THE BEAST

"Firepower", the title track of the new album from British heavy metal legends JUDAS PRIEST, can be streamed below. Due on March 9 via Epic, the follow-up to 2014's "Redeemer Of Souls" 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 digital artist and photographer Claudio Bergamin.

"Firepower" track listing:

01. Firepower
02. Lightning Strike
03. Evil Never Dies
04. Never The Heroes
05. Necromancer
06. Children of the Sun
07. Guardians
08. Rising From Ruins
09. Flame Thrower
10. Spectre
11. Traitors Gate
12. No Surrender
13. Lone Wolf
14. Sea Of Red

JUDAS PRIEST singer Rob Halford told U.K.'s Metal Hammer magazine about the lyrical themes covered on "Firepower": "We're an open book. We can go anywhere, and that's my job, where the proverbial word 'challenge' comes into play. I'm looking for things around me in the real world and in the metal fantasy world, so I'm making political comment and comments on the environment, as metaphorically as I can.

"We've always tried to be a bit ambigious, so our fans can make up their own mind, but on this one, you know, we are talking about Mother Earth and places like 10 Downing Street [the headquarters of the government of the United Kingdom]," he continued. "But we've always found a balance in not making the message too intense, while showing that we're connected as a bunch of metalheads in the real world."

Halford also credited "the incredible work" of Sneap for making "Firepower" sound "as wonderful as it does." "We are aware of the elements that are important to PRIEST, that have been our anvil in everything we've done, but in working with Andy, who is such a sought-after, contemporary metal producer, he's been able to dial everything in and get an effect where what you hear coming out of the speaker sounds like a young, fresh metal band," he said. "I've always tried to keep up with what's going on in metal, and I really feel confident that this sound is as strong as it ever was."

Halford stated about the album's first single, "Lightning Strike": "To me, the overall concept of this song is to use the element of a lightning strike to pull away and tear apart at an individual, at a body of people, maybe an organization, maybe an administration, that is kind of leading you, or leading us, into potentially a destructive place. You're kind of spinning that effect round, and you have the right to react and to do something about it. So that, in essence, is what this song is all about."

The North American leg of the "Firepower" tour will kick off on March 13 in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania and will wrap on May 1 in San Antonio, Texas. Support on the trek will come from SAXON and BLACK STAR RIDERS.