Back in 2018, Judas Priest electric guitar legend Glenn Tipton retired from touring with the group due to his battle with Parkinson’s disease, which he was first diagnosed with in 2008.
Tipton is still active though, and has made periodic live guest appearances with the band in the years since his retirement from touring, in addition to extensive contributions to the band's last studio album, 2018's Firepower.
According to Priest frontman Rob Halford, Tipton will also contribute to, and play on, the band's as-yet-untitled, in-progress 19th studio LP.
"There's ways of doing this. Glenn can still play the guitar. He plays it differently, but he can still play," Halford told Spain's Mariskal Rock in an interview. "He walked out with us on Bloodstock recently [and played] Metal Gods, Breaking The Law and Living After Midnight, I think it was. He can play. So he'll be on this next album. Whatever work he does, he's valuable – really important.
"He's a member of Judas Priest," Halford continued. "He's still there. He's still an important component of this band and what this band represents, particularly in the writing sense. He made a massive contribution to the songs that we have so far. And we'll still keep writing – we'll still keep putting together the ideas. Because you can never not stop writing.
"The calendar tells you, the label says, 'We would like a record blah blah,' because it takes months to prepare and then months of promotion. And the clock is ticking.
"So, yeah, he's good, man," Halford added. "He's still a fighter. He never lets anything stop him. He's a great force for people that are living their lives actively and productively with Parkinson's. So he's still very much [like] that No Surrender song – a heavy metal hero."
Of the new album in general, Halford said, "It's sounding good, man. It's sounding really strong. I'm very excited for our fans again. I think it's gonna be another great display of the passion that we still have as writers and as players to get this down and to unleash some new metal.
"We've got a bunch of stuff," Halford continued. "I don't know when you and I talked last, but since then, we did have that one big writing session – March, whatever year that was; not this year, but last year I think it was. And then another one before the Bloodstock festival [in August]. So we've got a strong, strong bunch of id[eas]… Well, they're more than ideas – they're completed songs. We haven't gone into full production yet.
"It's gonna be great," Halford said. "It's gonna be a really, really good moment."
Back in September, Judas Priest postponed the remainder of their 50 Heavy Metal Years tour, after the band's guitarist, Richie Faulkner, suffered an aortic aneurysm while performing onstage with the group at the Louder Than Life festival in Louisville, Kentucky on September 26. Faulkner recently said that he was feeling “very strong and positive,” and was “playing guitar everyday” as part of his recovery.
Halford also suffered a recent health scare, having undergone surgery and radiation for prostate cancer in 2020 and 2021, respectively. He is now in remission.
