Source : www.blabbermouth.net

JUDAS PRIEST have revealed more details about their upcoming first conceptual album, which is based upon the life and predictions of the 16th century French prophet Nostradamus. In a May 24, 2006 appearance on the "Rockline" syndicated radio show, PRIEST frontman Rob Halford and guitarist Glenn Tipton spoke about the songwriting process for the CD and their touring plans, which are expected to include a performance of the entire album from beginning to end at each show on the trek.

On the songwriting process for "Nostradamus":

Tipton: "We've been considering a concept album for quite a while now, and our manager actually brought up the subject of Nostradamus, which we're all interested in. There's so many moods. The actual album is based upon his life as opposed to his predictions and things like that. It's all about his life, which is really interesting — full of incident and drama. We all felt very strongly there were so many moods there to tackle that it would make a great subject matter for a concept album."

Halford: "It's gonna be great, because, as Glenn was saying, he's [Nostradamus] a very mysterious character. We're gonna convey that kind of atmosphere in the music. Glenn, K.K. [Downing, guitar] and myself have already been writing back in England, and the early roots of 'Nostradamus' — they just sound incredible. We are doing some things differently. It will be a metal/rock opera-type production, so it will be strong. It will be everything you love about PRIEST. We're looking forward to it."

Tipton: "We're well on the way [in the songwriting department]. We've got a large portion of it completed on the writing side. I can safely say it's probably the most unique thing we've done. We've got an abundance of material, and we'll paste it all together and we'll shortly go into the studio and begin putting it all down."

Halford: "It's great. We're stoked. I can hear the songs in my head right now. It's gonna be incredible. The thing about Nostradamus is that, as difficult as it will be [to write a concept album based on his life], and it's a joy to face that challenge, it's a little easier in some sense [than writing a regular album], because you've got your plot. You've got your whole thing there laid out for you — you've got this real living, breathing person, who's now dead. But you've got the whole story of his life. And you just explore that and you try and find a way to kind of bring that about in a musical presentation. So the writing process is still the much the same. The three of us get together in a room, and we're talking about each particular moment in Nostradamus' life and we're trying to fit in the moods and emotions to those particular chapters."

"It's more about his life, because everybody knows him more about his prophecies. He's never really gone out of the news in hundreds and hundreds of years, and there are some that believe in his prophecies and some that don't. His life was a difficult life. He went through a lot of rough times. He was a brilliant doctor of medicine — he partly cured the great plague of Europe, he was able to save thousands of people, but couldn't save his wife and kids, which is tragic. And he was chased all over the country by the Roman Catholic Church. There's a ton of stories that you can really investigate musically."

On touring plans:

Halford: "Well, as ever, when 'Nostradamus' is completed, we're gonna go out and tour with that. It will be kind of unique, because we're intending and hoping that we'll be able to perform the complete 'Nostradamus' piece from front to back, which is something that PRIEST has never done. We were saying earlier today to our friends at VH1 that we're always looking for some new adventures and this will be one of them. So when we do go out with 'Nostradamus', that's what you'll experience — you'll have the whole recording from front to end. So it'll be that, and I dare say after that there'll be some more PRIEST touring covering all of our extensive back catalog of songs."

Tipton: "We wanna go out next time and do a completely different set, 'cause there's so many songs that people want us to play, and obviously there's only so much time we can play on stage. So we've got really a great setlist — potential setlist. We're going back to the real early days to draw songs from there. So we've got a lot of interesting projects ready to go."

Former MASTERPLAN/ARK frontman JORN LANDE and Greek black metallers WITCHHAMMER have been confirmed for the Ragnarock festival, set to take place August 17-19 at the Valle Hovin Sports Arena in Oslo, Norway. The festival billing is shaping up as follows (in alphabetical order):

ASTRAL DOORS
AXEL RUDI PELL
BRAINSTORM
CHINCHILLA
COMMUNIC
CORNERSTONE
EDENBRIDGE
ENSIFERUM
EXODUS
GOTTHARD
HIGHLAND GLORY
JORN LANDE
KAMELOT
MASTERPLAN
MORGANA LEFAY
NEVERMORE
PAGAN'S MIND
PARAGON
POWER QUEST
SUSPERIA
THE CARBURETORS
THUNDERBOLT
TORMENT
TWISTED SISTER
VIXEN
W.A.S.P.
WITCHHAMMER
WITHIN TEMPTATION

For more information, visit www.ragnarock.as.

After various negotiations and sessions with renowned singers of the German and international metal scene, German power metallers GALLOGLASS have found a new frontman in Andrew "Mac" McDermott (THRESHOLD). Apart from his (very suitable) Scottish name, Mac does not only involve his well-known brilliant voice, but he also enriches the band with his long time experience. After Shaker Elmosa (formerly of TARAXACUM) filled the vacant bass slot earlier in the year, GALLOGLASS are now a ready to start working on their third album.

GALLOGLASS' second full-length CD, "Heavenseeker", was issued in 2005.

Ari Bendersky of The Associated Press recently conducted a short interview with SLAYER guitarist Kerry King. Read on:

AP: Since the new record isn't done yet, tell me about the new music — what's the lyrical content?

KK: "It's pretty much SLAYER '06. There's war songs, religious songs, satanic songs — it's what you'd expect the next chapter of SLAYER's life to be."

AP: This is the first album you're doing as the original lineup since 1990. How are things different now?

KK: "Everybody has grown up. Whatever childhood issues we had is water under the bridge. I think we're better because we separated. I think we probably would've killed each other. Now it's like, you go on and be SLAYER like we're supposed to be."

AP: SLAYER has had its share of controversy over the years with some people accusing the band of being Nazi sympathizers and white supremacists.

KK: "I think that's another case where people are taking on a position without getting all the facts. When people called us Nazis, we have a Chilean guy singing the lyrics. People make an opinion before they're completely informed. It's never a fair fight that way. They think that's how something is and you can't argue with irrationality."

AP: What's life like on the road for you now?

KK: "Pretty much the same as it ever was. This is our tour in a nutshell: we soundcheck, sleep until 3, play and stay up all night watching movies."

AP: So it's really not as exciting as your fans might expect it to be?

KK: "Nah. We learned the more things you break the more things you pay for. I like my money a lot more than paying for (stuff) we broke."

SLAYER's still-untitled follow-up to "God Hates Us All", which was released on Sept. 11, 2001, is due July 25 via American Recordings. For the project, the group reteamed with longtime collaborator Rick Rubin to executive produce their first new album with their four original members since 1990's "Seasons in the Abyss".

SLAYER will preview their first album in five years with an EP exclusively available at Hot Topic stores. The album will include "Cult", the lone new song the band plans to play live on the upcoming Unholy Alliance Tour.

LEAVES' EYES — the German/Norwegian band formed by ex-THEATRE OF TRAGEDY singer Liv Kristine Espenaes Krull and members of ATROCITY (who are fronted by Liv's husband Alexander Krull) — have been confirmed as the support act for BLIND GUARDIAN on their upcoming North American tour. The dates are as follows:

Nov. 08 - Marquee Theatre - Phoenix, AZ
Nov. 09 - House Of Blues - San Diego, CA
Nov. 10 - Galaxy Theatre - Santa Ana, CA
Nov. 11 - Avalon - Los Angeles, CA
Nov. 12 - Fillmore - San Francisco, CA
Nov. 14 - TBA - Vancouver, BC
Nov. 15 - El Corazon - Seattle, WA
Nov. 17 - Avalon - Salt Lake City, UT
Nov. 18 - Gothic Theatre - Denver, CO
Nov. 20 - The Rave - Milwaukee, WI
Nov. 21 - House Of Blues - Chicago, IL
Nov. 22 - The Quest - Minneapolis, MN
Nov. 24 - Newport Music Hall - Columbus, OH
Nov. 25 – Harpo's - Detroit, MI
Nov. 26 - Opera House - Toronto, ON
Nov. 28 - Salle Albert-Rousseau - Québec City, QC
Nov. 29 - The Medley - Montreal, QC
Nov. 30 - TBA - New York, NY
Dec. 01 - Palladium - Worcester, MA
Dec. 02 - Trocadero - Philadelphia, PA
Dec. 04 - 9.30 Club - Washington, D.C.
Dec. 05 - Tremont Music Hall - Charlotte, NC
Dec. 07 - House Of Blues - Orlando, FL
Dec. 08 - Roxy - Atlanta, GA
Dec. 09 - House Of Blues - New Orleans, LA
Dec. 10 - Meridian - Houston, TX
Dec. 11 - Backroom - Austin, TX

"Legend Land" is scheduled for release in Europe on June 9 and in North American on July 28 via Napalm Records