{"id":2448416,"date":"2019-09-06T10:28:38","date_gmt":"2019-09-06T16:28:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/?p=881060"},"modified":"2019-09-06T10:28:38","modified_gmt":"2019-09-06T16:28:38","slug":"see-judas-priest-frontman-sing-raging-new-christmas-carol-donner-and-blitzen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/music-news\/see-judas-priest-frontman-sing-raging-new-christmas-carol-donner-and-blitzen\/","title":{"rendered":"See Judas Priest Frontman Sing Raging New Christmas Carol \u2018Donner and Blitzen\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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It is barely pumpkin latte season, but Jolly Saint Rob Halford<\/a> is already revved up about Christmas<\/a>. On \u201cDonner and Blitzen,\u201d the Judas Priest<\/a> frontman sings about Rudolph\u2019s reindeer friends raising people\u2019s spirits, bringing good fortune, and, of course, tearing through the sky. In a video for the song, Halford leans into the mic and screams for vengeance while his bandmates play the tune\u2019s lumbering riffs, as Christmas lights glitter around them. The tune will appear on his upcoming holiday solo album, Celestial<\/em>, due out October 18th.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018Donner and Blitzen\u2019 gets the snowball rolling for Celestial<\/em> \u2014 a song full of excitement, love and hope,\u201d Halford said in a statement. \u201cYou can hear and feel the power of Christmas time \u2014 energy roarin\u2019 with rockin\u2019 reindeers haulin\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Halford has a long history of making heavy-metal holiday music, dating back to Fight, the group he formed during his Nineties hiatus from Judas Priest. The band recorded \u201cChristmas Ride\u201d and, in 2009, he made a full album of Christmas music under the Halford banner called Halford III: Winter Songs<\/em>. The new album, Celestial<\/em>, is credited to Rob Halford With Family and Friends, and it features his brother Nigel on drums, Priest bassist Ian Hill\u2019s nephew Alex on bass, and Halford\u2019s sister Sue on bells. Robert Jones and Jon Blakey play guitar.<\/p>\n

In addition to originals like \u201cDonner and Blitzen,\u201d the record also features Halford\u2019s metallicized versions of carols like \u201cGod Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen,\u201d \u201cJoy to the World,\u201d and \u201cHark! The Herald Angels Sing,\u201d among others. The album will be available<\/a> on CD and vinyl, and Halford has made prayer candles and an \u201cugly Christmas sweater\u201d to sell with it as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe great thing about heavy metal is it\u2019s got these kinds of multiple dimensions,\u201d Halford said. \u201cI think when you look at it from an outside point of view \u2014 if you\u2019re not really familiar with the metal scene \u2014 it can look pretty intimidating. And it is a very strong, powerful experience. But it comes at different levels. I think the music that we\u2019ve made on Celestial<\/em>, for example, gives a display of that. Metal maniacs, as we call ourselves, are just as ready for the holidays as everybody else. And what we\u2019ve tried to do with this music is to reach out to as many of those metal dimensions as we possibly can.\u201d<\/p>\n

The day after the album comes out, October 19th, Halford will make an in-store appearance at a Tempe, Arizona FYE location at 2 p.m. to sign copies of the album. Soon after the album\u2019s release, Halford will be getting back on the road with Judas Priest next year for a run of U.K. and European tour dates<\/a> in support of their recent Firepower<\/em> album<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Celestial<\/em> Track List:<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. \u201cCelestial\u201d
2. \u201cDonner and Blitzen\u201d
3. \u201cGod Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen\u201d
4. \u201cAway In A Manger\u201d
5. \u201cMorning Star\u201d
6. \u201cDeck The Halls\u201d
7. \u201cJoy To The World\u201d
8. \u201cO Little Town Of Bethlehem\u201d
9. \u201cHark! The Herald Angels Sing\u201d
10. \u201cThe First Noel\u201d
11. \u201cGood King Wenceslas\u201d
12. \u201cProtected By The Light\u201d<\/p>\n

via:: Rolling Stone<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It is barely pumpkin latte season, but Jolly Saint Rob Halford is already revved up about Christmas. On \u201cDonner and Blitzen,\u201d the Judas Priest frontman sings about Rudolph\u2019s reindeer friends raising people\u2019s spirits, bringing good fortune, and, of course, tearing through the sky. In a video for the song, Halford leans into the mic and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2448416","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-music-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-27 10:28:50","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2448416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2448416"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2448416\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2448416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2448416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2448416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}