According to Billboard, JUDAS PRIEST's "Firepower" has entered the Billboard 200 chart at position No. 5, making it the band's highest-charting album ever. 2014's "Redeemer Of Souls" debuted and peaked at No. 6, while 2008's "Nostradamus" landed at No. 11 and 2005's "Angel Of Retribution" came in at No. 13.
"Firepower" moved 49,000 equivalent album units in first week of release. Of that sum, 48,000 were in traditional album sales, just shy of the 54,000 copies sold by "Angel Of Retribution" in that album's first week. The "Firepower" chart position was bolstered by sales generated from a concert ticket/album sale redemption offer in association with the band's current North American tour.
The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week based on multi- metric consumption, which includes traditional album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA).
As previously reported, "Firepower" landed at position No. 5 on the U.K. album chart. It marks the band's highest ranking, and first time in the Top 10, since "British Steel" reached No. 4 in 1980. Elsewhere, "Firepower" has also become PRIEST's first-ever No. 1 in Sweden.
"Firepower" was released on March 9 via Epic. The disc was recorded by British producer Andy Sneap, the band's longtime collaborator Tom Allom and engineer Mike Exeter (BLACK SABBATH). The cover artwork for "Firepower" was created by the Chilean/Italian artist Claudio Bergamin.
JUDAS PRIEST "Firepower" world tour marks the band's first run of dates since guitarist Glenn Tipton announced that he was retiring from the road due to his battle with Parkinson's disease. He is being replaced on tour by Sneap, also known for his work as the guitar player in NWOBHM revivalists HELL and cult thrash outfit SABBAT.
Tipton was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease four years ago — after being stricken by the degenerative condition at least half a decade earlier — but only recently announced he was going to sit out touring activities in support of "Firepower". The guitarist, who is now 70 and has performed on every PRIEST album since the band's 1974 debut set, "Rocka Rolla", is not quitting the band, but simply cannot handle the rigorous challenges of performing live.
The North American leg of the "Firepower" tour will wrap on May 1 in San Antonio, Texas.
Fine, but just let your communitah know that the release of this satanic music led by a homosexual R&R pioneer isn't really "news" but a source of your personal ear-candy.
Fine, but just let your communitah know that the release of this satanic music led by a homosexual R&R pioneer isn't really "news" but a source of your personal ear-candy.
At least we finally found a homo that Stone likes. : )
JUDAS PRIEST's ROB HALFORD: 'I'm Not One Of These Gay Guys With A Cause'
Now I'm starting to worry that you might turn LF into a gay conservative heavy metal cruising/hookup site. LOL
It is interesting that, after posting a lot of rough anti-homo stuff in the sidebar and your constant attacks on sneakypete along those lines, you just adore this heavy-metal sodomite singer. How do you reconcile that mentally? I really do wonder.
So you think this sodomite singer is going straight to hell but that he's still a great singer that can be admired by a Christian straight guy who likes heavy metal music so you may as well enjoy his music as he barrels straight through the gates of hell?
We all sin TC. Maybe he will repent someday. Probably not but you never know. It is not like Rob Halford is my hero.
"I'm a different guy to when I was 20," Halford said during an appearance on HATEBREED frontman Jamey Jasta's official podcast, "The Jasta Show" (hear audio below). "I've been able to look at the world and see the world and find out what really is the most important and valuable thing, to me, as I live from day to day."
He continued: "When I got clean and sober 28 years ago, that was a major change in my life. And part of my recovery is just having this higher-power belief. And it works. It works, man. It really, really is important."
Halford added: "There probably will be people listening to [this] podcast who don't have anything like that in their life, and that's great; it's all about acceptance. But I always say to people, if you're thinking about it, the simplest thing I do is I pray. I pray quite a bit, actually. And even if you don't believe in prayer, just have a go. Pray for a good day, or just pray for your friend, or whatever it might be. And it's amazing, man, 'cause it absolutely works. I guarantee, it genuinely does work. And now I'm sounding like [American evangelical Christian evangelist] Billy Graham, but I'm just trying to express some of the things that are important to me on a day-to-day basis that make me able to walk out on that stage each night and do my work."
While Halford states that he doesn't want to preach and force people to drink and act responsibly, he is quick to warn up-and-coming musicians that there will be consequences to their actions.
