While Judas Priest vocalist Rob Halford is more well known for being the Metal God, he's working on changing himself into the Holiday God with a new solo Christmas album.
The new record is titled Celestial and will feature some holiday favourites with a heavy metal twist, including "Away in a Manger," "The First Noel," "O Little Town of Bethlehem" and "Good King Wenceslas."
Along with the Christmas tunes, the album will also include four original songs recorded for the project – "Celestial," "Donner and Blitzen," "Morning Star" and "Protected by the Light."
This isn't the first time Halford's used his skills for some festive fun though. His 2009 solo record, Halford III: Winter Songs, was also Christmas themed and included renditions of "Oh Holy Night," "Come All Ye Faithful" and more.
He explained in an interview with Exclaim! at the time of the first Christmas record that he simply wanted to write something different from the material he had perfected by that point.
"Just by association, I think that when everybody heard that the Metal God was doing a Christmas album, they had a sharp taking [in] of breath," Halford said. "But that's to be expected. The fact of the matter is that I've the luxury of a solo career that lets me do the unexpected. Having said that, like everybody else, I just love the Christmas holidays. I do the same things that everyone else does. In my mind, it's not that much of a stretch."
The record is set to arrive October 18 via Legacy Recordings. Check out the tracklisting below and watch the video for "Donner and Blitzen." Pre-orders are available here.
Celestial:
1. Celestial
2. Donner and Blitzen
3. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
4. Away In A Manger
5. Morning Star
6. Deck The Halls
7. Joy To The World
8. O Little Town Of Bethlehem
9. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
10. The First Noel
11. Good King Wenceslas
12. Protected By The Light
The new record is titled Celestial and will feature some holiday favourites with a heavy metal twist, including "Away in a Manger," "The First Noel," "O Little Town of Bethlehem" and "Good King Wenceslas."
Along with the Christmas tunes, the album will also include four original songs recorded for the project – "Celestial," "Donner and Blitzen," "Morning Star" and "Protected by the Light."
This isn't the first time Halford's used his skills for some festive fun though. His 2009 solo record, Halford III: Winter Songs, was also Christmas themed and included renditions of "Oh Holy Night," "Come All Ye Faithful" and more.
He explained in an interview with Exclaim! at the time of the first Christmas record that he simply wanted to write something different from the material he had perfected by that point.
"Just by association, I think that when everybody heard that the Metal God was doing a Christmas album, they had a sharp taking [in] of breath," Halford said. "But that's to be expected. The fact of the matter is that I've the luxury of a solo career that lets me do the unexpected. Having said that, like everybody else, I just love the Christmas holidays. I do the same things that everyone else does. In my mind, it's not that much of a stretch."
The record is set to arrive October 18 via Legacy Recordings. Check out the tracklisting below and watch the video for "Donner and Blitzen." Pre-orders are available here.
Celestial:
1. Celestial
2. Donner and Blitzen
3. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
4. Away In A Manger
5. Morning Star
6. Deck The Halls
7. Joy To The World
8. O Little Town Of Bethlehem
9. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
10. The First Noel
11. Good King Wenceslas
12. Protected By The Light