Richie Faulkner says it is likely the next JUDAS PRIEST album will be once again produced by Tom Allom and Andy Sneap. Allom and Sneap worked on PRIEST's 2018 album "Firepower", which was the band's second LP to feature Faulkner, who was selected to fill the void left by founding guitarist K.K. Downing following his exit in 2011. Faulkner spoke about the status of the next PRIEST LP during a June 12 Instagram Live session with fans. He said (see video below): "Andy Sneap and Tom Allom, it looks like they're probably gonna be the producers for the next record, when we can get in there and play the songs and record them." Richie also talked about the PRIEST songwriting process, saying: "The three of us write songs — me, Rob [Halford, vocals] and Glenn [Tipton, guitar] write the songs. And they've always had that dynamic. It was always the two-[guitarists]-singer writing team, as far as I'm aware. And then Ian [Hill, bass] has written a couple over the years. I think he wrote 'Invader' [off 1978's 'Stained Class' album], if I'm not mistaken. They did the same thing with Ripper [former PRIEST singer Tim Owens] — it was Ken [former PRIEST guitarist K.K. Downing], Glenn and Ripper — and they've done the same thing since I joined the band. It's me, Rob and Glenn." All of JUDAS PRIEST's previously announced 2020 tour dates appear to have been either canceled or postponed to 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic which is sweeping the globe. JUDAS PRIEST's spring/summer 2020 European tour was scheduled to kick off on May 30 in Helsinki, Finland and conclude on July 28 in Tilburg, the Netherlands. The band was also slated to headline the U.K's Bloodstock Open Air festival on August 9 at Catton Park, Derbyshire. The U.S. leg of the "50 Heavy Metal Years" tour was due to launch September 9 in Oxon Hill, Maryland and wrap up on October 17 in Las Vegas, Nevada. "Firepower" entered the Billboard 200 chart at position No. 5, making it PRIEST's highest-charting album ever. "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 spring 2018 North American tour. Across the pond, "Firepower" landed at position No. 5 on the U.K. album chart. It marked the band's highest ranking, and first time in the Top 10, since "British Steel" reached No. 4 in 1980. Elsewhere, "Firepower" also became PRIEST's first-ever No. 1 in Sweden.
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