Judas Priest to release new live CD/DVD ‘Battle Cry’

Judas Priest to release new live CD/DVD ‘Battle Cry’

Heavy metal pioneers, Judas Priest, will be releasing a new live CD/DVD entitled Battle Cry on March 25, 2016 via Epic Records. The Battle Cry CD/DVD captures the iconic group during their Redeemer Of Souls tour which saw the band playing 130 shows in over 30 different countries. Battle Cry will also be released on Blu-Ray. The CD consists of 15 songs recorded live on August 1, 2015 at Germany’s Wacken Open Air festival in front of an audience of 85,000. The entire show is also offered on DVD and Blu-Ray, and contains three bonus tracks shot from a show at The Ergo Arena in Gdansk, Poland on December 10, 2015.

Sleaze Roxx attended on opening night of the tour in Rochester, New York, USA on October 1, 2014 and stated in its review: “What struck me right away was how good frontman Rob Halford sounded. He seemed to be nailing all the notes and having seen him live many times, including when he was fronting his own solo band Halford in 2000 and 2009, he seemed to be singing and shrieking better than ever. It was quite a surprise given that I thought he had been singing at an octave or so lower in the last five to ten years, but that clearly was not the case on this night. Perhaps it was because it was only the first night of the tour, but Halford sounded simply fantastic.” Sleaze Roxx also stated in its review: “Another thing that struck me was how good the new songs from ‘Redeemer Of Souls’ seemed to fit with Judas Priest‘s notable back catalog of songs. The band ended up playing four new tracks — “Dragonaut”, “Halls Of Valhalla”, “March Of The Damned” and the title track — and I would even have welcomed a few more at the expense of some of the usual Priest classics that were played later on. That is just how good the new Priest songs are this time around.”

Sleaze Roxx also attended Judas Priest‘s tour stop at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on November 12, 2015 and stated in its review: “Gone were some of my personal favorites such as “Devil’s Child” and “Love Bites” which were replaced by “Desert Plains” (which I really like as well) and “The Rage” (definitely not one of my favorites but still pretty good nonetheless). Gone was also “March Of The Damned” which was my favorite song that they had played from Redeemer Of Souls on opening night in Rochester. In were two of Judas Priest‘s heaviest songs — “Screaming For Vengeance” and “Painkiller” — not my favorites by any means although it was fun hearing “Screaming For Vengeance” live. Although the setlist changes did not work in my favour this time around, it was still nice that Judas Priest changed things up. Halford sounded very good but I was surprised how much backing tracks that he was using for his vocals. This was especially evident during “Desert Plains” and made me question how much of Priest‘s set is actually “live.” Whatever the case, Halford sounded great and if Sebastian Bach is using backing vocal tracks at age 46 (back in December 2014), why not Halford at age 64?”

CD Track List:
01. Battle Cry
02. Dragonaut
03. Metal Gods
04. Devil’s Child
05. Victim Of Changes
06. Halls Of Valhalla
07. Redeemer Of Souls
08. Beyond The Realms Of Death
09. Jawbreaker
10. Breaking The Law
11. Hell Bent For Leather
12. The Hellion
13. Electric Eye
14. You’ve Got Another Thing Coming
15. Painkiller

DVD/Blu-ray Track List:
01. (Intro) Battle Cry
02. Dragonaut
03. Metal Gods
04. Devil’s Child
05. Victim Of Changes
06. Halls Of Valhalla
07. Turbo Lover
08. Redeemer Of Souls
09. Beyond The Realms of Death
10. Jawbreaker
11. Breaking the Law
12. Hell Bent For Leather
13. The Hellion
14. Electric Eye
15. You’ve Got Another Thing Coming
16. Painkiller
17. Living After Midnight
Bonus Tracks (live at The Ergo Arena in Gdansk, Poland on December 10, 2015):
18. Screaming For Vengeance
19. The Rage
20. Desert Plains