Judas Priest’s Rob Halford Likens Freddie Mercury’s Impact To His

Judas Priest’s Rob Halford recently sat down for an interview with Metal Hammer and discussed being one of the first metal artists to come out of the closet. He compared the impact his experience had on the industry to that of Freddie Mercury.

The vocalist explained whether his sexuality affected his music by saying:

“In the past, I’ve been asked if being gay has done anything for my music. I’ve always said, ‘Probably not.’ If Freddie [Mercury] hadn’t been gay, would he still have been Freddie Mercury? If Rob Halford wasn’t gay, would he still be Rob Halford?

It’s a nebulous topic of discussion, but so far as all the trauma you go through before you finally come out of the closet goes, yeah, it is important. I was one of the first metalheads to do that on MTV in 1998, and I’ve seen this fantastic after-effect of people saying I helped them in their journey.”

Earlier this year, Halford announced that Judas Priest’s new album would be released in 2024. While talking about the album in an interview with SiriusXM, he was also the one to talk about how the band members’ personalities were reflected in their music.

During the chat, the singer shared:

“We’ve always had so much fun and adventure with not only the albums but the songs within the albums. It’s part of who we are. And making these little microcosms of our personalities within the songs especially, all those names that I’ve referenced just, they’ve each got like a little mini-movie going on in your head when you think of the lyrics and the message, and then it’s all supported by incredible music working together.”

The upcoming album will be a follow-up to their 2018 record ‘Firepower.’ Though the specific release date hasn’t been revealed, the band is set to begin their ‘Metal Masters 2024’ tour in the UK on March 11 of the coming year.