Judas Priest "Redeemer Of Souls"

Redeemer of Souls is the 17th studio album by the English heavy metal band Judas Priest, which was released on 8 July 2014. It is their first album without founding guitarist K. K. Downing, who quit the band in 2011 and was replaced by new guitarist Richie Faulkner. The album sold around 32,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to land at position No. 6 on the Billboard 200 chart, the band's second highest charting position in the US. This marks the band's first top 10 album debut in the US. It has sold 110,000 copies in the US as of February 2016.

On 27 January 2011, Judas Priest announced that they were in the process of writing new material for what was thought to be the group's final album due to their previously announced farewell tour entitled the Epitaph World Tour, but the band clarified that the Epitaph tour was "by no means the end of the band." Speaking at a press conference in Los Angeles on May 26, of the new material, Glenn Tipton said, "It's quite a mixed bag. Really, there's more sentiment on this album. In a way, I suppose, it's also our farewell album, although it might not be our last one. There are some anthems on there, which pay tribute to our fans."

In April 2011, founding member K. K. Downing announced his departure from the band, citing differences with the band and management and a breakdown in their relationship as the reason. Richie Faulkner, guitarist for Lauren Harris' band, was announced as his replacement.

In an August 2011 interview with Billboard, Halford said that he and Tipton had "about 12 or 14 tracks completely mapped out" for a new studio album. He then said that four tracks were already recorded and mixed and suggested a new album would be out the next year. The year ended, however, without seeing a release. In another interview with Billboard in August 2012, Halford said that the band was taking its time with the album and did not give a definite release date.

In December 2013, the band released a short Christmas message on their official website, which confirmed that they would be releasing the album sometime in 2014.


On 17 March 2014 at the Ronnie James Dio Awards in Los Angeles, California, Halford announced that the album had been finished. On 28 April, the band revealed the title for the album, as well as releasing the title track for streaming on their official website. The track listing was announced four days later. At the end of June, a 20-date US tour supporting the album was confirmed.

Guitarist Glenn Tipton gave a statement saying that fans should not expect wild experimentation.

Tipton explains that the reason the extra five tracks were not included on the standard release was due to the consistency of the songs the band chose with their choice to "release an undisputable heavy metal album".


The five bonus tracks from the deluxe edition were released as a stand-alone limited-edition 10" vinyl LP, entitled 5 Souls, for Record Store Day 2014.