stuff to the old stuff

Metal Hammer

10 times metal musicians covered their own songs in other bands

Ozzy Osbourne, Bruce Dickinson and Jason Newsted have all recreated metal classics with all-new lineups around them

Louder

Dolly Parton: The Queen Of Country on assembling rock's A-List for her mammoth, hugely anticipated rock album: only in the new issue of Classic Rock

Also in this issue: Geddy Lee, The Struts, Duff McKagan, David Bowie, Guns N' Roses, ZZ Top, The Gaslight Anthem, Clutch, KK Downing and more

Guitar World

“This is one more shot at glory for me. I know the things I’ve been denied. I shouldn’t have to build it up all over again”: K.K. Downing on reclaiming his legacy with KK’s Priest – and what his one-off reunion with Judas Priest was really like

The original “Sinner” takes you behind the scenes of his dramas in and out of Priest and their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction – and why his turbo-charged new album is “about the fight and the victory”

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Metal Hammer

The best new metal songs you need to hear right now - starring KK's Priest, Slaughter To Prevail, Sevendust, Dying Wish and more

From pummelling deathcore to old school heavy metal, these are the metal songs you need in your life this week. Plus, vote for your favourite!

Metal Hammer

"I sounded like Clint Eastwood clutching a condom!" The story behind Judas Priest's Living After Midnight

How John Lennon – and Rob Halford complaining that his bandmates were making a racket – inspired a metal classic

Guitar World

Richie Faulkner: ”Judas Priest came from a place of progressive blues. The seeds of metal were sewn through the blues – that's the true heritage of heavy metal”

Currently flexing his bluesier chops with metal supergroup Elegant Weapons, Faulkner reflects on how his recent heart surgery gave him a new lease on life, and why his forthcoming signature Gibson V will be ”the most metal-sounding guitar you've ever heard”

Metal Hammer

KK Downing offers sympathies to Mick Mars in ongoing Motley Crue saga

KK Downing says Mick Mars' legal wrangles with Motley Crue are "identical" to his own troubles with Judas Priest

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